November 2024 Election Endorsements: San Francisco

San Francisco election endorsements from an activist and organizer in local politics dedicated to intersectional feminism and SWANA (South West Asian & North African) representation.

Who I am: I’m an activist and organizer who has been very involved at the local level in San Francisco politics since 2019. I’ve served on the boards of a number of political organizations, and have run multiple political campaigns and organizing efforts. In the past year, I’ve been one of the most vocal advocates for Palestinian human rights in the San Francisco political sphere, and was one of many organizers involved in the effort of getting San Francisco to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. You can learn more about me here.

My endorsement criteria: The criteria for these endorsements is explained within each write-up below. The common theme across each of these endorsements is consideration of both the Muslim and Arab communities, respectively, within San Francisco. These communities are largely ignored and marginalized within San Francisco’s political sphere — literally like the communities’ needs are invisible and non-existent in terms of any political consideration, rhetoric, or action.

Muslim American and Arab American representation within San Francisco politics: Within the political scene in San Francisco, we don’t have significant political representation or many institutions and organizations advocating for our interests. The result has been limited attention and accountability from our elected leaders.

This is the first time that I’ve published a comprehensive list of my endorsements for any election. This election cycle, after a year of genocide in Gaza, I feel strongly that there needs to be some measure of accountability, awareness, and memorialization of the damaging rhetoric and actions that have negatively impacted both the Muslim and Arab communities here in San Francisco. And I feel that it is my responsibility to authentically represent the identities I embody in this political space.

These endorsements and the write-ups that accompany them are the measure of accountability I am personally creating on this front within San Francisco politics.

My ***personal*** endorsements for this election are included below. Please refer to AROC Action for endorsements from the Arab community, and to CAIR Action for endorsements from the Muslim community.

Final update made Tuesday, October 22nd. Happy voting!

November 2024 General Election Endorsements

Federal Candidate Races:

The California federal races include President, U.S. Senate, and Congress (CA-11), and for these races I recommend voting your conscience as all the leading candidates for these elected positions have been disappointing on everything and anything related to the Gaza genocide since it began in October 2023.

None of the leading candidates in these races currently support sanctions on or an arms embargo against Israel to force a ceasefire; they have been extremely limited in addressing the rising anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hate that are at all time highs and have impacted communities across the country and taken lives; and everyone we can vote for at this level in San Francisco is heavily funded by the Israel lobby.

For those of you reading this outside of San Francisco, party control of both chambers of Congress is important, especially as the Republican Party seems intent on stripping our civil liberties including voting rights and pursuing their Project 2025 agenda which threatens MANY things including bodily autonomy, no-fault divorce, the public education system, LGBTQ rights, and all of our social safety nets. In this regard, Democrats gaining control of the House and retaining control of the Senate under our current system is vital.

Although I do believe the establishment and leadership of the Democratic Party is corrupt, problematic, and has allowed the genocide in Gaza to proceed completely unchecked, there are Democrats like Rashida Tlaib in Michigan, Joaquin Castro in Texas, Preston Nouri in Pennsylvania, and more who are on the right side of the history. Wherever you are, I recommend doing your due diligence and researching what the people running where you live have said about Gaza and Israel via the statements they have issued, the votes they have taken, and their Twitter feeds (use Twitter’s advanced search). Do not just write off these races and leave them blank, especially if you live in a place that is a toss up district: check these links for competitive Senate races and competitive House races.

Additionally, I believe that Donald Trump represents an existential threat to the United States in every way and that he cannot become President again. The presidency will come down to the following states: Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Nevada, or Arizona. If you live in one of these states, I ask that you do not vote for Donald Trump.

State Level Candidate Races:

State Senate (Senate District 11) — no endorsement

Of the candidates in this write-up, Senator Scott Wiener is the person I have the longest history with and he is also a person that I genuinely care for and worry about given that right wing actors often target him in personal attacks. We are aligned on the issue of housing and I respect how he has led on LGBTQ+ issues and policy in California.

