Sup. John Avalos has confirmed that he will run for mayor and plans to file campaign papers this afternoon at City Hall. As the first truly progressive candidate to get into the race, the announcement is sure to be greeted with great excitement by San Francisco’s leftists, who have been bitterly frustrated by the political realignment that has taken place at City Hall this year, with one-time progressive Sups. David Chiu and Jane Kim joining the moderate faction on the highest profile votes this session.
Over the weekend, when we caught up with Avalos at Mercury Lounge for a birthday celebration for his board aide Raquel Redondiez, he said that he was just days or hours from making a decision that we first reported on last week. Over the weekend, he and his wife, Karen Zapata, decided to launch the campaign to give the progressive movement a political vehicle.
In that conversation, Avalos (with Kim standing next to him talking to Zapata) had notably sharpened his analysis of or and rhetoric toward Chiu, saying he has betrayed the progressive movement and begun practicing a divisive brand of politics, starting with his decision in January to stack the board committees in favor of moderates, such as the Rules Committee, where fiscally conservative Sups. Sean Elsbernd and Mark Farrell have been torpedoing progressive appointees and initiatives.
Kim chairs that committee and remains close to Avalos, who endorsed her bid for supervisor and has encouraged the Guardian not to be too hard on her as she pushed the Twitter/mid-Market tax break and took other positions that have angered her progressive base. Kim is also close to Chiu, but she has so far withheld her endorsement in the mayor’s race even as Sup. Eric Mar, who has often voted with the progressives, gave Chiu his early endorsement.
While some individuals that have been associated with the progressive movement are likely to support Chiu, and others will be supporting Leland Yee (who has a history of endorsing progressive and labor positions and candidates), the decision by Avalos to get into this race and sound the progressive position will make him an instant favorite among progressives.
UPDATE AT 1:20 PM: Avalos told the Guardian, “I’m running because I want to use my leadership to bring out the best in San Francisco. I want to put together an administration that will fight for working people, that will deal with the widening disparities in wealth in this city. I want to bring integrity back to City Hall and I want to make sure people can stand for something here, take positions on issues, and use their leadership to find solutions to the problems we face.”