Jane Kim’s November 5, 2024 San Francisco Voter Guide

Dear Friends,

Ballots have dropped! With 25 state and local ballot measures and numerous offices from school board to the White House, voting can be daunting.  I drafted my first voter guide in November 2004 to make voting more accessible for my friends. Twenty years and countless endorsements later, here we go again! I am only providing additional insight for contested races.  If you’re looking for another great voter guide, check out my fave SF League of Pissed Off Voters. I also appreciated the non-partisan analysis provided by San Francisco Public Press.

US President/Vice President
Kamala Harris/Tim Waltz

US Congress
Nancy Pelosi

State Assembly
Matt Haney, AD 17
David Lee, AD 19
David started the Chinese American Voter Education Project 20 years ago registering thousands of API voters.  David is an earnest and sincere neighborhood advocate. While he may not be a nerdy wonk, I know he will fight for tenants, small businesses, and neighborhood safety issues.  He promises to champion raising the statewide minimum wage and as a community college educator, expanding tuition-free community college tuition statewide.

Mayor
#1 Aaron Peskin
#2 London Breed
Peskin is my number one choice for Mayor.  He is the most knowledgeable and compassionate candidate running for this office. He cares deeply about fighting for regular everyday San Franciscans– from our Chinese American grandma and pa facing eviction in Chinatown to small business owners who love San Francisco but not the bureaucracy which comes with doing business here. He understands mundane details about our thirty three city departments and can recite obscure parts of the city code. He is kind of boring (far from the image his naysayers paint of him) but he is also very strategic and EFFECTIVE (hence the naysayers). And Aaron has a track record of working across the aisle to get big things done, from simplifying and updating our business tax code to negotiating for more affordable housing.

Aaron will fight for tenants, seniors, small business owners, artists- he will fight for YOU.

Breed is my second choice. I’ve known her since my days as a youth organizer when she led a community center serving youth, family, and the arts in the Western Addition. She is a true homegirl from the neighborhood. Issues like affordable housing, drug addiction, public safety, and wealth inequality are not policy concepts for London—she has lived the challenges our city is trying to solve.

Although we have disagreed on policy and strategy, we successfully collaborated to oppose spending billions on a new jail and she championed moving families out of single room occupancy units to real affordable housing. We share a deep respect and friendship above politics.  London may not always be a unifying figure, but her growth through the pandemic, this challenging re-election and her 12 years of experience matter A LOT. 

Voters may be drawn to the idea of an “outsider,” but the other candidates lack a record of leadership necessary to navigate the complexities of this small but important city by the Bay.

Oh, and the Republican Party endorsed Lurie and Farrell. No thank you.

Still undecided? Meet both candidates this Wednesday, October 16, 5-7p at an event I am hosting and decide for yourself!

Board of Supervisors
District 1: Connie Chan
District 3: Sharon Lai
District 5: Dean Preston
District 7: Myrna Melgar
District 9: Jackie Fielder and Stephen Torres (rank in either order!) #3 Roberto Hernandez
District 11: Chyanne Chen and Ernest “EJ” Jones (rank in either order!)

City Attorney
David Chiu
Treasurer
Jose Cisneros
Sheriff
Paul Miyamoto

BART Board of Directors, District 9
Edward Wright
Edward is smart, strategic and really understands transit and climate justice policies. He also worked on my team in 2018 and in my final month in office, helped lead my legislation to eliminate parking minimums for housing citywide.  He has earned the endorsement of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sierra Club and the San Francisco Chronicle. The choice is clear.

Board of Education
Matt Alexander, Virginia Cheung, Jaime Huling, Parag Gupta
Matt is a dedicated and passionate former public school teacher and principal who I worked with when I served on the school board to design San Francisco’s small school policies! Virginia, Jamie and Parag are relative newcomers to the world of politics and SFUSD but I believe are the most collaborative candidates who will proactively work to bring stability, not venom, to a district which sorely needs leadership and love.

