By Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, Gabe Greschler & Han Li

The same week that The Standard chairman Michael Moritz dropped a New York Times op-ed dissing Supervisor Aaron Peskin’s mayoral candidacy, the “Godfather of Silicon Valley” made his return to mayoral kingmaking.

Angel investor Ron Conway quietly dropped $100,000 into a new PAC called “Residents Opposing Aaron Peskin for Mayor 2024.” It’s not his first donation in this election; he also contributed to GrowSF and gave the $500 maximum to Mayor London Breed. But this donation is the first sign of a big bet in the mayor’s race and a reprise of Conway’s days supporting the late Mayor Ed Lee with big bucks. The Association of Realtors is also giving $50,000 to the PAC.

One source with knowledge of the PAC’s plans said it’s a sign that Peskin has a chance in the race. “While the moderate candidates obliterate each other, they're working to make sure Aaron doesn't get to Room 200 [the mayor’s office] through the back door,” the source said.

Peskin campaign manager Sunny Angulo said this was nothing new, as Conway supported Peskin’s biggest opponent in his 2015 supervisor race. “You know Aaron is surging in this race if they're resurrecting Ron Conway and his money bags from the dead!” Angulo said.

In the pipeline

The image features three people. On the left, a man in a dark suit is speaking. In the middle, a woman in a blue blazer holds a microphone. On the right, a man in glasses and a suit is talking.

FEELING LUCKY? Where do gambling fiends stand on the mayor’s race? Polymarket, a website that allows users to bet on the outcome of real-world events — like “Will Trump go on Joe Rogan before election?” — shows a tightening contest between Mark Farrell, Breed, and nonprofit founder Daniel Lurie.

The “Who will win San Francisco mayor election?” Polymarket race has shown Breed slowly losing pace since August. Bettors are not so confident in Peskin’s chances, with less than 1% wagering on the longtime supervisor.

As of Sunday afternoon, Lurie was leading at 36%, followed by Farrell at 33%, and Breed at 31%. The percentages appear to be changing daily, and the site has attracted some $190,000 in bets on the local election. (It pales in comparison to the Trump-Harris contest, where more than $2 billion is at stake.)

Lurie, who has plowed millions into his own campaign, recently won an endorsement from the San Francisco Chronicle’s editorial board and has seen his odds jump significantly this week. Lurie may also benefit from allegations of ethical mishaps on the part of Breed and Farrell — including an accusation by the mayor that Farrell asked her to speed up a home permit. Breed, meanwhile, has taken flak for her involvement with the Dream Keeper Initiative.

D5 RIDESHARE KING: What does it mean to be a devoted Muni rider? For moderate-leaning District 5 Board of Supervisors candidate Scotty Jacobs, it means loving the bus while simultaneously racking up thousands of dollars in rideshare charges hopping to and from campaign events.

Campaign finance records from Jacobs — who, along with Bilal Mahmood and Autumn Looijen, is seeking to unseat Democratic Socialist Dean Preston — show he spent $2,331 on Uber and Lyft between July and September. Jacobs — who has been endorsed by mayoral candidate Farrell — presents himself as a big advocate for transit in the Tenderloin/Western Addition/Haight neighborhoods.

During a District 5 debate this month, Jacobs told the audience he’d been riding Muni up to 10 times per week. “I love transit,” he said.

When asked about the Uber and Lyft charges, Jacobs said they were necessary as he travels between events on a tight schedule. He said some of the spending was for Lyft bicycle rides — and that he is still using Muni to get to and from his campaign office.

“In the last week, [we’ve done] three to four campaign events per night,” he told Power Play. “Some of those are house parties. Some of them are meetings. We’re packing it in. … If you have a meeting in the Tenderloin and a meeting in the Haight, there isn’t a super efficient way to get there.”

DISTRICT 3: Some candidates are stepping on all the wrong toes in the race to replace Peskin in District 3 (that’s North Beach, Chinatown, and the rest).

First off, neighborhood nonprofit director Danny Sauter just got an endorsement yanked right out from under him. In a candidate questionnaire to the California Democratic Renters Council, Sauter told the group he supported Prop. 33, which would repeal the Costa Hawkins Rental Housing Act, writing “I believe Costa-Hawkins should be reformed.”

Sauter later squirreled out of that position, telling Mission Local in its questionnaire that he opposed Prop. 33 because it doesn’t lower barriers to building new housing. Sauter says his position hasn’t changed — that he always qualified his position with that asterisk. Arturo Rodriguez, the council’s central region vice chair, told Power Play that supporting Prop. 33 is “the most important thing” Californians can do to protect renters: “When you publicly change that, we have to publicly un-endorse.”

District 3 candidate Moe Jamil, a deputy city attorney, also raised eyebrows this week. Peskin is one of his biggest endorsers, but Jamil was spotted in a “No on Prop. K” video — that’s the campaign against the Great Highway road closure — marching in a group with Peskin foe Farrell. Despite this, Jamil said, “Aaron and I hold a kinship. … I am the moderate with the blessing of Aaron Peskin.” He pointed out that both Peskin and Farrell oppose Prop. K, adding, “As you know, ‘No on K’ has all sorts of characters.”

PESKIN GETS AN F: The Association for the Advancement of Asians, a new moderate political group, doesn’t do the old-school endorsement but instead has a new way to judge the candidates: report cards with grades. Peskin, a longtime representative of Chinatown, received an F grade from the group. Lurie and Farrell received As, Breed got a B, and Supervisor Ahsha Safaí got a C.

The evaluation is based on questionnaire answers and select political issues, including the 2022 school board recall and the district attorney recall. According to its website, the group considers Peskin as on the opposite side of the Asian community by opposing the recalls because Asian voters showed strong support to those issues. Breed got a B because she once supported defunding the police.

Peskin derided what he called an "obviously biased” and “poorly researched” assertion, citing support from a long list of Chinese community leaders, including celebrity chef Martin Yan. He also highlighted his public-safety efforts, such as supporting bilingual officers and neighborhood crime surveillance cameras.