However, despite what we do align on, I cannot endorse him due to his rhetoric and actions concerning Gaza over the past year, which has resulted in many damaging statements, problematic legislation, the undermining of the ethnic studies program in California schools, pressure campaigns against people critical of Israel and Zionism, and participation in attacking the Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC).

Senator Wiener has co-authored problematic legislation that puts discrimination and genocide training in the hands of organizations with an explicitly pro-Israel bias which deny the ongoing genocide in Gaza (SB 1277 and AB 2925), and stifles pro-Palestinian advocacy on college campuses (SB 1287). All three bills, all of which have been signed into law by the Governor, effectively censor and suppress speech in support of Palestine while failing to address the rise in Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian hate.

On the ethnic studies front, Senator Wiener has actively worked to undermine teaching about Palestine and Israel, Arab American history, and conflated the political ideology of Zionism with the religion of Judaism. Sharing the actual history of the birth of a state rooted in the Nakba, and addressing the experience of people impacted by its apartheid government and military occupation of Palestinian territories is mischaracterized as promoting anti-Jewish bias and anti-Semitism in schools. The result has been an inordinate amount of pressure gutting the ethnic studies curriculum which has had a real impact across the state, including the Pajaro Valley Unified School District, and the San Francisco Unified School District facing ongoing efforts to get rid of the ethnic studies requirement altogether, targeting its leadership, and created a chilling environment for all teachers who are attempting to address the most pressing issue of our time in the classroom.

Additionally, Senator Wiener spuriously went after AROC publicly over student-led walkouts. First, doing so as a respected and high profile elected official in California sends the wrong signal to bad actors. Some San Francisco Unified high school students who participated in the walkouts and administrators at these schools were doxxed by large rightwing social media accounts. A San Francisco high school had to divert their phone calls to the central office because of the amount of hate calls they were receiving against the student-led walkouts. The resulting hate, doxxing, and harassment led to the family of a child who participated in the walkouts to pull that child out of Lowell High School.

Second, AROC is the only Arab-led organization that provides language access to the Arabic speaking community within San Francisco public schools and to the low income families that it serves. Despite being a celebrated community organization that provides vital services in communities and in schools, AROC and its Executive Director Lara Kiswani have been vilified in San Francisco’s political circles for over a decade and subjected to hateful anti-Arab racism due to the organization’s anti-Zionist stance. Per what I hear from others about where this vilification of AROC stems from, Senator Wiener’s name is regularly mentioned as an influential voice.

What has alarmed me the most has been Senator Wiener’s participation in pressure campaigns that seem to have the intent of getting anti-war advocates fired and/or canceled. I believe this constitutes an abuse of power in an effort to silence criticism of Israel by setting chilling examples. Within the last year, Senator Wiener has played a central role in the pressure campaign that led to the removal of Sonoma State University President Ming-Tung (“Mike”) Lee after Lee agreed to divestment demands of his students in May 2024. Additionally, Senator Wiener has participated in multiple rounds of attacks on Dr. Rupa Marya of UCSF.

Senator Wiener is an extremely capable legislator who has a track record of championing issues and causes other people won’t. This has earned him much respect and influence amongst his colleagues and in political circles, and he now serves as Budget Chair in the California Senate. I have spoken to and heard of many organizers and people within political circles in California, who are afraid to speak out in support of Gaza, take a supportive stance on Palestine, or participate in related advocacy because they are afraid of alienating Senator Wiener and what that might mean in terms of his future support for their campaigns, efforts, legislation, organizations, political ambitions, etc.

AD-17 endorsement — Matt Haney

Assemblymember Matt Haney was one of San Francisco’s first elected officials to publicly call for a ceasefire (November 2023), and has expressed concern and spoken humanely about the plight of Palestinians and the people of Gaza since the genocide in Gaza started in October 2023; a sharp contrast from his peers. In addition, he has withheld signing onto problematic and offensive letters and actions despite being a junior Assemblymember.

