Good afternoon sf.citi members,
I’m writing you today to provide you with results from this week’s special Assembly District 17 election and an update on the City’s redistricting efforts.
Assembly District 17 Election
Constituents of District 17—consisting of the entire eastern portion of the City— participated in an election to choose their next State Assemblymember to replace David Chiu, who’s now the new City Attorney. In Tuesday’s election, District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney defeated former Supervisor David Campos by garnering 63.3 percent of the vote compared to 36.7 percent.
Though Haney will soon be heading to Sacramento, he will have to run again in both the June 7 primary election and the November 8 general election. That said, Mayor Breed will now have the opportunity to fill his vacant seat on the Board of Supervisors, which poses an excellent opportunity for the Mayor to place another moderate voice among a very progressive-leaning Board—though mayoral appointees have not had much recent success e.g. Jeff Sheehy and Julie Christensen. Whoever Mayor Breed appoints will have to run in the regularly scheduled election in November 2022.
San Francisco Redistricting
The City’s redistricting process, which occurs every 10 years based on shifts in population as defined by the latest census, is carried out by the volunteer Redistricting Task Force. As you’ve likely seen, the latest proposed maps have drawn fierce criticism and debate from the community, specifically as accusations that the newly proposed maps diminish the voice and power of multiple community groups. Task Force meetings have been contentious, with hours of public comment lasting into the early morning hours, members of the task force walking out in protest, and accusations of racism and pushing of political agendas. The Mayor has also publicly supported the task force’s efforts and condemned protesters for suggesting members should be removed.
As a result of pushback and protests, the Task Force surpassed their April 15th deadline to finalize the new map, subjecting themselves to litigation. Three plaintiffs have already filed a lawsuit in San Francisco Supervisor Court, citing the missed deadline and calling for the court to hear and adopt a final map. Thus, the recently-filed lawsuit raises the chances that a San Francisco Superior Court judge could pick the final map. As a note, the Task Force is scheduled to meet today (4/21), with two subsequent meetings tentatively planned for April 25th and 28th to come to a consensus and finalize the map. According to recently published media reports, “The City Attorney’s Office also contributed to the legal pressure Tuesday, publishing an opinion that said the task force must adopt a new final draft map when it meets [on 4/21] and approve it as the final map, after two additional hearings, on April 28.” Despite the next steps, the San Francisco Department of Elections needs a finalized map by May 2nd to prepare for the next election.
As always, please let me know if you have any questions and we will keep you apprised on the issue of redistricting.
Thank you for your membership.
Zach
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