THE BUZZ: LEFT IN THE COLD — San Francisco’s progressives have suffered defeat after defeat over the last four years, and activists are now plotting ways to rebuild the once-formidable movement. Their game plan, revealed in interviews with Playbook as progressive activists and former elected leaders try to chart their way back to power: Recruit more foot soldiers from across the city to call out wealthy megadonors and sharpen their messaging around yawning inequality. San Francisco, traditionally the bastion of liberal politics in America, has pivoted dramatically to the center, as politicians on the left struggle to compete with the tech-fueled influence of moderate advocacy groups bankrolled by ultra-wealthy venture capitalists. Some on the left acknowledge they were blindsided. “I don't know that anyone saw it coming that we would so rapidly be at a place where well-funded disinformation was so tolerated,” said former Supervisor Dean Preston, a Democratic Socialist who was ousted by a moderate Democrat in November. “The progressive movement in San Francisco has not focused enough on how to frame the narrative.” Preston bemoaned the caricature of San Francisco that has proliferated in recent years — that of a crime-ridden city filled with homeless encampments. He blames moderate advocacy groups along with conservative media outlets for trashing the city’s reputation. But what Preston calls disinformation, others consider a voter backlash to frustration over its long post-pandemic hangover that led to an exodus of tech workers and the spread of open-air drug markets downtown. Jay Cheng, head of Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, one of the city’s largest centrist advocacy groups, said progressives complaining that big money made the difference in recent elections should blame themselves for misreading the mood of the electorate. “They’re diluting themselves,” Cheng said. “They were wrong on the issue, they were out of step with voters.” Progressives’ struggles mirror those of Democrats more broadly across the country — but in San Francisco, the ascendant officeholders and organizers come from the same party. Behind the left’s efforts to rebuild is a loose alliance of former city officials and the Phoenix Project, a new-ish group that publishes reports calling attention to the massive influx of tech and other big money influencing politics. The group is launching a public town hall series in all 11 supervisorial districts across the city, along with social events like happy hours designed to attract younger and less-engaged voters. But it’s been slow going on the fundraising front. Phoenix Project organizers said they recently received a $53,000 grant from the San Francisco Foundation to continue highlighting the “astroturf” sway of tech titans. In the last year, not only did Preston go down, but the left also lost control of the Board of Supervisors and the county Democratic Party. Their candidate for mayor, former Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, finished in third place — behind two moderates, including Mayor Daniel Lurie, an heir to the Levi’s fortune who along with his immediate family heavily funded his campaign. Voters also passed ballot measures to require drug screening for welfare recipients and expand police surveillance, two years after the 2022 recalls of progressive former District Attorney Chesa Boudin and three progressive school board members. As progressives aim to chart a new course, leaders argue their efforts amount to more than a fight to control 47 square miles. If they can regain traction in San Francisco, they contend, it could offer a template for how Democrats across the country push back against the influence of tech tycoons who’ve lined up behind President Donald Trump. First, they need to capture the outrage in San Francisco. At a nondescript dive bar in the city’s Mission District last weekend, the Phoenix Project’s supporters gathered for the one-year anniversary as a crowd of 80 sipped craft beers and watched a drag king perform. Preston and Peskin served as the opening acts. Julie Pitta, the group’s president, said those writing the obituary of San Francisco’s progressive movement are premature. She noted the election of three progressive supervisors — Connie Chan, Jackie Fielder and Chyanne Chen — who beat back heavily funded moderates. Pitta predicted that the pendulum could quickly swing back in her team’s favor, as voters grow frustrated by tech’s coziness with Trump and Elon Musk’s outsized persona in Washington. “They were all playing here,” Pitta said. “This was sort of a warm-up act.” GOOD MORNING. Happy Thursday. Thanks for waking up with Playbook. You can text us at 916-562-0685 — save it as “CA Playbook” in your contacts. Or drop us a line at dgardiner@politico.com and bjones@politico.com, or on X — @DustinGardiner and @jonesblakej. WHERE’S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.
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