However, Assemblymember Haney has co-authored some problematic legislation in the past year: AB 2925 (opposed by CAIR California) and SB1277 (opposed by multiple chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace) which puts discrimination and genocide training in the hands of organizations with an explicitly pro-Israel bias which deny the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

While the recent legislation is extremely disappointing and I hope a one-off misstep rather than something that becomes a trend, my endorsement takes Assemblymember Haney’s allyship throughout his political career into account, from his time as an elected official on the San Francisco Unified School District’s Board of Education, then as a Supervisor, and now as an Assemblymember. He has shown up when the community has been attacked, including after the Christchurch mosque shootings in 2019, and this past April when Masjid Al-Tawheed was targeted in a hate crime.

AD-19 — no endorsement

Supervisor Catherine Stefani is on track to win this Assembly seat, but I cannot recommend her for endorsement. She was one of the three NO votes on the San Francisco ceasefire resolution in January of this year.

The Supervisor does not seem to have any meaningful connection to the Muslim and Arab communities of San Francisco nor have any interest in forging any such connection. Her remarks at the time of the ceasefire resolution were particularly damaging as she opted to speak of selective feminism which did not include Palestinian women.

I find this case personally disappointing because Supervisor Stefani did express empathy and support to me about the social media posts I was making to create awareness about the situation in Gaza in October when she courted my delegate vote for the California Democratic Party (CADEM) endorsement in this race. However, after my vote and the CADEM endorsement were secured, I called her regarding the San Francisco ceasefire resolution shortly thereafter and never received a call back. I felt used and did not appreciate what effectively felt like a bait and switch. Elected officials should be able to own their decisions, not avoid tough discussions after they get what they want.

Board of Education

Board of Education endorsement (final)— Parag Gupta, Jamie Huling, Matt Alexander, John Jersin

Please note that you can vote for four candidates in this election.

• Parag Gupta and Jamie Huling are both San Francisco Unified public school parents who have strong support from the parent community (SF Parent Action, specifically) and are both also endorsed by UESF, the local teacher’s union.
• Matt Alexander currently serves as the Board of Education President and championed the Eid resolution to observe the holiday in San Francisco public schools. He is also endorsed by UESF.
• John Jersin — John is a former LinkedIn executive with extensive financial and organizational management experience that will be extremely helpful to addressing SF Unified’s solvency issues. Additionally, John has made it clear to me that he is willing to listen and learn and hold the needs of all communities while making informed decisions for SF Unified. John is also endorsed by UESF.

Notes on this race and SF Unified:

• I strongly oppose the American Jewish Committee (AJC), a Zionist organization that holds political stances that are rooted in both supremacy and racism, and that has a history of being anti-Arab and Islamophobic, training San Francisco Unified teachers.

Notes on other candidates in this race:

• Supryia Ray — I have been impressed by Supryia’s knowledge, openness, and support from other parents but am dismayed by her position on the AJC trainings. Supryia has been great to engage with and has expressed genuine support of Muslim and Arab students and families and the desire to engage with these communities. It’s important to note that Supryia received the most support from the SF Parent Action community of public school parents in the organization’s endorsement process.
• Ann Hsu — she made racist statements about Black and Brown families on an endorsement questionnaire two years ago when she ran and lost for her appointed Board of Education seat. Additionally, she actively opposed the Eid resolution in San Francisco public schools as an appointed BOE Commissioner. Hsu is supportive of the AJC training in SF Unified schools.

Community College Board

City College Trustee endorsements — Aliya Chisti, Ruth Ferguson, Heather McCarty, Luis Zamora

• Aliya Chisti is an incumbent and has taken hard votes to ensure the solvency and sustainability of City College in her first term. She is running for re-election and is the first Muslim American to serve in elected office in San Francisco.
• Ruth Ferguson is a personal friend and someone who has bravely blown the whistle on sexual harassment and retaliation and broken government processes in California politics. She and I co-authored an op-ed on Muslim-Jewish solidarity in the initial weeks of October 2023, and she is a strong and supportive ally to the Muslim community.

