Gordon Mar

Gordon Mar is an American politician from San Francisco. He has been a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors since 2019, representing District 4. Prior to joining the Board of Supervisors, Mar was a longtime labor and community activist and former Executive Director of Jobs with Justice San Francisco and the Chinese Progressive Association.[1][2][3] He is the brother of former District 1 supervisor, Eric Mar.

Gordon Mar
Gordon Mar (official portrait, 2019)
Member of the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
from District 4
Assumed office
January 8, 2019
MayorLondon Breed
Preceded byKaty Tang
Personal details
NationalityAmerican
Political partyDemocratic
ResidenceSan Francisco, California
OccupationPolitician
Website

District 4 includes the western San Francisco neighborhoods of Central Sunset, Outer Sunset, Parkside, Outer Parkside, and Pine Lake Park.[4]

Electoral History

After incumbent District 4 Supervisor Katy Tang declined to run for re-election in 2018, Mar filed papers to run for the District 4 seat in the November election. The election was the first District 4 election without an incumbent candidate since 2006, which was won by Ed Jew. In the months leading up to the race, the campaigns of both Mar and his primary opponent, Jessica Ho, were criticized for "mudslinging" tactices, and a paid staffer of Mar's campaign was caught tearing down a poster for Ho.[5][6]

Mar was elected supervisor for District 4 on November 6, 2018, receiving 10,314 first preference votes (36.29 percent of all valid votes).[7] After allocation of preferences from eliminated candidates in San Francisco's ranked-choice voting system, Mar received 56.84 percent of final-round votes, compared to 43.16 percent for runner-up Jessica Ho, an aide to the incumbent supervisor Katy Tang.

Legislation

Education - Mar led negotiations with San Francisco Mayor London Breed to fully fund City College of San Francisco's free tuition program for ten years beginning in 2019,[8] and negotiated a deal to provide full reserve funding for raises for San Francisco Unified School District educators.[9]

Homelessness - Mar opposes building a Navigation Center in District 4, despite fellow Supervisor Matt Haney's desire to build a Navigation Center in every district in San Francisco.[10]

Housing - Mar spearheaded multiple Board of Supervisors resolutions which denounced California State Senator Scott Weiner's SB 50 bill, which would have legalized higher density development in areas close to public transit.[11]. Mar is both in favor of more housing, while also maintaining local control over its quality and quantity. [12]

Public Safety - Mar has called on SFPD to release aggregated demographic data on Asian-American crime victims, following an increase in hate crimes in San Francisco and several high-profile attacks on members of the Chinese community,[13] and announced legislation requiring this data to be released annually.

Electoral Reform - Mar is the author of a number of ordinances reforming San Francisco's electoral system and addressing money in politics, including 2019's Proposition F[14] addressing pay-to-play politics, corporate contributions, and dark-money donations, and Public Financing 2.0, which tripled the impact of San Francisco's public financing program for elections.[15]

References
  1. Thadani 2018.
  2. Joshua, Sabatini (November 8, 2018). "Gordon Mar declares victory in District 4 supervisor race". San Francisco Examiner.
  3. San Francisco Board of Supervisors, District 4, Gordon Mar https://sfbos.org/supervisor-mar-district-4. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. San Francisco Board of Supervisors, District 4, Gordon Mar https://sfbos.org/supervisor-mar-district-4. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. "In SF's Sunset, paid campaign staffer tears down opposition's poster". SFChronicle.com. October 29, 2018. Retrieved December 25, 2019.
  6. "Mudslinging race for supervisor from Sunset distracts voters from issues". SFChronicle.com. October 31, 2018. Retrieved December 25, 2019.
  7. SF Elections 2018a.
  8. "Deal reached to fund Free City College, withdraw ballot measure". The San Francisco Examiner. May 23, 2019. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  9. "SF Board of Supervisors advances consensus plan to spend $185 million in 'windfall' funds". Mission Local. February 6, 2019. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  10. "SF District Four supervisor hopefuls agree on issues, not priorities". San Francisco Chronicle. October 16, 2018. Retrieved December 25, 2019.
  11. Brinklow, Adam (December 6, 2019). "California transit-housing bill trashed in SF ahead of new push". Curbed SF. Retrieved December 25, 2019.
  12. "A YIMBY Action Endorsement Questionnaire: Gordon Mar". Retrieved June 8, 2020.
  13. "Rising fear of crime in Chinese community prompts legislative action". The San Francisco Examiner. July 30, 2019. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  14. "Proposition F Submittal Form" (PDF). San Francisco Department of Elections. June 18, 2019.
  15. "Supervisors Triple Matching Rate For Public Campaign Funds - September 17, 2019". SF Weekly. September 17, 2019. Retrieved September 25, 2019.

Additional sources
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