Nearly 1 in 5 San Francisco residents are Chinese American. So if you want to be mayor, you need to win over the city’s Chinese communities. KQED’s Sydney Johnson tells us how the candidates are trying to woo voters in this year’s mayoral race, especially when it comes to public safety.
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Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:03:50] I’m Ericka Cruz Guevara and welcome to the bay. Local news to keep you rooted. If you want to win over San Francisco, you’re going to have to win over the Chinese American community, which makes up nearly 22% of the city’s population. And Chinese Americans have a long history of political organizing in the city. From the fight to desegregate schools to advocating for safe, affordable housing.
Sydney Johnson [00:04:21] And so mayoral hopefuls really see this as an activated and significant voting bloc.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:04:27] For this voting bloc, public safety is a top issue in this year’s mayoral race. Today, what candidates for mayor are doing to win over Chinese American voters.
Sydney Johnson [00:05:42] Chinese-Americans in this city have had a long history of political organizing and activity.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:05:49] Sidney Johnson is a reporter for KQED.
Sydney Johnson [00:05:53] Some of the larger neighborhoods where this community is concentrated include Chinatown, which historically has a lot more renters. There’s also on the west side in the Richmond the Sunset. It’s a little bit more suburban. You have some more homeowners and families also Viz Valley, you know, in the southeast corner of the city, a little more working class, a little bit more diverse. And, you know, these candidates are looking at all of those neighborhoods really closely.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:06:25] And you mentioned Chinese American voters being very active for many years on many different issues. But what is rising to the top for a Chinese American voters this year?
Sydney Johnson [00:06:36] Over the years, polls have shown that issues that rise to the top for Chinese Americans in San Francisco are things like education and housing and affordability, you know, kind of just daily life issues. But in recent years, there was a real spike in attacks against Asian Americans here in San Francisco and across the country. And San Francisco in particular, really became a hub for stop AAPI hate activism. And that energy carried over and public safety kind of ballooned into this top issue for a lot of these voters in the 2022 election season. We saw that energy harnessed and Chinese Americans really showed up to the polls for the school board recall and the district attorney recall.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:07:26] And you went to actually talk to Chinese American voters. What is this the the range of things that you heard.
Sydney Johnson [00:07:36] They said that things, you know, maybe feel a little bit better right now, but that’s compared to some of the worst days of the pandemic and they still don’t feel safer.
Sydney Johnson [00:07:45] Hopefully. Yeah. What’s troubling you?
Diane Lee [00:07:47] Yeah. Everything? Yeah.
Sydney Johnson [00:07:50] I met Diane Lee at the Sunset Night Market a couple of Fridays ago. She was walking around with a couple of her girlfriends.
Diane Lee [00:07:57] Well, the homeless, right? Crime.
Sydney Johnson [00:08:00] She said she’s lived here almost her whole life, but she’s never felt less safe than she does now and is worried about her grandchildren growing up here.
Diane Lee [00:08:09] I mean, they’re 12 years old. We want to make sure that they’re not they’re safe on the, you know, the buses that they live.
Sydney Johnson [00:08:17] Diane pulled no punches. She said she’s a moderate Democrat, but that she’s just fed up. Even though rates around violent crime and retail theft are lower right now. But she said that there’s just this feeling of, you know, discomfort and disarray that she hasn’t been able to kick.
Sydney Johnson [00:08:35] And I’m sorry, I didn’t ask her name.
Fiona Tan [00:08:37] I’m Fiona. Fiona, your Sydney.
Sydney Johnson [00:08:39] Fiona Tan grew up around San Francisco. She is attending college and is home right now for summer and is working on Aaron Peskin’s campaign as a volunteer.
Fiona Tan [00:08:50] I think the big thing for me is like it seems like the public safety is a big issue.
Sydney Johnson [00:08:55] You know, she really wants to see community solutions for issues that have been going on around public safety since Covid.
