Daniel Lurie would be S.F.'s least experienced mayor in a long time. He says that's a good thing

Last edited Tue Oct 22, 2024, 01:18 AM - Edit history (1)

In his ascendant campaign to unseat Mayor London Breed, wealthy nonprofit founder Daniel Lurie is asking San Francisco voters to do what they haven’t done in more than a century: elect a mayor who never has served in government before.

Lurie would be the first person since 1911 to be elected mayor of the city without those credentials. An heir to the Levi Strauss fortune by way of his late stepfather, Lurie touts a resume consisting largely of his time leading Tipping Point Community, the anti-poverty organization he created about two decades ago.

Lurie sees his dearth of public-sector experience as his primary selling point: He argues that San Francisco has been led astray by a coterie of “City Hall insiders” and an outsider is needed to shake up the status quo. But his rivals in the mayor’s race contend that the problems plaguing San Francisco are too dire and complex for a political novice to handle, and that Lurie is trying to buy his way into the mayor’s office despite being unqualified.

Breed said at a Chronicle-KQED debate last month that Lurie was “one of the most dangerous people on this stage” because of his lack of government experience, which she argues could be a concern in an emergency such as a terrorist attack or big earthquake. Another candidate, former Supervisor Mark Farrell, has said of Lurie that “being Mayor of San Francisco shouldn’t be someone’s first real job.”


https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/daniel-lurie-mayor-experience-19841692.php