In SF Mayor’s Race, Farrell Flips 2 Key Endorsements That Previously Went to Breed

Updated 4:05 p.m. Thursday

As the November election comes closer, two major groups are throwing their support behind the mayoral campaign of former San Francisco Supervisor Mark Farrell.

The union representing the city’s firefighters announced Thursday that its members had overwhelmingly voted Farrell as their sole endorsement for mayor — a blow to incumbent London Breed, who received the same nod in 2018.

“Our members are on the front lines of the opioid crisis, the conditions on the streets and homeless encampments and small outside fires. I can’t help but think all of those things played into what members looked at and listened intently to,” said Floyd Rollins, president of the San Francisco Fire Fighters Local 798.

Farrell has positioned himself furthest to the right among the mostly moderate slate of mayoral candidates with promises to ramp up police crackdowns on street homelessness and drug use. His opponents, meanwhile, have pointed out that a budget deficit, a lack of shelter beds or housing for people living on the street, and overcrowded jails weaken the tough-on-crime argument that has resonated with Farrell’s supporters.

On Thursday, he welcomed the firefighters’ endorsement, which will come with campaign support. Local 798 is one of the city’s largest unions and has broad appeal to everyday voters who put trust in the Fire Department, making its endorsement highly coveted.

“I grew up in a working-class, union family here in San Francisco that instilled the values of community, solidarity, and collective strength in me from a young age,” Farrell told reporters on Thursday. “As mayor, I promise that our firefighters and emergency medical responders will have the tools, support, and resources they need to do their jobs and make San Francisco safer and stronger.”

The union does not plan to set up an independent expenditure committee to raise money for Farrell, Rollins said, although it did in Breed’s previous campaign.

Farrell and another candidate, nonprofit founder Daniel Lurie, have come out in support of the union’s Proposition H, a ballot measure that would lower the full retirement age for the city’s firefighters from 58 to 55. The initiative is driven by concerns over research showing older firefighters in San Francisco and other major cities were more likely to die of lung cancer and leukemia due to prolonged exposure to smoke and other hazards.

Breed, who was on the fire commission before becoming a city supervisor, does not back Proposition H.

It was a good week for Farrell, who also received the top endorsement from San Francisco’s Chinese American Democratic Club. The group selected Lurie as its second pick and Breed for third in the ranked-choice system. The group had endorsed Breed as its top pick in her last run for mayor.

A battle over whether or not to permanently convert the Great Highway into a public park through another ballot measure, Proposition K, played a key factor in the decision. Farrell has come out against Proposition K, which would ban traffic on the road, while Breed, who herself has received backing from groups like SF YIMBY Action and the city’s primary Democratic Party organizing body, is backing the measure.

Recent polling from Probolsky Research found Breed and Farrell neck-and-neck at this stage in the race, with a simulated ranked-choice vote ending in Breed taking 50.8% to Farrell’s 49.2%. Their leading progressive opponent, Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, finished third with 28% of the vote before being eliminated in the last round before the head-to-head matchup.

The poll, which was funded by the San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs’ Association Political Action Committee, was taken from July 30 to Aug. 7 and asked responders to rank their top choices for candidates. The survey of 300 people was conducted by phone and online in English, Cantonese and Spanish, with a margin of error of 5.8%.

Adam Probolsky, president of Probolsky Research, said in a statement that to win in November, Breed “needs to hold on to every vote she has” while Farrell “has room to grow his support base from voters who are currently choosing other challenger candidates.”