Kit Lam, a prominent Chinese American organizer of the 2022 San Francisco school board recall, will become Daniel Lurie’s AAPI political director.
By Ko Lyn Cheang, J.D. Morris
San Francisco Mayor London Breed’s reelection challengers are seizing on her apparent vulnerability with Asian voters by appointing Chinese American staffers to key campaign roles.
On Saturday, Kit Lam, an influential parent organizer of the 2022 San Francisco school board recall, joined nonprofit founder and Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie’s mayoral campaign as his Asian American and Pacific Islander political director. Lam is the latest in a number of moderate Asian American politicos and community leaders who are rallying behind Breed’s opponents as she faces a tough reelection fight.
“I personally believe we need new leadership — someone who is not in City Hall politics,” said Lam, who left his City Hall job Friday as a legislative aide to Supervisor Joel Engardio.
Meanwhile, Jade Tu, a Chinese American native of San Francisco who got involved in city politics three years ago in response to a wave of anti-Asian hate crimes in the city, is the campaign manager for Mark Farrell, a former city supervisor and appointed mayor who is also trying to unseat Breed in November.
Asian voters played a major role in electing Breed and her most recent predecessors, but many seem to have soured on the mayor amid concerns about anti-Asian violence during the pandemic as well as overall dissatisfaction with the city’s high property crime, open-air drug dealing and other issues.
A Chronicle poll in February showed that 80% of Asian voters likely to cast ballots in November disapproved of Breed’s performance, and Lurie and Farrell would each receive support from 17% of Asian likely voters if the election were held now, compared with just 10% for Breed.
Read more at: SF Chronicle
