A vibe shift in San Francisco — and its new centrist mayor
June 16, 2025 at 6:30 a.m. EDT
By Adam Lashinsky
The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/06/16/san-francisco-mayor-daniel-lurie-newsom/
While Democrats may seem in retreat around the country, the new mayor of San Francisco, Daniel Lurie, is off to a promising start in a way that holds hope for others in his beleaguered party. It is early days still, but Lurie is governing as a pragmatic, pro-business centrist.
Practically speaking, a Democrat can’t lose an election in San Francisco: The Republican Party is an afterthought in this liberal city and hasn’t held any real power in decades. But the ways Lurie, a political neophyte, has racked up early wins, by focusing on public safety and committing to move homeless people off the streets, are noteworthy for the lessons they may offer Democrats elsewhere.
His election in November came after San Francisco had become a national punch line under the incumbent mayor he defeated, London Breed. A city hobbled by left-on-left political skirmishes, a too-permissive attitude toward homeless encampments, and restrictive regulations on business created an opportunity for the newcomer.
Lurie, a 48-year-old scion of the Levi Strauss fortune — his mother, Mimi Haas, married a great-grandnephew of the original blue jeans’ purveyor — had run Tipping Point Community, an anti-poverty nonprofit modeled after New York’s Robin Hood Foundation, where he had worked soon after he graduated from college. He came into office, backed by his own wealth and a coterie of business-minded supporters who had donated to his nonprofit, promising to clean up the streets and promote the city to tourists and corporations alike. Lurie won without key endorsements from the political establishment, meaning he assumed the job owing very few favors. It hasn’t hurt that his election coincided with voters electing a majority of moderate politicians to the city’s Board of Supervisors, which previously had been controlled by progressives.
So far, Lurie has benefited largely from what locals have come to refer to as a “vibe shift.” His performance model is flesh-pressing Energizer Bunny: He gives the impression that he is everywhere, backed up by an Instagram presence so persistent that a local theater critic reviewed his performance skills. (Her assessment: lukewarm but admiring.) Relentless power washing of sidewalks makes everyone feel like the streets are cleaner. Moving homeless people away from the central business district boosts prospects for tourism — even if encampments have popped up elsewhere, distressing neighborhoods away from downtown.
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