CV NEWS FEED // Voters in San Francisco on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a pair of ballot measures that provide more resources to police and require drug testing for welfare recipients.
Northern California’s largest newspaper called the success of the initiatives a sign that the city, long regarded as a bastion of far-left politics, is significantly shifting to the center.
San Francisco voters approved both Ballot Measure E and Ballot Measure F, with 58% and 63% of the vote, respectively.
The Washington Stand reported that Measure E
bolsters the San Francisco Police Department by creating new policies for officers “to report use-of-force incidents,” allows police to use drones and set up security cameras to reduce and prevent crime, and authorizes police to use “new surveillance technology” with a board of supervisors’ approval.
The slightly more popular Measure F “requires single adults under 65 and with no dependents to submit to drug tests before being eligible to receive county welfare assistance,” also according to The Washington Stand.
The votes on the two measures were held concurrently with California’s presidential primaries.
Following the shocking results, Joe Garofoli and Aldo Toledo declared in The San Francisco Chronicle: “For now, at least, San Francisco can no longer be called a progressive city.”
Garofoli and Toledo’s piece went on to state:
Voters also backed a slate of moderates to run the local Democratic County Central Committee, whose endorsements could reshape who is elected in San Francisco for years. Four years ago, progressives won all but two seats on the DCCC.
The Chronicle authors quoted Steven Buss, who runs a “moderate advocacy group” in the city.
Buss stated that the far-left “progressive” faction of San Francisco Democrats “had their turn” and “failed.”
“Now it’s time for the city to move on,” he emphasized.
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Past results show that San Francisco voters have been open to a more moderate approach to governance for the past couple of years.
In June 2022, the city’s voters recalled far-left District Attorney Chesa Boudin by a double-digit margin. Boudin was known for his refusal to prosecute various crimes, as well as his connection to the controversial left-wing billionaire George Soros.
Earlier that same year, over 70% of San Francisco voters recalled three members of the city’s public Board of Education after they backed “woke” measures such as the renaming of several schools. The recall was heavily supported by the city’s large Chinese-American community.
The Washington Stand report described San Francisco’s apparent abandonment of “progressivism” as part of a larger recent trend of deep-blue cities and states rejecting far-left policies.
Earlier this week, CatholicVote reported that “[b]oth houses of the Democratic-controlled Oregon legislature overwhelmingly passed legislation that would loosen parts of the widely panned 2020 Oregon Ballot Measure 110, which decriminalized hard drugs.”
Furthermore, CatholicVote noted last week that “Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams voiced support for making changes to the Big Apple’s ‘sanctuary city’ status amid a surge of crime perpetrated by illegal migrants.”
“If you commit a felony, a violent act, we should be able to turn you over to [U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE)] and have you deported,” the mayor said at the time.
Less than three years ago, Adams had campaigned on maintaining New York City’s “sanctuary” status.