BART Board of Directors

District 7 endorsement — Victor Flores

Victor has an incredible story and policy acumen and I know that he will be an effective public transportation advocate on the BART Board. Previously incarcerated, Victor completed his GED and began community college courses during his incarceration, and eventually completed his education at the University of California at Berkeley following his parole. Victor works hard, is a pragmatic progressive, and brings an important lens both as someone who is Latinx and as someone who was previously incarcerated.

D9 endorsement — Edward Wright and Joe Sangiardi (Dual Endorsement)

Context: Declining ridership since COVID and its reliance on people commuting to work as riders has resulted in BART is facing dire budget shortfall that puts the future of the entire system in jeopardy.

Edward Wright — Edward currently works as a strategy and communications advisor for SFMTA, the city department that oversees the city’s public transportation and formerly served as the Chief of Staff to Supervisor Gordon Mar. He has worked on public budgets in the past and has a solid understanding of transit systems as a result of his work experience. I appreciate his ideas regarding improving ridership and public safety of BART by activating businesses at BART stations.

Joe Sangiardi — Joe has impressed me with his work ethic, attention to detail, and commitment to urbanism and housing. He currently works at CA YIMBY, working to address the housing crisis in California because he knows (as I do) that the housing shortage contributes directly to the climate crisis. I appreciate his ideas for using BART’s land holdings to generate housing to address the Bay Area’s housing shortage while also generating revenue and riders for BART.

Local San Francisco Candidate Races

Select San Francisco offices are voted for on a ranked-choice basis meaning that you can rank multiple candidates in your order of preference. I highly encourage you to rank multiple candidates based on the endorsements and analysis below. The offices you can vote for on a ranked choice basis in this election include: Mayor, City Attorney, District Attorney, Sheriff, Treasurer, and the Board of Supervisors.

San Francisco Mayor

Endorsement — Daniel Lurie

I strongly believe that we need a new leadership in San Francisco that is not entrenched in the city’s toxic politics and beholden to any power brokers. Daniel Lurie is the only person who represents that independence, and the only person who has the political will to actually change things.

From a community perspective, Daniel has earned my endorsement by expressing interest in engaging with the Muslim community in San Francisco and following through on it. That includes tough conversations regarding the local ceasefire resolution and Gaza; the rising anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hate here in San Francisco and how that has manifested; and by recently attending Jummah prayer at Masjid Tawheed (a mosque near downtown San Francisco). He hasn’t winced at or leaned out of difficult conversations; he has remained open, listened, and engaged without judgment which I appreciated and am also not used to within the political sphere. Additionally, I believe that he will put an excellent team together to run the city.

• Notes on other mayoral candidates:

Candidates who voted YES on the San Francisco ceasefire resolution: Ahsha Safai & Aaron Peskin

London Breed — Over the course of the past year, Mayor Breed has been incredibly disappointing from a Muslim and Arab community perspective. She has made misstep after misstep, the biggest one being her rhetoric and response to the Board of Supervisors passing the ceasefire resolution in January 2024.

At the literal 11th hour, she threatened to veto the ceasefire resolution. An emergency weeklong advocacy effort which resulted in thousands of emails being sent into her office firmly against a veto, and calls from many people close to her, saved the resolution from a veto but resulted in an inflammatory, heavily biased, and one-sided letter.

The letter was problematic for many reasons including factual errors, utilizing Israeli propaganda talking points, and failing to mention Islamophobia even once as it leaned heavily on “rising hate” in the city. It was crafted to signal to the small group of Zionists who had worked against the ceasefire resolution, throwing both the Muslim and Arab communities under the bus while fully dismissing and marginalizing the Jewish support the ceasefire resolution had received; including from the Jewish Supervisors who championed and voted for the resolution, and from the Jewish organizers and public commenters who supported it. A full response criticizing the Mayor’s letter is available here which I encourage you to read.

To date, nearly one year later, the Mayor has not acknowledged the points made in the response letter or replied to it.

