SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A former interim mayor of San Francisco announced Tuesday he’s running for his previous job, joining a competitive field of candidates who say the city has crumbled under the watch of Mayor London Breed, who is up for reelection this year.
Mark Farrell served as interim mayor of San Francisco from January to July 2018, when Breed was elected to finish the term of Ed Lee, who died in office. The lawyer and former city supervisor said he had not planned to return to politics but feels he has the right skills to turn San Francisco around.
“It is really painful to watch the city you love and you grew up in maligned across the globe,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press. He has scheduled a press conference for later Tuesday morning.
Breed, the first Black woman to lead San Francisco, was reelected in 2019 to a full term that has lasted five years since voters changed the election calendar to line up with presidential contests. There is no traditional March primary. Instead, all the contenders will appear on the November ballot and voters will rank them by preference.
San Francisco’s downtown has struggled to recover from the pandemic, and residents and businesses continue to complain about vandalism, store break-ins, tent encampments and open drug use.
“Polls show she is going to have a very difficult reelection,” Eric Jaye, a veteran Democratic political consultant, said of Breed’s chances. “Her challenge is that voters in San Francisco are in a pretty sour mood … and they want to hold someone responsible.”
Jaye is not working for any of the candidates this cycle but in previous mayoral races, his communications firm has represented moderate and progressive candidates in San Francisco and San Jose.
San Francisco has a reputation of upholding progressive politics, but the four major candidates, including Farrell and Breed, are considered centrist Democrats in that they…
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