San Francisco mayoral race sees first alliance between Mark Farrell and Ahsha Safaí
The first alliance between two San Francisco mayoral candidates has formed as they look for any advantage they can get in the tight race for the city's top office.
Former interim mayor Mark Farrell and current San Francisco Supervisor Ahsha Safaí have teamed up to encourage their separate supporters to rank the other in one of the top spots on the ballot in the city's ranked choice voting section.
"No one's going to win this race on their own, and I think everyone understand there needs to be an alliance for a victory and a path forward," Safaí told CBS News Bay Area Thursday.
The alliance roughly one month out from Election Day marks a significant moment as the candidates look to optimize the ranked choice system that could lead to a second or even third-ranked candidate to a victory.
"This political environment, this ranked choice voting environment, really forces you to think about that in a deliberate way. So as I said, I'm committed to winning this race to fight all the way to the end, but I'm also going to tell people choose Mark as well. And I think that's an important message," Safaí said.
Safaí has touted himself as a candidate for working-class San Franciscans who will focus on prioritizing affordable living and implementing community policing. He has served as a city supervisor for District 11 — that includes Ingleside, Crocker Amazon and Excelsior neighborhoods — since 2017.
Farrell has taken a hard-lined approach to public safety and has vowed to replace the city's police chief and declare a fentanyl state of emergency if elected. He served as supervisor for District 2 — that includes the Marina, Cow Hollow and Pacific Heights neighborhoods — from 2011 to 2018 and also served as interim mayor from January to July of 2018 in the wake of former mayor Ed Lee's death.
The ranked choice voting system has been in place in San Francisco since 2002 and aims to avoid run-off elections in a city with a contentious political sphere. Voters rank their preferred candidates — up to 10 candidates — and when ballots are counted, the lowest-ranked candidate is dropped off the ballot. The ballots are then re-tallied until one candidate reaches a majority which experts anticipate won't be for at least two weeks after election day.
Latest polls show Farrell, incumbent mayor London Breed, and non-profit executive Daniel Lurie polling highest with between 20-30% of the vote, but all are far from a majority. Polls have showed Safaí and Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin polling below 10%.
Lurie's campaign says they do not plan to join forces with any other candidate.
"This is nothing more than insiders protecting insiders as desperation sets in. Protectors of the failed status quo fear the change that Daniel is going to bring to City Hall," said Lurie campaign consultant Tyler Law.
Peskin also does not see an upside to joining forces with another candidate.
"If Ahsha goes public with an endorsement of Farrell, he will lose what few votes he already has right now," Jim Stearns, a consultant for Peskin's campaign said.
Breed's campaign has not responded to our request for comment.
One political science professor told CBS News Bay Area an alignment could be a key to success on election day.
"It's about whose campaign has the understanding that it goes beyond the general campaign to the electoral structure of San Francisco and how to manipulate it -- and I mean that in the most positive way, not in a negative way -- how to manipulate it or negotiate it in a way that produces the outcome that that that is desired," said USF professor James Taylor. "And that means finding friends or partners or mutual allies, allied against a mutual enemy, that my enemy's enemy is my you know, my friend, that kind of thing."