Additional missteps include:

• City Hall Iftar boycott. Despite the disrespect shown to the community via her damaging ceasefire letter, Mayor Breed was going to participate in the City Hall Iftar dinner this past Spring. Her participation was conditional on issuing a public apology for the ceasefire letter; she declined to do so. As a result, AROC announced a boycott of the iftar and the Mayor ended up not attending.
• Declining to meet with Muslim community stakeholders until after the election. In August, the authors of the response to the mayor’s ceasefire letter — CAIR-SFBA, AROC, and Jewish Voice for Peace — requested a meeting with Mayor Breed ahead of the election. Nearly three weeks after the initial request was sent, the Mayor’s team informed this group that she would not to meet with them until after the election. This indicates that these organizations and the communities they represent are not priorities to the Mayor.
• Failing to acknowledge anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hate incidents in San Francisco. Although multiple anti-Arab and anti-Muslim hate incidents have happened in San Francisco since October 2023, the Mayor has not made public statements about them. Most notably, there was a hate incident at Masjid Tawheed in April, and an Islamophobic hate speech attack at McLaren Park during Eid prayer in June. The Mayor did not issue statements or social media posts about either incident.
• Vilifying AROC and stoking community divisions. Instead of taking opportunities to clear up misconceptions and be fair and equitable to all communities and stakeholders, Mayor Breed has stoked the very divisiveness she herself vehemently condemned by throwing AROC under the bus at a Jewish community event in June.

Mark Farrell (do not rank) — Mark Farrell appears to be the most closely MAGA aligned candidate in this mayoral race, and will likely be the top candidate who people voting for Donald Trump and JD Vance vote for in the race for San Francisco Mayor.

From a community perspective, I saw a statement his campaign shared with a friend who asked about Farrell’s stance on Gaza and the local ceasefire resolution, and his statement indicated that his position was worse than Mayor Breed’s position. The statement opened with the idea that he would have blocked a ceasefire resolution from ever making it to the mayor’s desk in the first place. Not sure how he would have done that, but he’s to the right of the spectrum of even Mayor Breed on Gaza.

Additionally, Farrell has been plagued with scandals and ethics violations and I do not believe that he has a real vision for the city. His plans seem to constitute taking San Francisco back to a moment in time that reminds me of the 1990’s. Going backwards is not the direction the city needs to go.

San Francisco Supervisor Races

Look Up Your Supervisor District Here

District 1 Supervisor endorsement — Jen Nossokoff #1; Connie Chan #2

#1 — Jen Nossokoff — District 1 is my district and this race is to select the person who will represent me in City Hall for the next four years. For me, that person is without a doubt Jen Nossokoff.

Jen is the candidate that aligns most with my values and has been consistently aligned with me on the issues I care about: seeing Muslims and Arabs as equal human beings worth acknowledging; has actively supported a ceasefire in Gaza; housing and urbanism; and condemning abuse, harassment, and assault.

#2 — Connie Chan — While I differ with Supervisor Chan on a number of issues, namely housing production and urbanism, I know that she believes in equity and understands the implications of race and classism on people’s lives. She doesn’t lower herself to using racist dog whistles and throwing marginalized communities under the bus to signal to some voters’ worst biases. Additionally, as the incumbent Supervisor, she was a ‘YES’ vote on the San Francisco ceasefire resolution in January.

• Notes on other candidates:

Marjan Philhour — Of the three candidates for District 1 listed within this write-up, I am least aligned with Marjan this cycle for a number of reasons.

Just four years ago in 2020, I spent a lot of my time and energy supporting Marjan’s second campaign for Supervisor which she ultimately lost to Supervisor Chan. However, this time around, Marjan is running a very different campaign — one which has been described by people within Marjan’s own sphere as ‘demonic.’

Marjan’s campaign has employed both racism and Islamophobia in an effort to court votes. In January 2024, Marjan’s campaign sent a letter to addresses in District 1 that were allegedly identified as Jewish households. The letter cast a negative light on the religion of Islam from its opening lines. It also employed an anti-Muslim trope implying that Islam is incompatible with Western society and values, included Israeli war propaganda, and leaned heavily on the “surrender and removal of Hamas” language which scholars on Israel have publicly stated is not possible without “​​the mass killing, displacement and starvation of Palestinian civilians in Gaza” and have advocated against due to the cost of doing so not being “morally acceptable.”

