Behind the Ballot: Mark Farrell, candidate for San Francisco mayor
In a new series, CBS News Bay Area spent time with each of the major candidates for San Francisco mayor. First up, former supervisor Mark Farrell.
Farrell is among several candidates seeking to unseat Mayor London Breed, who is seeing a second term.
For Farrell, this time of year isn't just election season, it's also the start of football season.
It's marked by his first trip of the school year to Saint Ignatius College Preparatory, where his son, Jack, is playing in a football scrimmage.
"The point is, for us as parents, is to be super engaged with our kids, and sports is a big way to do that," he told CBS News Bay Area.
St. Ignatius is not only where his kids have attended school, but also where he went to high school.
Stepping back onto his old stomping grounds, he's reminded of his time playing sports on the very field he watches his son play today.
"Playing on a field that I played on and going to some of the same classrooms. Absolutely, it's bizarre, but it's also cool at the same point in time," Farrell explained.
While some classrooms and many teachers have changed since Farrell attended school at the Outer Sunset campus, nothing has changed more than Farrell himself. Now prioritizing his role as dad and candidate for mayor.
"I'm a dad first. Period," he said. "And if you ask me, What's the most important thing I do in life, what's the thing I enjoy doing the most in life, it's being a dad."
Sports and parenting go hand in hand in the Farrell house, coaching his kids both on and off the field. For Farrell, those lessons can be seen in his goals as an aspiring city leader.
"If we're going to bring our city back. If we're going to restore all the things and fix all the things that are our issues right now, we have to be honest about where we sit to really have a sustained path forward. And leadership is a big part of that. And taking that from the athletic field to City Hall, it's a very natural extension," said Farrell.
It's an extension he's made before as interim mayor in 2017. After nearly seven years watching from the sidelines, he's hoping to get back onto the political field. But for Farrell, it's his family he says that has brought him this far.
"Nobody's perfect. Our children aren't. I'm not. But really proud of who they are as human beings more than anything else," said Farrell. "And again, if that's the one thing I do in life, it's helped be a great parent to our kids. That's, that's life well lived."
Using that motivation to get him across the finish line this fall.
