Just weeks after we wondered if anyone of note might oppose Mayor Ed Lee in his 2015 bid to remain in Room 200, we might have an answer. And it's an interesting one: State Senator Mark Leno.
Leno's San Francisco beginnings are humble: he moved to SF in 1977, and opened Budget Signs, a small SF sign company, in 1978. In 1998 he was appointed to the Board of Supes by then-MayorWillie Brown, repping District 8.
From 2002-2008, Leno held the 13th District seat in CA's State Assembly, one of the first openly gay men to do so. Then in 2008, he moved over to the state Senate, covering District 11.
Leno doesn't term out until 2016, but the Chron's Matier and Ross say that that might not matter, as “a lot of people are asking" that Leno run against Lee "and I’m listening,” Leno says.
According to the Chron, "locals unhappy with the changes wrought under Lee’s tech-friendly policies" (such as the disliked-by-Dianne-Feinstein Airbnb legislation the mayor just OKed) have been encouraging a Leno/Lee face off in 2015.
The polls, were this to happen, don't look great for Lee, with a recent survey suggesting a Leno over Lee result of 40 to 36 percent. But, as I have learned from faithful viewing of The Good Wife, poll numbers often favor a non-incumbent when they haven't announced a campaign yet. So grain of salt, etc.
But hey, screw it, let's try our own (completely unscientific! So, to be clear, it means nothing!) poll. If the Mayor's race were this coming Tuesday (instead of November 3, 2015), who would get your vote?
Previously: So Who's Going To Run Against Ed Lee?