The ignorance and lack of care required to champion war at all costs and objectives that are widely viewed as unachievable, including the mass killing of Gazans, is viciously anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab. It also displays an irresponsible level of either willful ignorance or malice intent to win an election at any cost.

The entire purpose of this inflammatory, Islamophobic, and irresponsible letter was to take a Zionist, pro-war, anti-ceasefire position in contrast to Supervisor Chan’s position which was a ‘YES’ vote in support of the ceasefire resolution that was authored and championed by two Jewish Supervisors — Dean Preston and Hillary Ronen.

Marjan’s letter was so biased, one-sided, and Islamophobic that her campaign did not make this letter publicly available. It was sent to me by Jewish allies within District 1 who received it and were horrified by it.

No one who is so willing to stoke racism and Islamophobia and throw Arab and Muslim people under the bus to win votes should be elected to be Supervisor in San Francisco.

District 3 Supervisor endorsements — Danny Sauter #1; Sharon Lai #2

Danny Sauter #1 — I supported Danny in his first run four years ago, and am excited that he chose to run again. Danny has been engaged in the D3 community for years, and so committed to connecting with the constituents of the district, which includes Chinatown and a large monolingual Chinese community, that he’s been taking Cantonese lessons for the last 5+ years and has learned the language.

While some candidates effectively disappear from the community in between runs, Danny has been uber present in D3 since his run four years ago. He’s the only candidate this election cycle to whom I’ve maxed out my donations to because I believe in him that much.

Sharon Lai #2 — Sharon has served as a SFMTA Commissioner, municipal urban planner, and recently completed her Masters of Public Administration from the Kennedy School at Harvard University. She has experience working on critical issues facing San Francisco including housing and homelessness.

D3 is home to the United States oldest Chinatown and a majority Chinese-American population, and as someone who is Chinese-American, Sharon would not only add that representation to the Board of Supervisors, but also bring that representation for this specific district.

District 5 Supervisor endorsements — Bilal Mahmood #1; Dean Preston #2

Bilal Mahmood #1 — I’ve known Bilal since 2021 and have supported him in a number of campaigns for office: his race for Assembly (AD-17) in 2022; his race for Democratic County Central Committee (DCCC) earlier this year; and now in his race for Supervisor. We are aligned on several key issues including his approach to addressing homelessness, the need to build more housing to battle the housing shortage, and investing in public transit and expanding car-free streets.

If elected, Bilal would be the first Muslim American to serve on the Board of Supervisors. I believe that no one can represent a community better than someone from that specific community who has lived that experience, has knowledge of community culture, and needs in an intimate way, and can represent that voice and experience publicly on an elected body with a public platform.

Most of San Francisco’s elected officials do not see or care about San Francisco’s Muslim community. And that lack of care translates into how they interact with their Muslim American constituents and the issues that impact us. We need elected representation on the Board of Supervisors, and Bilal would represent and engage with San Francisco’s Muslim community.

Dean Preston #2 — Supervisor Preston championed the San Francisco ceasefire resolution earlier this year, and his willingness to take this effort on despite receiving threats and knowing how much of an uphill battle it would be is something that I will always be grateful to him and to his staff for.

Additionally, he has bravely continued to be vocal on Palestinian human rights, the brutality of the Israeli government, and about the genocide in Gaza consistently over the course of the last year. During his time as an elected official, he also spoke out against the Israeli government’s bombing of Gaza in May 2021.

Also, I ran into him at a Muslim community event in Oakland in May in which he was honored. Elected officials usually make brief appearances at events, but he came before the event kicked off and stayed until the very end and was one of the last people to leave — the Muslim community does not typically get this kind of engagement from San Francisco’s elected officials.

Supervisor Preston and I have differing views of housing development and the need for it at all levels, but I appreciate his commitment to and record on advocating for tenants rights which are an essential component of housing policy.

