San Francisco’s left-wing reputation is well-deserved. But in the years after the COVID-19 lockdowns, San Francisco politics were moderating.
Those gains might be undone in the next year. Moderate Democrats in San Francisco are “stockpiling cash to brace against a progressive wave,” says Politico. Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, a non-profit focused on public safety and fiscal responsibility, told the outlet it has raised $10 million to combat the coming wave. Those funds will be used to “prevent progressive candidates from regaining power at City Hall and defeat a looming ‘CEO tax’ that labor unions have placed on the June primary ballot,” Politico reports. The proposed tax has caused a slew of companies to consider leaving the state. (RELATED: Another California Icon Flees — Public Storage Ditches Golden State For Texas)
Garry Tan, CEO of Y Combinator, predicted in December 2025 that the tax “will kill startups and innovation in California.”
San Francisco’s moderate shift began shortly after the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Voters recalled then-District Attorney Chesa Boudin in 2022, two and a half years after he took office. Boudin, the son of Weather Underground members, was one of the most left-wing district attorneys in the nation. Frustrations with car break-ins, burglaries, homelessness and general disorder, had reached a boiling point. Neighbors for a Better San Francisco boasts that it “[l]ed the successful recall” of Boudin, “a catalyst for the city in restoring public safety.”
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 23: Protesters hold signs during an anti-ICE protest outside of San Francisco City Hall on October 23, 2025 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Voters recalled three San Francisco school board members in 2022. Those members had focused on high-profile left-wing stunts, like renaming 44 schools, and they moved to get rid of merit-based admissions policies for Lowell High School. Neighbors for a Better San Francisco says it “[f]unded and helped organize the successful recall of three school board members who failed our students, bankrupted our school district, and kept our schools closed.” (RELATED: Just When We Thought San Francisco’s Taxpayer Waste Problem Was Bad They Totally Outdo Themselves)
San Franciscans elected Daniel Lurie as mayor in 2024. Lurie, heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, had earned the endorsement of San Francisco Briones Society Republican, a center-right political group.
Far-left San Francisco candidates may be hoping to ride hysteria about President Donald Trump all the way to City Hall.
“It’s hard in a place like this for the center to hold,” Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman said to Politico. “We have pragmatists and utopians.”
Upcoming elections will test San Franciscans’ short-term memories. Will they recall their own discontent under far-left leadership? Or will they succumb to righteous amnesia and cast their vote for soft-on-crime, anti-Trump candidates?
Follow Natalie Sandoval on X: @NatSandovalDC
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