Aaron Peskin, who has wielded power and influence on the San Francisco City Council for 17 years, is facing an existential crisis.

Has this famously liberal city moved too far to the right to have an old-school progressive like him as mayor?

Peskin, a slender 60-year-old with a beard and glasses, has spent his political career fighting for liberal causes. Large Enterprisesqueezing huge amounts of money out of them for enhanced community services. He is a staunch supporter of rent control, Preservation of NeighborhoodsA recovered alcoholic, he believes the city's homelessness problem should be addressed with a combination of compassion and affordable housing and services, rather than punitive approaches like encampment clearances and criminal prosecutions.

Despite his experience, Peskin was underdog in the mayoral race against incumbent Mayor London Breed and three other Democrats: venture capitalist and former interim mayor Mark Farrell, Levi Strauss heir and nonprofit executive Daniel Lurie and fellow Supervisor Asha Safai.

Peskin joined the race in April, several months after Breed and three other candidates launched their campaigns, putting him at a financial disadvantage in the mayoral race. Most expensive in San Francisco history.

But more importantly, Peskin entered the race as the only progressive candidate, winning over voters and Technology giants They want more rigorous action against sprawling tent cities and high levels of retail and property crime that are eroding the city's sense of a safe, functioning city.

In recent decades, it has been common for San Francisco to elect a centrist Democrat as mayor and have a more progressive board of supervisors, but the combination of tech company money flooding into the race and frustration with the city's slow recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic has many voters questioning the wisdom of governing with progressive policies and a compassionate heart.

Many parents were incensed that the city's schools had been closed for more than a year during the pandemic — longer than most in the country — and that remote learning had continued despite divisive efforts by the school board to prevent the closures. Change the name to third Critics argue that the existing names of the city's public schools honor historical figures associated with slavery or the oppression of women, or “individuals who seriously undermined our opportunities for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Anger over progressive policies led to the removal of three school board members in February 2022. Four months later, voters also removed then-District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who had made a name for herself as a champion of reform, after her opponents denounced her progressive policies on sentencing and incarceration as a threat to public safety.

Last March, San Francisco drew national attention when voters approved two bills championed by Governor Breed that would have expanded police surveillance powers and required drug treatment for certain welfare recipients. That same night, List of moderate candidates They took control of the local Democratic Party's governing body.

All five of the leading candidates for mayor are Democrats, but all except Peskin currently fall into the moderate camp, with Breed in particular taking a serious stance over the past year on issues such as homelessness and crime.

In celebration of the honor, Peskin said he was in the race to ensure San Francisco remains a “beacon” for the artists, creatives, immigrants and LGBTQ+ pioneers who have shaped the city's culture for decades, and that he fights to ensure working-class people have the financial means to live in the city.

“Don't get me wrong, I think one of the most important things in any government is keeping our people safe,” Peskin said, “but that's all the other candidates are talking about. They're not even talking about making this a safe and welcoming country.”

Peskin is Target varieties From the start of his campaign, he has called her leadership inconsistent and dismissed her recent crackdown on homelessness as a cynical political ploy.

“Instead of embracing and reinforcing our policies of standing up and defending this city and being compassionate and getting things done, she has actually embraced Fox News reporting on San Francisco,” he told the Times.

Breed countered that compassion has its limits and that the city needs to take a tougher stance against homeless people who refuse shelter or don't seek treatment for drug addiction.

July Mayoral Election Debate Speaking at a rally organized by the local firefighters union, Breed said her decision to get tough on homelessness may be unpopular but was necessary to move San Francisco forward.

“We've had to move from a city of compassion to a city of accountability,” she said.

Peskin said he is focused on leading San Francisco out of the “catastrophe loop” narrative that has plagued the city nationally for much of the past four years and into a period of recovery.

If elected mayor, he has promised to prioritize low-income housing and expand rent control. HomelessnessHe wants to open more treatment facilities and expand shelter capacity, rather than continue the encampment clearing efforts that Governor Breed has been pushing for the past two months.

Peskin said he knows something about recovery.