District 7 Supervisor endorsement — Myrna Melgar (sole) — Supervisor Melgar has proven herself to be an advocate for women, families, working people, and a housing champion over the course of her first term serving on the Board of Supervisors.

Some of Supervisor Melgar’s legislative wins include: combating gender-based violence, equal pay, reproductive health, expanding early childcare, building affordable housing, and improving access to public transportation. Of the current field of candidates, there is no one better to represent District 7 and it’s not even close.

Finally, as the incumbent Supervisor, she was a ‘YES’ vote on the San Francisco ceasefire resolution in January.

District 9 Supervisor — no endorsement

The way the leading candidates in this race have chosen to constantly vilify each other makes me wary of how they will conduct themselves on the Board of Supervisors. As a result, I don’t feel strongly on who to endorse in this race.

• Notes on the candidates:

Jackie Fielder — From a community lens, Jackie Fielder is the most consistent and vocal advocate on Palestinian human rights, supports a ceasefire in Gaza, and talks about the needs of people experiencing homelessness and working class people, and is an indigenous and queer woman.

Trevor Chandler (strongly recommend NOT voting for) — he worked at AIPAC for five years, adamantly opposes any and all ceasefire efforts in Gaza, and opposed the San Francisco ceasefire resolution which was passed at the Board of Supervisors in January.

District 11 Supervisor — Adlah Chisti and Earnest ‘EJ’ Jones (Dual Endorsement)

Adlah Chisti — As a single parent and mother to a toddler, Adlah understands exactly how San Francisco is failing working families, and what needs to change for working class families to be able to live and work here. She was born and raised D11 and currently serves as the primary caregiver for her aging parents which makes her uniquely qualified to represent the needs of San Francisco’s aging seniors at the Board of Supervisors, too.

Adlah has a diverse background of experience that she would be able to draw from as Supervisor — from serving as a 911 dispatcher, an 8th grade SFUSD public school teacher, an environmental planner for Caltrans, and from working on numerous political campaigns, including supervisor races. She has a law degree and two Master’s degrees in Public Policy and Education, respectively.

Finally, Adlah is Muslim American and if elected, would be the first Muslim American to serve on the Board of Supervisors. I believe that no one can represent a community better than someone from that specific community who has lived that experience, has knowledge of community culture and needs in an intimate way, and can represent that voice and experience publicly on an elected body with a public platform.

Earnest ‘EJ’ Jones — I’ve been very impressed by EJ’s commitment to his district and the way he’s navigated the political sphere over the course of this campaign. Born and raised in D11, he’s lived in it his entire life and has focused on organizing and working in the district, most recently as a legislative aide to Supervisor Safai, the current supervisor. He knows the district’s issues, challenges, strengths, and weaknesses intimately.

Additionally, I appreciate that he shows everyone respect, even in instances where he’s had the opportunity to make someone a villain, I’ve seen him avoid doing so and intentionally take the high road. This type of character is greatly lacking in San Francisco politics and we need more of it.

Finally, EJ would add more Black representation to the Board of Supervisors which is badly needed for the most marginalized community in the City.

San Francisco City Attorney

Endorsement — David Chiu

I’ve worked for David in the past and he is one of the best managers that I have ever had. He’s extremely dedicated in his role, capable, and has cultivated an incredibly effective team. There is no one better equipped to serve as the City Attorney of San Francisco.

San Francisco District Attorney

Endorsement — Ryan Khojasteh

Ryan is an experienced prosecutor who has served as an Assistant District Attorney for San Francisco, getting hundreds of kids back on track at San Francisco Juvenile Hall and prosecuting violent crimes. Ryan’s family’s own personal tragedy, his uncle’s senseless murder in 1996, is what led him to pursue a career in law. He has prosecuted thousands of misdemeanors, felonies, juvenile delinquency cases, violent crimes, probation and parole violations.

I am supporting Ryan for District Attorney because we need a DA who is focused on adhering to the rule of law equitably and not for political gain. Additionally, Ryan is Iranian American and would bring SWANA (South West Asian and North African) representation to the office.