Fiona Tan [00:09:04] You know, there’s been a lot of Asian hate, and I think that’s something that really needs to be addressed. You know, somebody pushed into the subway not too long ago this year and things like that were just, you.
Sydney Johnson [00:09:15] At the end of the day, I think it’s really about how people feel when they’re doing their daily activities. Can I buy groceries for my family? Is my street clean and can my children walk home safe from school? And, you know, I really have heard from some folks things as extreme as, you know, trying to increase incarceration and increase that type of accountability. But also a lot of Chinese American voters who are like, we need to keep people housed and work on these root causes of some of these crimes, like poverty, and how do we improve that within our own communities?
Fiona Tan [00:09:48] I think everything stems from that one issue of public safety. And I think if we can address that, we can address everything else.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:09:56] So what are the different ways that these mayoral candidates are trying to win over Chinese-American voters like Diane and Fiona?
Sydney Johnson [00:10:05] Yeah. You know, there there is a lot of overlap in terms of actual policies that they’re putting forward. You know, a lot of the candidates are saying we want a fully staffed the police department. Things like increasing foot patrols. But there is kind of a wide gulf between how the candidates are leaning into public safety as a topic. Some kind of further on the right are really leaning into that fear and that feeling of discomfort that has lingered from the pandemic. And then you have others that are kind of trying to talk about that. The city is already improving and we’re trying to make that better and bring people together. So how how candidates are actually talking about this can vary, but this political spectrum that we’re working with here is all moderate Democrats for the most part, you know, minus Peskin, who leans a little bit more progressive from that as well. Aside from just the, you know, conversations and rhetoric, candidates are also trying to show that they’re not just, you know, talking the talk. So they’re hiring chiefs of staff that are Chinese American. They’re hiring volunteers, different age brackets to speak with their communities and share messages on WeChat and get out there and speak in their native languages. And so that is really a big focus of these campaigns as well.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:11:36] Yeah. Let’s talk about how some of these candidates are trying to court Chinese-American voters, starting with Mayor London Breed.
London Breed [00:11:46] Are we ready yet?
Sydney Johnson [00:11:48] Well, Breed has been, you know, really out and about this whole election season, getting in front of voters and Chinese American voters in particular.
London Breed [00:11:57] It is because of our Chinese community that we are on the map as a global city with one of the.
Sydney Johnson [00:12:04] I recently attended a event that she had in Chinatown at a restaurant where she was surrounded by merchants and community leaders who were announcing their support for her to be reelected.
London Breed [00:12:18] And why so many of these incredible leaders are here to support me today is because they know that I have been very aggressive about ensuring San Francisco’s place on the global stage. The, you know.
Sydney Johnson [00:12:33] Breed admitted to some of the real struggles at the city, and that community in particular were going through.
London Breed [00:12:40] The rise in anti-Asian hate impacted this neighborhood more than any other neighborhood in the city.
Sydney Johnson [00:12:47] But then she comes around that and says, but look at what we’ve done. And she talks about things like increasing surveillance tools for the police, which was something that she got passed on the March ballot.
London Breed [00:13:00] And now, as crime is at its lowest, its lowest in over ten years, it’s.
Sydney Johnson [00:13:10] And so she was really trying to come out and say, hey, look, we are doing more to address safety. And look, we are supporting police here. And at the same time, you know, in all of that, trying to make these voters believe that the city is on a better track and that Breed is the one who’s steering that ship.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:13:27] Yeah, she sort of has the tough job of trying to convince people that she has been doing something about this, this feeling of an increase in crime rate because she is the incumbent.
Sydney Johnson [00:13:40] Right. And it’s a hard line to walk because you also can’t deny, you know, and invalidate voters concerns and voters fears, but trying to convince them that you are doing more and that things are on a better track at the same time is is a really tricky line to walk.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:13:59] Now, let’s talk about Mark Farrell. And can you actually even remind us who he is and how he’s sort of been trying to court Chinese American voters in the city?
