San Francisco’s rejection of progressivism shows what happens when ideology collides with reality.
SAN FRANCISCO — If Zohran Mamdani represents the rise of progressive politics in America, San Francisco is fast becoming the deflating counterpoint for the left.
It isn’t just that liberal lion Nancy Pelosi is on her way out or that moderate Democrats, backed by wealthy tech investors, have trounced the left in election after election over the last five years. It’s that San Francisco progressives who have been lost in a fog here — paying the price for voters’ frustrations over street conditions, homelessness and a drug addiction epidemic — have seen liberals in another big city suddenly supplant them.
At a series of meetings organized by socialists and other progressive groups here in recent months, the contrast with New York hung over the gatherings, stirring a sense of envy and anger. Many in San Francisco said it feels as if their city now belongs to the billionaire class.
“The takeover is classic: San Francisco is the jewel in the crown of the crypto and tech industries,” vented Aaron Peskin, a progressive former president of the Board of Supervisors who lost last year’s mayoral election. “They want this to be the symbolic elite tech capital of the world.”