• Notes on other District Attorney candidates:

Brooke Jenkins — The incumbent District Attorney has made a number of offenses against Muslim and Arab communities and our allies. Most notably, in an effort to signal to conservatives and racists, she made the unprecedented decision to charge some anti-war protestors who shut down traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge in April with felonies.

In addition, Jenkins also accepted gifts from the Israeli government, and one of the gifts was accepted three days before charging ceasefire protestors who shut down the Bay Bridge in November with unlawful public assembly and misdemeanors.

Also, someone on Jenkins staff made anti-Arab tweets from Jenkins official Twitter account calling a Palestine solidarity rally a “pro-Hamas” event in October. Due to public outrage and swift condemnation from the Muslim and Arab communities, Jenkins deleted the tweets, issued a statement clarifying her remarks, but did not issue an apology despite her harmful rhetoric coming only one day after the anti-Arab, anti-Muslim hate motivated murder of 6 year old Wadea Al-Fayoume in Chicago.

San Francisco Sheriff

Endorsement — Paul Miyamoto

San Francisco Treasurer

Endorsement — José Cisneros

California State Propositions & San Francisco Ballot Measures

San Francisco Ballot Measures

Learn more about San Francisco ballot measures here and here.

• Prop A — Bonds to Improve SF Schools — YES
• Prop B — Bonds to Enhance Health Care Facilities and Public Spaces — YES
• Prop C — New Inspector General Would Fight Local Corruption — YES
• Prop D — Eliminate City Commissions, Empower Mayor — NO
• Prop E — Eliminate City Commissions, Empower Mayor — YES
• Prop F — Delay Officer Retirement to Bolster Police Staffing — NO
• Prop G — Fund Housing for Extremely Low-Income Tenants — YES
• Prop H — Enable Earlier Retirement for Firefighters — YES
• Prop I — Give Nurses and 911 Operators Better Pension Plans — YES
• Prop J — Increase Oversight of City Funding for Children and Youth Programs — YES
• Prop K — Authorize Great Highway to Become Car-Free, Possibly a Park — YES
• Prop L — Tax Ride-Hailing and Autonomous Vehicle Companies to Fund Public Transit — YES
• Prop M — Overhaul SF Business Tax System — YES
• Prop N — Create Fund to Pay Off First Responders’ Student Loans — YES
• Prop O — Protect Access to Reproductive Care — YES

California Propositions

Learn more about the California ballot propositions here and here.

• Prop 2 — AUTHORIZES BONDS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACILITIES. LEGISLATIVE STATUTE — YES
• Prop 3 — CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO MARRIAGE. LEGISLATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT — YES
• Prop 4 — AUTHORIZES BONDS FOR SAFE DRINKING WATER, WILDFIRE PREVENTION, AND PROTECTING COMMUNITIES AND NATURAL LANDS FROM CLIMATE RISKS. LEGISLATIVE STATUTE — YES
• Prop 5 — ALLOWS LOCAL BONDS FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE WITH 55% VOTER APPROVAL. LEGISLATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT — YES
• Prop 6 — ELIMINATES CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION ALLOWING INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE FOR INCARCERATED PERSONS. LEGISLATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT — YES
• Prop 32 — RAISES MINIMUM WAGE. INITIATIVE STATUTE — YES
• Prop 33 — EXPANDS LOCAL GOVERNMENTS’ AUTHORITY TO ENACT RENT CONTROL ON RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY. INITIATIVE STATUTE — YES
• Prop 34 — RESTRICTS SPENDING OF PRESCRIPTION DRUG REVENUES BY CERTAIN HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS. INITIATIVE STATUTE — NO RECOMMENDATION
• Prop 35 — PROVIDES PERMANENT FUNDING FOR MEDI-CAL HEALTH CARE SERVICES. INITIATIVE STATUTE — YES
• Prop 36 — ALLOWS FELONY CHARGES AND INCREASES SENTENCES FOR CERTAIN DRUG AND THEFT CRIMES. INITIATIVE STATUTE — NO

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