San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie on the Highs and Lows of His First Government Job

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After years of San Francisco serving as a punching bag for political pundits, Mayor Daniel Lurie is adamant that those who wanted to see the city fail are now eating their words.

“We all stuck it out during a brutal time,” Lurie said Wednesday night at KQED’s Mission District headquarters. “People bet against us, and that was a bad bet.”

A political outsider who had never worked in government before becoming mayor, Lurie said crime has decreased to historic lows and proudly praised what he described as “a different vibe in City Hall.” He joined KQED’s Political Breakdown hosts Marisa Lagos and Scott Shafer for an in-depth discussion about his administration one year into his four-year term and what he’s focused on for the future.

“We are off to a strong start. One year of momentum is good, but it is not enough. We still have a long way to go” the mayor said. “I know the challenges we’re all facing on our streets, not only with public safety but the behavioral health crisis.”

On Behavioral Health and San Francisco General Hospital

Overdoses in the city have leveled off, but remain at high and devastating levels. Lurie acknowledged San Francisco still has a long way to go to provide adequate housing, mental and behavioral health resources.

Pressure on the city’s care system came to a tragic flashpoint in December, when a social worker at San Francisco General Hospital was stabbed by a patient.

“That was maybe the worst day for me of my first year, without question, and the days that followed,” Lurie said, revealing that he held the hand of the slain social worker, Alberto Rangel, before he died. “Those who are taking care of us shouldn’t fear for their safety at any point.”

The incident has led to much debate over how the city should allocate resources to better protect first responders. Lurie said that the hospital could benefit from more security, but also said keeping services that help vulnerable populations easy to access is an important part of getting people to utilize them.

“The nurses and social workers at SF General are incredible people,” he said, “and I want to keep them safe.”

Lurie pointed to the need for increased locked subacute beds, which the city is currently working to increase at San Francisco General, and other tools like conservatorship and court-ordered treatment.

However, when asked about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Care Court program, Lurie didn’t seem enthusiastic about its results. “It’s a whole process, DPH and judges have to get involved,” Lurie said.

On Homelessness and Outdoor Drug Use

One of Lurie’s first legislative moves was passing an ordinance giving the mayor more powers to bypass certain bureaucratic approvals to speed up contracting and funding services that address drug addiction and recovery.

Under Lurie’s Breaking the Cycle plan, the mayor has also set up a mental health drop-in center in the Tenderloin and is planning to open another stabilization center this spring where police can drop off people they find on the street experiencing a drug-related crisis.

“I am far from satisfied, but I am really optimistic,” he said.

The mayor also moved to integrate the city’s various street outreach teams under one agency and moved to stop providing safer smoking supplies outdoors and mandate counseling in exchange for any harm reduction supply distribution.

The city has cleared more tent encampments, fueling high approval numbers in Lurie’s first year. But the results have been met with some pushback from supervisors who said they’ve seen homelessness and street-level crime shuffle to neighborhoods in their districts.

“It’s going to take all of us to send a message that we aren’t going to tolerate this behavior in our city. We still have work to do at 16th (Street), 24th (Street) and SoMa,” Lurie said. “It is better but we have a long way to go. The Mission deserves better, the Tenderloin deserves better… If something bad happens, it’s on my watch.”

On Donald Trump and the Bay Area’s Billionaires

Last fall, the Trump administration walked back its plans to send the National Guard to San Francisco as part of an immigration enforcement blitz.

The mayor leaned on his connections to billionaires like Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, who made headlines when he said the president should send troops to the city just days before backpedaling, to convince the president to hold off.

“I spoke to Marc after those comments and I said those are comments that may have been true a few years ago, but people lost the plot on San Francisco,” Lurie said of his conversation with Benioff. “They weren’t seeing what we were seeing, which is that crime was going down and the economic recovery was going in the right direction.”

He carefully acknowledged he continues to worry about the possibility of a future enforcement blitz in the city and residents’ safety. But the mayor has never publicly mentioned President Donald Trump by name, and hosts pressed him on his strategy Wednesday night.

“I know you two are trying to get something out of me,” Lurie said to the hosts. “I’m going to try to stay clear of as much noise as possible.”

On Budget Woes and Affordability

San Francisco is facing a nearly $936.6 million budget deficit in the next two fiscal years, according to a city report released in December 2025. The Trump administration’s cuts through the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’ are also projected to pull nearly $300 million from the city’s budget for programs like food assistance and Medi-Cal.

