After two scheduled debates crashed and burned, we’ve finally got a true mayoral debate with all five major candidates on the same stage, scheduled for June 17 at UC Law San Francisco.
There should have already been two debates in this year's San Francisco mayor’s race, but there have been zero.
The first had been scheduled for May 20, and was to be hosted by the political action committee Together SF Action, who brought you those bizarro “That’s Fentalife!” ads. But there’s so much overlap between Together SF Action and the Mark Farrell campaign that both Mayor London Breed and mayoral candidate Aaron Peskin ditched that debate to have their own competing debate the same night. Amidst all the accusations and chaos, both debates were canceled.
Get ready San Francisco! For the first time in six years, the @SFDemocrats are hosting a mayoral debate.https://t.co/a7THOdfcUr pic.twitter.com/ExceUufsyP
— SF Democratic Party (@SFDemocrats) May 31, 2024
Well, we are finally getting a real debate with all five candidates on the same stage. The San Francisco Democratic Party announced Friday that they’ve scheduled a mayoral debate for Monday, June 17 at 7:30 pm. The debate will be held at the UC Law San Francisco building, and will have all five major candidates: Breed, Peskin, Farrell, plus Supervisor Ahsha Safai and Daniel Lurie.
The debate will be moderated by KRON4’s Terisa Estacio.
You figure a debate hosted by the San Francisco Democratic Party would present a level playing field that a Together SF Action debate could not provide. But under the party’s new moderate-controlled governing board, could the fix be in against the progressive candidates (i.e. Peskin)? One member of that DCCC governing board is literally Mark Farrell’s campaign manager, Jade Tu. And according to the Bay Area Reporter, six other members of that board have already endorsed London Breed.
The SF Democratic Party seems determined to avoid the appearance of any bias, and formed a Mayoral Debate Committee to structure the thing as fairly as possible.
“The Debate Committee established the criteria and rules to govern the debate, which will be 90 minutes in length and include individual statements from candidates in addition to questions posed by the debate moderator on various issues of importance to San Francisco voters,” they said in a press release. “Each participating campaign will be allowed to submit up to five questions for consideration by the Debate Committee for inclusion in the debate.”
The debate is free to attend, but does require an RSVP. It’s on Monday, June 17 at 7:30 pm. at the UC Law San Francisco building (200 McAllister Street). It will also be livestreamed to the San Francisco Democratic Party’s Facebook page and on KRON4’s website.
Image: SFDemocrats.org