Peskin, 2021 Received treatment Peskin was arrested on a drinking problem amid allegations that he attended a government meeting while intoxicated, sparking widespread complaints that he had bullied colleagues and lower-level staff for years and that those who reported his behavior were at risk of retaliation.

Peskin eventually apologized and said that although he felt embarrassed in the first few weeks after the incident, he now appreciates the wake-up call and has been sober for more than three years.

“I always thought of my job as looking after the community. I never realized that people actually cared about my well-being,” he said. “The support, love and encouragement I've received from unexpected places and people has been truly amazing and heartening.”

But while Peskin touts his personal and professional history, Local opinion polls He was Breed, Pharrell, and Rully Under the city's ranked-choice voting system, all three have made tough stances on property crime, fentanyl trafficking and homelessness central to their campaigns.

While Breed, Farrell and Lurie are funded by tech executives and wealthy business owners, Peskin has pitched his campaign as a grassroots movement driven by working-class people. His supporters include left-leaning LGBTQ+ and tenants' rights groups, labor unions and progressive politicians such as former Mayor Art Agnos, former Supervisor Jane Kim and former state Sen. Mark Reno.

“Aaron Peskin is a good public servant,” Agnos said. “What we're seeing right now is tech billionaires. Tech billionaires are living like monarchs, and now they're trying to rule San Francisco like they're monarchs.”

“I think San Francisco has always been at the forefront on social issues,” said Kim, who ran unsuccessfully against Breed in 2018. “What we've struggled and fought for as progressives is the economics and who benefits economically in this city — is it the super-rich and the billionaires or is it the working class and low-income workers? And that's a fight that Aaron is leading.”

Supervisor Aaron Peskin (right) says he wants to address homelessness by expanding treatment and shelter capacity, and he opposes the aggressive clearing of encampments initiated by Mayor London Breed (center).

(Eric Risberg/The Associated Press)

During his time in office, Peskin has faced both ardent supporters and fierce critics, particularly on housing issues.

Peskin represents some of the city's oldest neighborhoods, including North Beach, Chinatown, Fisherman's Wharf and the downtown financial district. He has stood out as a defender of local identity, something some see as a dog whistle for “NIMBYism,” a colloquial term for opposing large apartment complex projects and other unwelcome development. He has resisted efforts to change zoning rules in certain neighborhoods to allow for more dense housing.

“Peskin would be an incredible setback,” said Laura Foote, executive director of the advocacy group. YIMBYAction“We need to protect people in our communities from ever-rising housing costs, and to do that we need to build more housing,” said a housing group supporting Breed.

San Francisco is the longest Housing Approval Process In Japan, Tens of thousands The unit is falling short of production targets set by the state.

Breed has called for more housing development for all income levels at a time when San Francisco's rents are soaring and the median home price is rising. Over $1 millionFarrell, Safai and Lurie also support increased housing density, but to varying degrees and sometimes only in certain areas.

Peskin rejects the idea that his opposition to housing is a “developer-funded narrative,” but he also argues that it's possible to build more housing “without turning Ocean Beach into Miami Beach.”

The disagreement over the development highlights another aspect of San Francisco's political shift toward the center, with a growing number of leaders backing apartment projects despite protests from progressive groups worried about gentrification and changing the neighborhood.

State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who has written some of the state's strongest housing construction laws, criticized Peskin for clinging to “the broken housing structure that exists.”

Wiener, who has backed Breed, praised Peskin as competent and “incredibly smart,” but warned that his progressivism would hold San Francisco back.

“San Franciscans are pretty progressive, but there's a tendency among some people, I think a minority, to equate progressivism with not changing,” Wiener says. “A city that doesn't change is a dying city.”

Peskin has at times tried to shake off the label of a progressive. He supports legislation to retain police officers and recently told The Times that he supports Proposition 36, a controversial measure passed on the ballot in November that would repeal a 2014 voter-approved law that turned nonviolent drug and theft felonies into misdemeanors. Critics of the bill, including Wiener and Gov. Gavin Newsom, say it represents a return to the era of mass incarceration.

Peskin uses these examples to argue that it's possible to be practical and compassionate at the same time.

“I've always thought that progressivism is rooted in progress,” Peskin said, “and progress is actually about getting things done.”