Sydney Johnson [00:14:09] Yeah. Mark Farrell is a former supervisor and was actually an interim mayor in San Francisco. And he has been coming out with some of the most pro-police proposals of any of the candidates. He’s talked about ordering a state of emergency in his first 100 days and having the National Guard with boots on the ground in San Francisco. Like other candidates, too, he wants to fully fund the police department. He wants to increase police academy is throughout the year, wants to increase police salaries and expand city wide bans on things like illegal vending, increase law enforcement, foot patrols and presence around areas like U.N. Plaza and the Tenderloin. He’s also taken opportunities like the recent shooting of a 49ers player near Union Square to say Breed’s efforts to make the city safe are lagging. You know, Breed said that was a crass, opportunistic play and defended the city’s crime stats. But, you know, it’s really been sort of this attack on how San Francisco hasn’t done enough to make people feel safe. And that has really been Mark Farrell’s approach.
Mark Farrell [00:15:16] It is together that we will win this election in November and we will bring San Francisco back and make sure that is the public safety that we all deserve here.
Sydney Johnson [00:15:26] I went to an event recently in this valley with Mark Farrell, where he was surrounded by Chinese American elders, and he was announcing his endorsement from the Sheriffs Association. You know, he pretty quickly started talking about just how things like crime and he mentioned homelessness have gotten out of control in the city.
Mark Farrell [00:15:46] Right. When you talk to people and they see the local Walgreens and CBS stores getting looted every single day in front of their own eyes, that doesn’t make them feel safe in their neighborhoods. When you have specific communities like our AAPI community here in San Francisco have hate crimes just against them because of the color of their skin or who they look like. That to me is unacceptable.
Sydney Johnson [00:16:07] And that there needs to be a change in city hall and someone who’s going to be tough on crime. I think really, you know, he’s been focusing on pointing out the real problems at the city.
Mark Farrell [00:16:18] We have had failed leadership in city hall under Mayor Breed in terms of public safety. Not only our police department, not only our fire department. And as we’ve talked about today in our sheriff’s department, we need a mayor who’s going to prioritize it. Once again, I will do exactly that as mayor.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:16:32] Sounds like he’s speaking very much to the people who don’t like how things might be working in San Francisco right now. Right. And Daniel Lurie, the the Levi Strauss heir sort of is also positioning himself as this outsider candidate. How have you seen him courting Chinese-American voters as probably the lesser known candidate in the race?
Sydney Johnson [00:16:57] You know, I think one thing that Daniel’s been doing to court any voter across the city is is actually leaning into that fact that he’s an outsider and saying, look, the people that I’m running against have been in city hall and they got us into this mess. And Lurie, as you know, he founded this nonprofit called The Tipping Point, which is a big anti poverty nonprofit. He’s saying, I can translate this experience and change some things in city hall.
Daniel Lurie [00:17:22] The store owners and the merchants on that street. Many AAPI store owners say to me every single time I’m out there, public safety is sort of their number one issue in Chinatown. Public safety’s their number one issue.
Sydney Johnson [00:17:37] In terms of public safety. There are still some overlaps with opponents on on all sides that he’s up against. You know, he also wants to declare a state of emergency, although he doesn’t plan to bring in the National Guard and have boots on the ground. So there’s some similarity and difference there with Farrell.
Sydney Johnson [00:17:59] I recently followed Daniel Lurie around the sunset night market, which, you know, this is a really prominent Asian American community. There was just tons of food and music and people. It was a great time.
Sydney Johnson [00:18:15] Looking forward to any particular snacks or bites?
Daniel Lurie [00:18:18] I don’t know what’s in there yet. The only problem I have is I end up wanting to eat something at every thing, and by the end of the first block, I’m stuffed. Yeah.
