If you heard Mark Farrell on the stump, you wouldn’t think that he loves San Francisco.
The former supervisor, who served six months as the city’s interim mayor in 2018, is one of four serious challengers hoping to unseat Mayor London Breed in November. But unlike his three rivals, Farrell is singularly focused on highlighting the issues — drugs, homelessness, crime — that have made San Francisco a national punching bag.
The images Farrell evokes of San Francisco on the campaign trail are grim. Thieves smashing car windows and looting local businesses. Sprawling tent encampments clogging city sidewalks. Record overdose deaths. Those themes aren’t plucked from nowhere: Most residents say public safety is their top issue in November’s election. The other three challengers running for Breed’s seat have also at times taken up the public safety mantle, but Farrell seems to be standing apart from them for one reason: He’s been relentless in laying the city’s problems at Breed’s feet.
“This mayor has failed and presided over the City of San Francisco during our steepest decline in modern history,” Farrell told me in a recent phone interview. Across 40 minutes of discussion about his campaign and the challenges facing the city, it was clear that he believes maintaining a laser focus on the incumbent will propel him to victory. “I believe we need a change of leadership to bring San Francisco back,” he said. “It’s just common sense.”
His hunch seems to be paying off so far. Farrell campaign signs hang in the windows of dozens of local businesses from Portola to the Outer Sunset, and he’s earned notable endorsements from powerful political groups and unions. Most polls show him locked in a dead heat with Breed, whom he paints as the main architect of the city’s ills despite his being a mainstay in local politics right alongside her.
