News Analysis:
San Francisco Mayoral Election

By George Iechika McKinney & Sun Hyung Lee

San Francisco, CA - On November 2, Tom Ammiano accomplished the unthinkable. With $20,000 and a grassroots write-in campaign, he and his supporters forced a run-off election with the well-oiled political machine of incumbent Willie Brown, a thirty-year politician and lawyer.

Ammiano is a former public schoolteacher and strong progressive who has fought to expose corruption in city government. He advocates for the needs of the poor, and has carried union and workers' rights issues into City Hall. Ammiano is also openly gay, and white. Brown is African-American, liberal and closely tied to the city elite.

Many progressive activists were excited by the possibility of a new, progressive mayor. Those who could, devoted their time to help Tom win. Both liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans were frightened by the possibility of having a mayor who would threaten the interests of the wealthy and business class. As a result, the Democratic and Republican parties, as well as many politicians and large corporations, threw their endorsements and money to the Mayor Willie Brown.

The showdown between big business and the grassroots was on.

But at the end of 6 weeks, it became just another mainstream election.

What happened?

Ammiano had a lot going against him as he entered this race. Brown had a tremendous amount of money at his disposal for campaign and non-campaign related expenses. As the election drew near, Brown began funding a variety of projects ranging from senior vacation trips to neighborhood improvement. Brown was able to raise over $5 million for his campaign, 20 times over the amount Tom Ammiano did.

Brown's political machine also reached deeply into communities of color where he had many seasoned campaign workers. Having begun the election process a year before the actual election, most organizations had already formally endorsed Mayor Brown. The Democratic Party, labor unions, and many civic organizations had already committed their names and wallets.

Brown also had homophobia working on his side. Throughout the campaign subtle and not so subtle references to Ammiano's sexuality was used against him.

On his side, Ammiano had the strong grassroots support and energy that had propelled him into this historic runoff. But as the run-off campaign began, he chose an election strategy that moved him to the right politically. In order to broaden his base of support, Ammiano focused his campaign on small business and homeowners' issues, rather than his traditional base of tenants, working people, and progressive activists.

Ammiano also changed his political message and virtually stopped speaking out on key issues such as economic justice. Ammiano's political message during the mayoral race boiled down to, "I'm not Willie Brown." Instead of defining himself and his vision for San Francisco, he used "integrity, honesty, and openness" to attack Willie Brown's character and administration. His campaign did not speak to the working people of color that could have been attracted to his progressive politics.

Unable to win the support of most people of color, Ammiano's campaign staff and volunteers were mainly white. The lack of Asian staff and volunteers was apparent when Ammiano's campaign sent two white men into a predominantly Asian neighborhood the weekend before the election, conducting outreach across the street from Cantonese-speaking seniors tabling for Brown

The final runoff election vote on December 2 was 59% to 41%. Not a landslide as the mainstream newspapers claimed in their headlines. However, in a city that is 65% people of color and 65% renters, Ammiano's election strategy proved unequal to challenging, Brown's political machine, particularly in communities of color.

Many lessons can and should be learned from this election. Over and over we have seen, from Proposition 187 to this San Francisco mayoral race, that appealing to upper- and middle-class, white voters is not an effective strategy. It does not make sense to hide progressive politics.

By forcing the run off elections, progressives participating in the Ammiano campaign showed that it is possible to force the political system to talk about sky high rents and poverty wages, about our issues. This alone is a major accomplishment.

Most elections are about which candidate of big business will get into office. The Republican, Democratic, and Reform Parties serve the rich. Too often, politics in the United States have been about putting one individual into office rather than about the issues that are important to our communities. Often, the entire process just marginalizes and hurts everyday people. Unfortunately, what is billed as "practical," often becomes the strategy of even grassroots activists, "Get out the vote," versus, "Get out the issues."

To make politics relevant to people, we must move away from supporting individual candidates and create political parties that will champion our issues and be accountable to the people's needs.

Unless we learn from our experience for future battles, Ammiano may come out of this a stronger politician, but little else will change for the people.