San Francisco Democrats are embracing “law and order” politics

Mr Farrell is not the only mayoral candidate running a “law and order” campaign focused on empowering the police and cleaning up the city’s streets. All politicians with power in San Francisco are Democrats, but there are different flavours. The three front-runners, including the current mayor, London Breed, are moderates competing to become the tough-on-crime warrior that voters seem to want after several years of disorder made worse by the pandemic. Only one candidate with a chance of winning is from the party’s progressive wing. The irony is that San Francisco’s politicians have taken a right turn even while Donald Trump tries to persuade Americans that the city, where Kamala Harris made her start in politics, represents the worst excesses of liberalism.