Former San Francisco Supervisor Mark Farrell Makes a Comeback Bid for Mayor

San Francisco voters will choose their next mayor this November, and we are going to bring you interviews with all of the top candidates.

Mark Farrell, the former San Francisco supervisor who briefly served as interim mayor following Mayor Ed Lee’s death, is running to unseat incumbent Mayor London Breed.

Here are five key takeaways from his interview on KQED’s Political Breakdown.

Farrell represented some of the wealthiest San Franciscans as supervisor — and is taking big donations

Farrell grew up in the Marina on Broderick Street before pursuing careers in corporate law, investment banking and venture capital. He served as a San Francisco supervisor from 2011 to 2018, representing several of the city’s wealthiest areas, including the Marina, Cow Hollow, Pacific Heights and the Presidio.

When asked how everyday voters can relate to him, Farrell underscored his modest upbringing.

“Everything that I have been able to accomplish in the private sector was on my own accord,” he said, like “working 80-hour weeks for years.”

Farrell has consistently attracted large financial support throughout his political career. Now, in his quest to become mayor, he has stood out from his opponents for taking donations from major conservative donors like William Oberndorf and Tom Coates. He’s also faced scrutiny for allegedly attempting to bypass campaign contribution limits through a ballot initiative.

“Would I rather have money out of politics? Of course, I would,” Farrell told KQED. “But it is what it is, and you have to play by those rules.”

Increasing police is a top priority

Farrell has been one of the loudest critics of incumbent London Breed’s ability to handle crime and drug-related issues in the city. “Our image under this mayor has been crushed,” he said, referring to high-profile robberies like at the city’s Louis Vuitton store in 2021.

Farrell views increasing the police force as the primary solution to those issues. He also supports efforts to remove the Police Oversight Commission, which could get slashed if a ballot measure to cut back commissions, which Farrell also supports, passes this November.

“If we are going to be honest and bring our city forward and change our city for the better, we have to be honest about where we sit today,” he said, “And change our leadership in City Hall.”

Vows to maintain aggressive approach to clearing homeless encampments

Farrell highlights that during his tenure as interim mayor, the city successfully cleared major homeless encampments. As many have sprung back up, he said the city needs to continue aggressively clearing sidewalks of tents, even if people sleeping outside refuse offers of shelter.

“In 2018, we offered people shelter or housing, and if they said no, we took their tent encampment away,” Farrell said. “To me, you treat them with compassion and respect, but at the end of the day… our sidewalks are for everyone.”

When pressed on the city’s shortage of shelter beds and lack of housing for every person currently sleeping outside, Farrell said he believes housing should be built “in every single neighborhood throughout San Francisco.”

He says his ethics complaints are a ‘smear’ effort by opponents

Farrell defended his record when questioned about his past fine from the city’s Ethics Commission during his time as supervisor, and more recent allegations of improper financing through the commission reform ballot initiative.

“Everything we have done in the course of this campaign has been vetted by and cleared by our attorneys,” Farrell said. “It’s all of my opponents really trying to distract from the real issues on the campaign.”

To root out corruption across the city, Farrell proposes creating a new department to centralize and oversee all third-party contracts with for-profit and nonprofit organizations, which he believes have long operated “with their own agendas.”

An immigrant parent and a Catholic education shape who he is today

A son of a German immigrant, Farrell said learning to read and write his mother’s native language at Saturday school and spending time on family farms near the Baltic Sea gave him a unique perspective “very different from the urban environment I grew up in day to day.”

Back in San Francisco, Farrell’s parents enrolled him in Catholic school, where he excelled in sports, an experience he said “really cut across” the city’s economic and social lines. Now raising his own children in San Francisco, Farrell has chosen to also send his kids to private schools. But in order for the whole city to function, he said, “we need to have a great public school system.”