Daly to Back Newsom for Governor

by Randy Shaw, 2008-04-01

Nobody saw it coming when San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly told an April Fools Day breakfast meeting in the Mission’s Muddy Waters Coffee House that he was backing Gavin Newsom for Governor. Daly explained that despite his strong opposition to Newsom, he saw a great benefit to getting the mayor out of San Francisco in 2010 rather than at the end of his term in 2011. “The state legislature can keep Newsom under control in Sacramento,” said Daly, “and this move prevents him from another year of doing damage in San Francisco.” Some suspect Daly made his announcement to bolster Newsom’s prospects after Attorney General Jerry Brown stated last weekend that he was likely to run for Governor in 2010.

Reaction to Daly’s endorsement from the Newsom camp was less than enthusiastic. “Sure, if the mayor decides to seek higher office, we’ll take anyone’s support,” said Newsom campaign manager Eric Jaye.

But Jaye saw less noble motives for the timing of Daly’s announcement. “We have been doing polling on the Lennar initiative (Prop G) and found that our mentioning of Daly’s involvement in the rival Prop F reduces support for said measure by around 10%. Daly’s embracing of the mayor’s potential gubernatorial race could be a tactic to bolster the Supervisor’s image and help pass his own initiative.”

Board President Aaron Peskin scoffed at Jaye’s suspicions, and suggested that Daly’s motives were quite transparent. “Daly despises Newsom and wants him out of San Francisco a.s.a.p. If that means helping elect him as Governor, so be it.”

Although Newsom is not a declared candidate for Governor, rival Brown’s announcement that he would likely be running may have pushed up the mayor’s timetable for formally announcing. Newsom told the media this past weekend that he would run for Governor if people urged him to do so---something Chris Daly has now done.

While Daly and Newsom have fought bitterly over a wide range of issues, and the mayor went all out to defeat Daly’s re-election bid in 2006, the Supervisor’s support would bring some important progressive backing to Newsom’s statewide campaign. Daly has credibility among many progressive constituencies, including labor and tenants, and his stamp of approval could spell the difference in an expected tight primary race against former Governor Brown.