Polls may have closed almost 40 hours ago, but at least one local race has yet to be called. That's the battle for City College Board of Trustees, on which there are three seats up for grabs.
And currently leading the crowded field of candidates, at least as of this morning, is the Lower Haight's own Thea Selby.
Selby sits atop the pack with 56,117 votes, or 18.43 percent of the vote. The next two candidates, Brigitte Davila and John Rizzo, get 52,803 and 49,460, respectively. There are seven candidates on the ballot; the top three vote-getters will win seats on the Board.
Selby—whose day job is in marketing—is no stranger to local politics. Back in 2012 she ran for District 5 Supervisor, a race in which she finished in the middle of the pack, behind ultimate winner London Breed. Before that she served as President of the Lower Haight Merchants and Neighbors Association.
We caught up with Selby today and asked her what it feels like to be leading, but not quite winning, the competitive race.
Hoodline: How are you feeling today?
Thea Selby: Cautiously optimistic, less sleepy than yesterday.
H: You're currently in the lead. What was the key to your success?
TS: A combination of having run before (I’m eager to see if I did better in District 5, where I ran for District 5 Supervisor in 2012, than other districts), and having received a wide array of endorsements, from the left (former President of Board of Supervisors Aaron Peskin, Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, League of Pissed-Off Voters, Bay Guardian) to the right (DCCC President Mary Jung, Supervisor Mark Farrell, San Francisco Chronicle). I believe people saw me as someone who would work to get things done at City College, as a unifier (to steal my colleague Amy Bacharach’s word), not a divider, as a person who is comfortable working with all sorts of different people.
H: How did this campaign compare to the last one (running for District 5 Supervisor)?
TS: Night and day. Last time, couldn’t get an endorsement to save my life except for a few brave souls (Plumbers Union rocks!). This time, people have gotten to know me in the political world and found me to be a hard-working person who does what I say I am going to. So, I have a rep of sorts, a good one. In the District 5 race, I spent the majority of my time knocking on doors and getting to know the constituency of the district, which is hugely satisfying. This one is citywide and too big to meet everybody; you have to get the endorsements and hope the people will use that as a proxy for getting to know you personally.
H: What does the City College Board of Trustees do?
TS: The Board of Trustees governs City College of San Francisco. They set policy for the college and they help steer it.
H: And what do you hope to bring to your role there?
TS: I hope that my skills learned as a small business person will be useful. Small business owners are by necessity optimistic, hard-working, creative people—we have to be as the odds are against us. We negotiate with everyone as we have no power compared to big clients or big vendors. We have to think about creative ways to raise revenue. City College can use all that. We need to turn around morale—by most accounts, it’s in pretty bad shape. We need to get the word out that City College is open and accredited to increase enrollment, and I hope my work as a marketing person will come in handy there. We need to develop a strategy that looks at the future in a positive light. We know what we want—to remain a true “community” college that is open for the entire community of San Francisco. We need a plan to make sure we have the financial wherewithal to get there and stay there.
H: What are your plans for today?
TS: Get back to work. My company has been incredibly supportive of me running. It’s time to give back.
The SF Department of Elections said yesterday that it's still counting 42,000 vote-by-mail ballots and 11,000 provisional ballots, all of which won't likely be processed until next Friday, November 14th. Final election results will be reported on December 2nd.
