Supervisor Matt Dorsey and Honey Mahogany, his main rival in November’s election, have raised similar sums as they prepare for an uphill battle to represent San Francisco’s District Six, recently released campaign finance documents show.
Comparable financial achievements keep the two candidates on course for a hard-fought race for the supervisor seat, representing SoMa, Mission Bay and Treasure Island. SoMa, in particular, is one of the neighborhoods hardest hit by rampant public drug trafficking and overdose deaths, mostly attributed to fentanyl. Both candidates seek to acknowledge this reality by making direct reference to public safety in their campaign slogans.
Dorsey, a former police spokesman and longtime press secretary for the City Attorney, will be the acting voter with the support of Breed and some of her key allies. Mahogany, the leader of the San Francisco Democratic Party, has extensive connections to the community due to her political role and background in social work and LGBTQ nightlife. She would be the city’s first transgender warden if elected.
“Matt Dorsey has the benefit of having the mayor on his side, the power of office, and the ability to meet people and do things for people now,” said Jim Ross, a political adviser who doesn’t work on any of the supervisor race of the year. “Honey Mahogany has the benefit of having developed relationships and bonds with people in the district over the years. So it will be an interesting race.”
Notable contributors to Dorsey’s campaign include former San Francisco Police Commissioner Greg Suhr and former Sheriff Vicki Hennessy, and Breed and her spokesman Jeff Cretan. Some of the more well-known contributors to Mahogany’s campaign included Haney, former state senator Mark Leno, and supervisors Gordon Mar and Myrna Melgar.
But District Six isn’t the only competitive Supervisor race on the ballot.
In District Four, which includes much of Sunset, challenger Joel Engardio raised nearly twice as much as incumbent Mar for the first six months of the year, raking in more than $80,000 while Mar raked in about $43,300. Engardio, who lost his third campaign for District Seven supervisor in 2020 before his neighborhood moved to District Four that year, had about $76,300 in the bank at the end of June. Mar had $41,400.
Mar also spent a lot more money than Engardio. Mar ended last year with about $38,600 in cash and has spent more than $40,500 this year. He poured most of his money into a mix of consultants, fundraisers, campaign literature, and polls.
Leanna Louie, the other contestant trying to unseat Mar, reported that she raised more than $21,000 in the first half of the year and spent very little of it.
Engardio and Louie both attempt to oust Mar, characterizing him as progressive who is out of step with what voters in his West Side district want. They point out, for example, that Mar opposed both snap elections this year, even though his constituency voted strongly in favor — as did Engardio and Louie.
Engardio received support from prominent contributors including GrowSF director Sachin Agarwal, Housing Action Coalition leader Todd David and venture capitalist Garry Tan, who also contributed to Dorsey. Mar’s notable contributors included Leno, former Supervisor John Avalos, and Sheriff Paul Miyamoto. One of Louie’s individual contributors was Mary Jung, a director of the San Francisco Association of Realtors who led the recall of former District Attorney Chesa Boudin.
But to win, one of Mar’s challengers would have to accomplish a feat unprecedented in recent San Francisco political history: block an elected incumbent from re-election.
“The hardest thing about politics in San Francisco is defeating an elected incumbent,” Ross said.
Dorsey won’t have the same advantage in District Six, Ross said.
Incumbents “usually win, but it’s not uncommon for appointed board members to lose,” he said. “They’re sort of deputies to the mayor who appointed them. … They get all the baggage, but they don’t necessarily get all the benefit.”
JD Morris is a contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thejdmorris