Sydney Johnson [00:18:28] But it was really interesting to see Lurie, you know, just communicating with everyday voters and also just seeing the questions that they came up to him with.
Diane Lee [00:18:36] How are you going to get rid of the homeless?
Daniel Lurie [00:18:38] We’re going to get them in the shelter. We’re going to get them bus tickets home and then we’re going to get those that are suffering on our streets. We’re going to get them into mental health and drug treatment.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:18:47] And then last but not least, there is San Francisco supervisor Aaron Peskin, whose district includes Chinatown. And I imagine there’s a lot less introducing he probably has to do in the Chinese American community, right?
Sydney Johnson [00:19:02] Yes. He has been the supervisor for Chinatown and North Beach and really, you know, is well known in those communities.
Aaron Peskin [00:19:10] Hey, Kevin. Kevin Aaron Peskin here running for mayor. Yeah, I’ve been here before. Would love to have your support.
Sydney Johnson [00:19:17] I walked around with him in the Richmond, so on the west side of the city and actually you could see some of that, you know, awareness translating.
Aaron Peskin [00:19:26] I’m Aaron and I’m running for mayor.
Voter [00:19:28] Of course. I’ve met you before at Red’s.
Aaron Peskin [00:19:30] At Red’s! Oh, back in the day.
Sydney Johnson [00:19:33] There were people coming up to him who said, My friend lives in Chinatown and calls you the bearded one and. Yeah. And so some of that experience, it seems, has translated.
Aaron Peskin [00:19:44] When I go walk. Clement Street, Irving Street Tariff, Noriega. And I know a lot of people because I wasn’t the supervisor who only showed up at election time. I’ve showed up like 52 weeks a year in Chinatown.
Sydney Johnson [00:19:59] And Aaron is also talking about things like increasing some police salaries, basically how to keep police on the force. He’s also been really touting things like bringing in all Cantonese speaking force of officers to Chinatown. I will say also, you know, Aaron, being the most progressive candidate in this race, I think is really trying to define his approach by focusing on some of the external factors related to crime, related to safety, and talking to voters about what would also make them feel safe, in addition to, you know, making sure that the police department is fully staffed and having those systems running.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:20:47] Well, I want to move on to the takeaways here, Sidney. Is there any one of these candidates who we know is rising to the top for Chinese American voters right now?
Sydney Johnson [00:20:56] I think it’s really hard to say. You know, San Francisco also has a ranked choice voting system, which makes this all even more potentially interesting. And but it one way to look at this could be just the different endorsements that some of these leading candidates have gotten. You know, Breed got the backing of the Chinatown Neighborhood Association, various merchants and the police union, which really speaks to her public safety push. Peskin has the Chinese Tenants Association backing him. It’s the largest tennis association in the city. And on top of that, he’s put forward a proposal to expand rent control across the city just recently. Farrell, meanwhile, has won over the Chinese American Democratic Club, which has leaned a little more right on some issues recently. And then Lurie has gotten backing from people like former police commander Paul Yap and Betty Louie, a Chinatown community advocate. So, you know, it seems like they’re all real, really still fighting to get different slices of this demographic ahead of the election. And, you know, we’re really just going to have to see.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:22:01] One thing I’m wondering is like, what do we make of the fact that there isn’t much differentiating these candidates on the issue of public safety? Like, is this really going to be the issue, public safety, that’s going to make or break one candidate’s chances with the Chinese American community?
Sydney Johnson [00:22:21] You know, even though there’s plenty of polling saying that public safety is, you know, the number one issue in San Francisco right now, and for Chinese American voters, improved public safety, you can look really different to different people. You know, many just want to see a policing system that responds fast and is accountable. They want to feel safe in their communities. So I think that this is going to be an issue that drives people to the polls. But how different candidates are squaring away with what their public safety vision is will probably be where voters end up shaking out. Yeah.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:22:59] Well, Sydney, thank you so much.
Sydney Johnson [00:23:01] Thank you.