Mirkarimi takes District 5

Staff Report

In a hotly contested race, Ross Mirkarimi, a long time Green leader in San Francisco, pulled off a decisive progressive victory, winning twice the amount of votes as his nearest competitors to capture the Board of Supervisor's seat being vacated by Matt Gonzales.

"The race for District 5 may go down as one of the most contentious in San Francisco's history," wrote Casey Mills in the online publication BeyondChron. "Twenty-two candidates slogged through months of campaigning, residents waded through seas of door-hangers and mailings, and every mildly political club in the city tiptoed through endorsement processes. Candidates spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, made countless deals, and called in political heavyweights from Howard Dean to Gavin Newsom," Mills noted.

"So how did Green Party co-founder Ross Mirkarimi win so decisively?"

Endorsements from the San Francisco Bay Guardian and Gonzales--who gained national attention by nearly beating Newsom in the mayor's race last year--undoubtedly helped. But Mills credits the win to Mirkarimi's "extensive, relentless field campaign."

"Early on in the race, Mirkarimi went down to major transit corridors and introduced himself to countless residents. He consistently visited churches on Sundays, strongholds of black support in San Francisco. And volunteers started phone-banking months before Election Day, as well as knocking on doors in every neighborhood in the District," Mills wrote. "The result? Many voters had a face to associate with Mirkarimi's name, a feat extremely difficult to achieve in a race with so many candidates."

Mirkarimi is also well known in the San Francisco area for years of organizing for progressive change. A former assistant to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office, Mirkarimi has been instrumental in several high profile progressive victories in the city.

Mirkarimi was a key player in the recent passage of Prop. H, the police accountability initiative. As a legislative aide in City Hall, he helped usher the passage of critical legislation: Reestablishment of District Elections, Campaign Spending Limits, Removal of the Central Freeway, Enactment of Transgender Rights, and the Creation of the Environmental Department. In 2001, he directed the Public Power campaign, designed to give San Franciscans a greater voice in their energy future while stopping PG&E's ratepayer rip-off.

Mirkarimi co-founded the Green Party of California 14 years ago, and was a top aide in the presidential campaign of Ralph Nader in 2000, and the gubernatorial campaign of Peter Camejo in 2002.

In a thank-you note to supporters the day after the election, Mirkarimi said he is "proud of the positive campaign we've run," but also expressed his "profound rage and disappointment" that there was not regime change at the national level.

"Since last night, I've received numerous messages from friends and well-wishers who are stunned by the outcome of the presidential and congressional elections, and who've said that they are a step away from moving to Canada or Sweden, except what keeps them here are the tiny bright spots that remind them that sometimes we can win, even if it's in a place called District 5."