5 Takeaways from the 1st San Francisco Mayoral Candidate Debate

San Francisco’s first mayoral debate was — well, it certainly happened.

I took in Wednesday night’s political scuffle alongside a pack of journalists sitting in the nosebleed section of the Sydney Goldstein Theater. By the end, I had the distinct impression of not being distinctly impressed.

Mayor London Breed, former Mayor Mark Farrell, Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie and Supervisors Aaron Peskin and Ahsha Safaí all argued their visions for San Francisco’s future. They sang the songs we’d heard before.

Still, some new twists emerged. Here are a few from this reporter’s notebook.

Farrell continues to push Breed’s messaging rightward

Farrell is a Democrat who isn’t afraid to push San Francisco in a conservative direction, like bringing armed National Guard troops to patrol the Tenderloin to stem the fentanyl crisis.

Farrell called harm reduction a failure on stage. Harm reduction is an approach offering services to drug users even when they continue their habit. Farrell favors abstinence-only treatment. Harm reduction is considered a health-centric approach and is part of President Joe Biden’s drug policy.

Breed took the bait.

“We are not just using harm reduction to help people with treatment,” she said. “We are using abstinence-based treatment, which was never a part of our public health response.”

Peskin took a risk, leaning into progressive messaging

Peskin wobbly walked a tightrope, offering solutions for the fentanyl and housing crises that may appeal to centrist Democrats while still keeping his core progressive base happy.

But his scorched-earth message at the end of the night was aimed squarely at the left, lighting up Farrell for benefiting from contributions from hard-right Republican William Oberndorf, who has donated millions to Republicans nationally who favor abortion bans. Breed drew support for her ballot measures from “crypto kings and venture capitalists,” he said.

“There’s an old saying in politics, ‘Follow the money,’” Peskin said.

Farrell needs more gay friends

Co-moderator Manny Yekutiel tossed a softball to the candidates: Name your favorite drag queen.

Safaí, who answered first, said Honey Mahogany, who drew fame for her appearance on Ru Paul’s Drag Race and her stint as San Francisco Democratic Party chair.

“I’m going to give the same answer, Honey Mahogany,” said Farrell, who spoke next.

The crowd howled. It certainly sounded like Farrell couldn’t think of another drag queen.

Last month, at the first mayoral forum, Farrell declined to specifically name his top friends and advisors from the LGBTQ community. Seriously, someone take that man to The Stud.

Lurie’s performance was OK, but he needed a grand slam

Lurie, the former CEO of Tipping Point, an anti-poverty nonprofit, is a relative unknown in city politics. He needed an explosive night to propel his campaign into the more heated months of the mayor’s race. He didn’t get that.

Candidates spent the night dunking on Lurie’s lack of government experience. Lurie also struggled to shed his rich guy persona.

When asked to name his favorite bar, Lurie answered The Blue Light, a Cow Hollow watering hole. No offense to The Blue Light, and no hate to Cow Hollow, where I grew up in a rent-controlled apartment. It’s one of the city’s wealthiest enclaves and doesn’t exactly radiate everyman vibes.

Safaí struggled for recognition and to pick a lane

The most successful candidates craft identities you can describe in a sentence.

Breed portrays herself as a comeback kid celebrating a rejuvenated San Francisco. Farrell wants to be seen as a pragmatist who will save the city from wayward progressives. Lurie projects as a sensible outsider with CEO know-how. Peskin hopes to be the city’s personal Jiminy Cricket, steering San Francisco back toward progressive values many believe it has abandoned.

I don’t know Safaí’s elevator pitch. And after his debate performance, I’m not sure he knows it himself.

At one point, during a heated back and forth between Heather Knight, a debate moderator and San Francisco bureau chief of The New York Times and Breed, Knight completely skipped over Safaí’s turn to answer a question — almost as if she forgot he was on stage.