In an effort to flex some muscle on a national stage and counter the Republicans' tired narrative about San Francisco being a hellhole, billionaire Chris Larsen and Mayor London Breed threw an SF image-boosting party on Night Two of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
One of the hottest tickets to get Tuesday night in Chicago, reportedly, was to a San Francisco boosterism event featuring a speech from London Breed, and no appearance by Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. It did, however, feature a performance by The Killers — fresh off their headlining gig at Outside Lands — along with an open bar and all-you-can eat sushi, as the Chronicle's Joe Garofoli reports.
The party was awkwardly named "San Francisco Speaks: A Night of Technology and Truth," which, as Garofoli points out, sounds more like a weird conference seminar than a party. But the idea, which came together just in the last few weeks since Harris's presumptive nomination took shape, was to invite Democrats from around the country to a party that promotes what San Francisco is, and claps back against what it is not.
The 500-person, invite-only event took place at TAO Asian Bistro and Nightclub, and Larson, a Breed backer and the co-founder of crypto company Ripple, bankrolled the whole affair. (You may know Larsen from various law enforcement programs he's funded, including a controversial surveillance-camera network that is now in multiple SF neighborhoods.)
In her remarks, per the Chronicle, Breed said, "Tonight is really a time to talk about not just Kamala Harris, but to talk about everything that San Francisco represents. It is so critical that we talk about the truth about San Francisco, because the Republicans are trying to turn San Francisco into something it is not. They’re trying to turn San Francisco into a bad word."
SF Mayor @LondonBreed talking up her city at the SF Speaks hot DNC party she hosted featuring The Killers pic.twitter.com/JYh4zZ9flw
— Joe Garofoli (@joegarofoli) August 21, 2024
Pretty extraordinary DNC afterparty thrown by @chrislarsensf, starring @thekillers in a tiny club. Great to reconnect with so many old SF friends! Hello @debmesloh @DanielGNewman @HeidiSpeaks!
— Doug Sovern (@SovernNation) August 21, 2024
Among the pols there: @EleniForCA @LondonBreed @BuffyWicks @JesseforCA @MichaelDTubbs pic.twitter.com/BUQWun5n27
Breed pointed out that many of the Republicans who regularly shit on San Francisco "pull out their iPhone produced in the Bay Area and introduced in San Francisco to call their Uber or Lyft — companies based in San Francisco. And while they’re riding to their Airbnb, a company in San Francisco, they’re tweeting bad things about our city in a company that, until recently, was based in San Francisco. Per the Chronicle, Breed paused after that line, without mentioning Elon Musk, and said, “Well, that’s OK." She also called the city the "AI capital of the world."
She finished by saying, "So don’t let somebody else tell the story of San Francisco. We’re here tonight to fight for not just our city, but to fight for Kamala Harris to be president of the United States."
For whatever reason, Breed and her handlers haven't posted video of her speech to her social media. But maybe everybody's still hungover.
There was reportedly a slide deck being shown on screens in the venue that touted SF's accomplishments on homelessness and declining crime rates. But Garofoli says hardly anyone noticed these.
There was another hot ticket in Chicago last night, and that was reportedly a convention afterparty thrown by billionaire Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, who had spoken earlier during prime time at the convention — but he didn't book The Killers.