“We are not going to fade on any San Francisco values as long as I’m mayor,” he said, still avoiding responding directly to questions about the Trump administration and federal funding cuts.

Lurie is backing a property tax to fund MUNI, which is also facing a fiscal cliff, and also working with Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan on a regional funding proposal for BART.

“MUNI is non-negotiable. We need to fund it,” Lurie said, marking a shift from previous comments suggesting MUNI should be responsible for addressing its own challenges. “We do not want to see service cuts, and this proposal has such a broad base of support.”

Looking ahead, Lurie, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune who takes a $1 salary as mayor, said he’s focused on making San Francisco more affordable for working families. During his recent State of the City address, the mayor detailed his plan to increase child care subsidies, a welcome shift to many middle-income households. But the plan, funded through a ballot measure voters passed in 2018, is projected to run out of dollars by 2032.

On housing, Lurie faced one of his toughest legislative battles last fall with his plan to upzone residential neighborhoods to make way for more housing. Supporters say it’s needed to build more homes in areas that have avoided development for decades, and in order to meet state housing requirements.

But critics say the plan could lead to real estate speculation that could displace low-income residents and small businesses, and fails to protect all of the city’s rent-controlled housing stock from demolition.

There’s already a lawsuit and other interest from community groups around a potential ballot measure to challenge the zoning plan.

“This has been litigated for years in San Francisco, and there are people that want no new housing in their neighborhoods,” Lurie said. “It’s a tired argument. And that’s the politics of the old, and that’s what we are trying to fight against.”

On Westside Politics

After the city’s Richmond District and other neighborhoods went without power for several days this winter, Lurie, who often maintains a calm demeanor, said the utility company Pacific Gas & Electric failed to adequately communicate the issue with the city and residents.

“What upset me the most was the communication,” he said, noting that it was difficult for residents to claim the offer of a hotel room during the widespread power outage. “We were going to give vouchers to people and told them to call 211 and they were not going through. They were being told they don’t qualify.”

Lurie’s first year has brought fresh faces to the Board of Supervisors, as he navigated recalls and his own appointment flop last fall in Beya Alcaraz, who briefly represented the Sunset District before resigning after one week on the job amid controversy that marked the mayor’s first real, widely acknowledged misstep.

“I made a mistake. I did not set her up for success, and that is completely on me,” Lurie said, adding that he could have “done a better job of vetting” and that his administration beefed up its search process in making his next pick.

“I feel terrible about that, and I let the people of D4 down, and I think they have a good representative now who is working very hard,” he said, referring to the current District 4 supervisor, Alan Wong.

As for one of the city’s other ongoing power struggles, whether to put cars back on the Great Highway or leave it open as a public park, called Sunset Dunes, Lurie stayed out of the fray.

When asked if voters should weigh in on the issue again in a 2026 ballot measure, he said: “That’s up to the people… this is one of those things where you probably won’t like the answer. We have a billion-dollar budget deficit that I’m focused on.”

On Instagram and Economic Recovery

Lurie has earned a reputation as the city’s hype man on social media, particularly on Instagram, where he frequently promotes San Francisco’s economic recovery.

On Wednesday night, Lagos and Shafer played one of Lurie’s social media videos where he speaks with a Tenderloin falafel shop owner, hyping up a local business owner with his signature tag line, “Let’s go, San Francisco.”

“I get to meet people like him and get little hits of inspiration from small business owners. It’s incredible,” Lurie said, crediting some of the younger members on his staff who are helping drive his social media strategy.

“These people are working their tails off and I want them to have a partner in City Hall,” he said, referring to the businesses. “This is a way to get our message out unfiltered and I think it’s working.”

But business vacancies remain high and downtown revitalization remains one of his top concerns. And Lurie still doesn’t have an answer for what should happen to the now-empty mall at Powell and Market streets.

“You do not want me dictating what goes into a mall or what goes into that center,” he said, adding that his administration is focused on “creating conditions” that make businesses want to develop the site into something new.

“People are hearing the news about San Francisco,” he said. “They are investing in our city.”

And even with his growing social media presence, Lurie has managed to dodge one of the internet’s current crazes: Heated Rivalry.

When asked in a lightning round of questions if he’s seen the wildly popular gay hockey show, Lurie said: “I haven’t watched it. Apparently I need to.”

Watch the conversation on Political Breakdown.