Democratic San Francisco Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie discussed his "common sense" approach on Tuesday in contrast to progressive Mayor London Breed, whom he defeated last week.
Lurie, a first-time candidate, Levi Strauss heir and founder of an anti-poverty nonprofit, positioned himself as the tough-on-crime alternative to Breed's lax policies on theft, drug use and homelessness that plague the city. He went on to defeat Breed by more than 10 points last week.
In an interview Tuesday, CNN’s Erin Burnett asked Lurie whether he credited his victory to running against "progressive" politics.
"I am a lifelong Democrat, but we don‘t think of ourselves as progressives or moderates or conservatives here in San Francisco," Lurie said. "We just want to get back to common sense. We have to deliver the basics, and that‘s my plan. That‘s the mandate that I was elected to fulfill."
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He added, "We have to make sure that we have a fully staffed police department. We have to get our behavioral health and drug crisis under control in our city. We need to make sure our small businesses can thrive. Our big businesses need to be coming back to San Francisco. We need to be open for business again. I don‘t believe that that‘s a rightward swing. That‘s a common sense approach."
Burnett aired footage of Lurie’s ads and events where he appeared to attack the city’s current approach to crime and other issues.
"I want to be a candidate that prioritizes safety here in San Francisco. You can‘t just be for public safety during an election year. We need more police focused on our hospitality so that our conventioneers, our shoppers, our tourists feel safe," Lurie said in the footage.
He continued to call out the state of the city on CNN, reiterating how lowering crime rates and encouraging business growth are not partisan issues.
"I think people want results, and they were not seeing that. There‘s nothing progressive to have 806 people die of drug overdose in our city last year. Property crime is rampant. Our small businesses are struggling each and every day. They want a mayor that is focused on delivering results. That‘s the mandate I was voted in with," Lurie said.
He continued, "I don‘t believe that is anything more than – those are progressive values, and so I understand I‘m talking to a national audience here. This is not liberal, progressive, conservative. People want to feel safe walking down the street. We had so many instances of anti-Asian hate on our streets. Those are things that we need to get addressed."
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Breed’s defeat came alongside several significant GOP shifts within the state, with nearly 40% of Californians voting for President-elect Donald Trump, after he only got 34% and 31% in 2020 and 2016, respectively. The state also overwhelmingly supported efforts to overturn progressive policies such as Proposition 36, which reversed previous soft-on-crime policies.
