Two San Francisco supervisors will be going head-to-head in next year's California State Senate elections. Today, District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim announced her decision to run against Scott Wiener, who heads up District 8 and announced plans in July to run for the 11th State Senate District seat (which includes all of San Francisco, Daly City, Broadmoor, and Colma, plus part of South San Francisco).
"Today, I’m announcing my candidacy for State Senate District 11 to fight to keep the region affordable for the very people who make the Bay Area the place everyone wants to call home," Kim announced in a press release this morning, highlighting that affordability will be her campaign platform.
Kim won the elections for District 6 Supervisor in 2010, and again in 2014. Her district is large and varied, and includes the Tenderloin, SoMa, Civic Center, Mid-Market, Mission Bay, South Beach, Rincon Hill and Treasure Island.
During her five years in office she's been vocal about fighting evictions, and has stood with tenants while they protested, and campaigned on their behalf. She's also been an advocate of expanding public services for the homeless, such as Pit Stop toilets and Lava Mae. In addition, she's worked with developers and city planners to support the building of affordable housing in the Tenderloin and Mission Bay.
With Wiener a moderate Democrat, and Supervisor Kim more progressive, they have disagreed on a number of issues—such as the construction of a new jail in SoMa. Ahead of the November elections for District 3 Supervisor, for example, Kim has endorsed Aaron Peskin, while Wiener has endorsed Julie Christensen.
Kim outlined her achievements in today's press release:
"I represent a compassionate vision — one that believes we must do more to lift families out of poverty and to protect families struggling to stay ahead.
In the last five years, I successfully passed the strongest and most progressive minimum wage ordinance in the country, raising our minimum wage to $15 per hour. I challenged San Francisco to make the City more affordable by mandating that 33% of all new housing built be affordable for low- and middle-income households. I established the forward thinking standard that 40% of housing built on public land be affordable to these same households. I passed the boldest tenant protections to counter frivolous and profit-incentivized evictions. I have also transformed blighted parks and pushed for protected bike lanes to help reduce traffic congestion and our carbon footprint. And I’ve worked to close the achievement and opportunity gap by increasing funds for our public schools."
Kim's tenure as D6 Supervisor runs through 2019, but if she wins the Senate election she'll be vacating her seat before that date. In that case, Mayor Ed Lee would select her replacement until the Supervisor seat comes up for election again. This happened last year when David Chiu left his seat as District 3 Supervisor to join the State Assembly, and Lee appointed Julie Christensen in his place.
