Daniel Lurie, 46, born and raised in San Francisco, the son of Mimi and Rabbi Brian Lurie, whose mother remarried the late billionaire businessman Peter Haas, president, CEO, and chairman of Levi Strauss & Co., is planning to challenge incumbent San Francisco Mayor London Breed next year, according to The San Francisco Standard and other local and national media.
Lurie was initially a big supporter of Mayor Breed, but, like 70% of San Franciscans, has had a change of heart watching the mayor’s failure to run the ship, which resulted in fentanyl markets and homeless tent camps packed downtown, and empty office buildings whose tenants now prefer to work from home. The city is dying.
After decades of capitalizing on its proximity to Silicon Valley, everything in San Francisco changed when the pandemic hit. Many hi-tech employees moved away to work from home in cheaper cities, and many who would have normally taken their place do not.
According to US Census estimates, a quarter of a million people have fled the Bay Area since the beginning of 2020, causing San Francisco’s population to drop by 7.2% between 2020 and 2021, and by an additional 0.3% between 2021 and 2022.
The California Globe noted that the 2024 Mayoral race follows a huge victory for London Breed in 2019 when she won with 70% of the vote against two other challengers. But in 2024, Breed will have to answer the same voters why she hasn’t been able to deal with “crime, drug use, police expansion, homelessness, affordable housing, an emptying downtown, and the exodus of both businesses and residents have plagued the city since the last election.”
Political advisor Sharon Lee told The Globe: “To Breed’s credit, she has been trying, but, to her detriment, nothing seems to be working. And there is worry there. San Francisco residents are, to put it mildly, angry at leadership in the city, and have been doing everything they can to right the ship. Elections at the city and county levels have been venomous, and they have even had successful recalls against school board members and the district attorney in the last few years. They aren’t afraid to make the hard decisions, and for Breed, this is terrifying.”
The perfect moment for a relative unknown such as Lurie to throw his hat in the ring. The problem is that several other mayoral wannabes are also biting Breed’s heels. But that’s not unusual for SF. As political consultant Jim Ross, who ran the 2003 San Francisco mayoral campaign of now-Governor Gavin Newsom, told the NY Times: “Anything less than 10 people running in a race for mayor is a small field for San Francisco, but people getting in this early and with these kinds of resources? It’s not a good sign for any incumbent. She’s going to have a challenging race.”
A Standard Voter Poll that was conducted in the fall of 2022 revealed the following results, according to the SF Standard:
- Voters place the blame for the city’s problems squarely on the shoulders of elected officials.
- Persistent concerns about crime and personal safety are pushing voters to support law-and-order candidates.
- Voters say a lack of services and City Hall are to blame for the city’s homelessness problem.
- The slow recovery of Downtown is a major source of worry for all city voters.
- Asian voters are taking the lead as the most significant SF electorate.
- But many residents are still happy living in SF: they love the food, the parks, and the lifestyle.
With that in mind, the NY Times cited two people with knowledge of Lurie’s campaign plans who confirmed that he was “hosting gatherings and recruiting staff in advance of a mayoral run but declined to be named because the campaign has yet to formally launch.”
Daniel Lurie founded Tipping Point Community in 2005. It is a grant-making organization aiming to break the cycle of poverty for people in the San Francisco Bay Area whose income level is too low to meet their basic needs. In January 2019, Lurie stepped down as Tipping Point’s CEO and transitioned to his current role as Board Chair. Tipping Point’s revenue is $44,271,108.
According to Peopleai.com, Daniel Lurie’s net worth is just shy of $5 million.