City College Board of Trustees
Aliya Chisti, Ruth Ferguson, Heather McCarty
Three smart, independent women who will lead City College during a time crisis for San Francisco’s only life long learning institution. Aliya is running for re-election and has demonstrated that she is willing to make hard decisions to steward the future of this institution and Heather, a community college educator, is one of the most well versed and prepared candidates I have met running for the office she is seeking.

State Propositions

Prop 2: $10B Education Facilities Bond: Yes
Prop 3: Protect Freedom to Marry in the California Constitution: YES
Prop 4: $10B Water Infrastructure and Parks Bond: Yes
Prop 5: Let’s Fund Housing and Infrastructure by Lowering Voting Threshold to 55% for Housing and Infrastructure Bonds: YES
Prop 6: Abolish Slavery in California Prisons: Yes
Prop 32: RAISE THE MINIMUM WAGE to $18: YES, YES, YES
Endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times and Sacramento Bee, this would raise the wages of all workers statewide to $18 in 2025. There is not a single county in California a full-time minimum wage worker can afford to cover their basic needs. Modoc, California’s cheapest county, requires at least $20.23/hour according to the MIT Living Wage Calculator.  We must lift the floor.
Prop 33: Allow Cities to Expand Rent Control: YES, YES, YES
The rent is too damn high. And this ballot measure would repeal a state law that limits the ability of local governments to enact rent control. While this measure would not change existing rent control laws, it would allow cities like San Francisco to enact laws to better protect tenants. The real estate industry, which profits off of sky high rents, is funding a misinformation campaign that Prop 33 will hurt tenants and affordable housing… um no.
Prop 34: Grudge Measure against AIDS Healthcare Foundation: No
Ridiculous measure targeting ONE organization in Los Angeles. 
Prop 35: Extend Funding for Medi-Cal: No Position
Prop 36: Treat Misdemeanors as Felonies: No, No, No

City Propositions

Prop A: $790M School Infrastructure Bond: Yes
Prop B: $390M Community Health Infrastructure and Parks Bond: Yes
Prop C: Create Inspector General to Combat Corruption: Yes
Prop D: Poorly written Commission “Reform”  measure: No, No, No
I would love to slash half the city’s commissions and task forces. Some commissions like Planning, SFMTA and Police are essential. The Youth Commission is a wonderful vehicle to engage and cultivate future youth leaders in San Francisco. However, many others provide limited value as most decisions are made by our elected Mayor and Board of Supervisors. I wanted to support this measure but it’s littered with egregious errors and is a dark money pit to help billionaire funded candidates.
Prop E: Democratically Streamline City Oversight Commissions: Yes
Prop F: Let Cops Collect Double Pay Before They Retire: Yes
Prop G: Fund Affordable Housing for Seniors and Families: YES, YES, YES
Prop H: Earlier Retirement Payday for Firefighters: Yes
Prop I:  Retirement Buy-In for Per Diem Nurses and 911 Operators: Yes
Prop J: Protect Funding for Children, Youth and SFUSD: Yes
Prop K: Parkway at Upper Great Highway: Yes
Prop L: Rideshare Tax to Fund Muni: Yes
Prop M: Business Tax Reform: Yes
Prop N: Empty Gesture for First Responders: No
Prop O: Guarantee Reproductive Freedom in SF: Yes

Thank you for reading all the way to the end! 

If you are voting by mail, please vote by November 4.  Thousands of ballots go uncounted because people put them in the mailbox on November 5 without checking the final pick up time– these ballots are postmarked November 6 and are therefore invalid.

I would be remiss if I didn’t make a plug for the California Working Families Party! Become a $10 monthly member (any amount is appreciated!) and 100% of your dues goes to supporting corporate free candidates up and down the state from San Diego, Central Valley to Sacramento. It’s a one stop electoral contribution to invest in a Working Families bench in CA! Check out our full endorsement list for the November 5, 2024 Election!