| | | | |  | | By Dustin Gardiner and Lara Korte | |  Mark Farrell speaks to reporters in January 2018. | Joel Angel Juarez/AP | THE BUZZ: SHIFTING RIGHTWARD — San Francisco mayoral candidate Mark Farrell said today that, if elected, he will ask the state to send more armed National Guard troops into downtown to fight the city’s open-air drug markets. The announcement, part of Farrell’s plan to address the fentanyl overdose crisis, is the latest example of how the Democrat and venture capitalist is trying to oust Mayor London Breed in November by outflanking her to the right. Breed and Gov. Gavin Newsom have used the National Guard and California Highway Patrol to help local police dismantle fentanyl rings, especially ahead of the city hosting the APEC summit last fall. But Farrell wants to see more military personnel deployed for an indefinite period of time — though he didn’t specify how many or how long. His rhetoric, especially his call for “more armed California National Guard,” is sure to strike a political nerve in San Francisco. The city has increasingly leaned into tough-on-crime policies despite its liberal reputation as voters grow frustrated over brazen retail theft, public drug use and sprawling homelessness encampments. Farrell, a former interim mayor and city supervisor, doesn’t see that shift or his aggressive policies in terms of ideology. Rather, he said, it’s a necessary response to soaring drug-related deaths, including at least 811 overdoses in 2023. “I don’t believe that it’s progressive or compassionate to allow a record number of overdose deaths on our streets every single year,” Farrell said. He said his approach was inspired, in part, by other blue locales taking aggressive steps in response to similar urban challenges, such as New York Gov. Kathy Hochul deploying the National Guard to fight crime on city subways. His announcement is just another data point in what’s become a central theme of San Francisco’s mayoral contest: because Breed’s major opponents all share her moderate Democratic stripes, they’re engaging in games of one-upmanship by launching GOP-sounding plans to increase law enforcement and force people into addiction treatment. Breed’s campaign has, in turn, attacked Farrell by calling him too conservative for the city. “If he tacks any farther to the right, Mark Farrell might need to re-register as a Republican,” said Joe Arellano, her spokesperson. The rightward push speaks to voters’ growing frustration with the city’s decaying street conditions — as well as the major influence of tech-funded, centrist advocacy groups that have fueled the shift toward more coercive public-safety and addiction policies. Daniel Lurie, a nonprofit executive and heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, has also rolled out a host of tougher policies to address the city’s crime and addiction crises. On Wednesday, he called for a citywide “state of emergency” over the fentanyl problem, which he said would bring in more federal and state funds. “These are not just numbers on a page. Every death is someone’s son, daughter, sister or brother,” Lurie said during a news conference, where he was endorsed by Frank Jordan, a former mayor and police chief. Lurie has tried to frame himself as the change agent in the race. His consultant, Tyler Law, said Breed and Farrell are “City Hall insiders trying to rewrite their records.” GOOD MORNING. Happy Thursday. Thanks for waking up with Playbook. Now you can text us at 916-562-0685 — save it as “CA Playbook” in your contacts now. Or drop us a line at lkorte@politico.com and dgardiner@politico.com, or on X — @DustinGardiner and @Lara_Korte. | | | | SUBSCRIBE TO GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Don’t miss out on POLITICO’s Global Playbook, the newsletter taking you inside pivotal discussions at the most influential gatherings in the world, including WEF in Davos, Milken Global in Beverly Hills, to UNGA in NYC and many more. Suzanne Lynch delivers the world's elite and influential moments directly to you. Stay in the global loop. SUBSCRIBE NOW. | | | | |
WHERE’S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.
TWEET OF THE DAY: State Sen. Scott Wiener had a sassy response after Riley Gaines, the former swimmer turned activist against transgender-inclusive sports, jabbed him in an X post. Gaines had shared a video of a California Senate floor debate where Wiener questioned her “cause celeb” when she, in fact, tied a trans woman for… fifth place. “It's always the ones who have never played a competitive sport in their entire lives lol,” Gaines tweeted with the video. Wiener snapped back, referencing his gay kickball league cred.
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| |  | CAMPAIGN YEAR | | | 
From left to right, Jacob Strumwasser, Nicole Shanahan, Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cheryl Hines stand together on stage during a campaign event on March 26, 2024, in Oakland, California. | Eric Risberg/AP | LONG WAY FROM CAMELOT — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent bid for president has alarmed Democrats, and laid bare the wide political schism that has formed since his father once ran for the same office. Our colleague Jeremy B. White was on hand in Oakland this week to watch the younger Kennedy announce his running mate, Nicole Shannan. Hundreds of supporters gathered to watch, many of them, with their own complicated reasons for supporting the polarizing activist who has preached a distrust of government and vowed to end the nation's two-party rule. As Jeremy writes — “The Kennedy dynasty is most closely associated with Massachusetts, but it is also deeply intertwined with California. This is where Robert F. Kennedy Sr. forged an enduring bond with farmworker leader Cesar Chavez before his tragic death in a Los Angeles hotel. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a prominent Biden surrogate, reveres RFK Sr. so greatly that he keeps his bust in his Sacramento office. Yet here was a scion of that storied clan — in the bluest district of a resolutely blue state, a short walk from where then-Sen. Kamala Harris launched her presidential campaign in 2019 — standing before a crowd of voters waving American flags, asking them to reject Biden and the Democrats. ‘Our independent run for the presidency is finally going to bring down the Democratic and Republican duopoly,’ Kennedy tells the crowd. ‘Nicole Shanahan,’ he adds, ‘will help me rally support for a revolution against the uniparty rule from both ends of the right and left political spectrum.’” Read more from Jeremy’s story here. | | LOS ANGELES | | BIDEN TIME — Lawyers for Hunter Biden appeared to make little progress Wednesday afternoon in trying to convince a Los Angeles judge that the federal tax charges brought against him were politically motivated. As Melanie Mason reports, Biden's defense lawyers, led by Abbe Lowell, tried to convince the court that he had been unfairly targeted by special counsel David Weiss. Last year, as the GOP-led House ramped up its scrutiny of the Biden family, two IRS agents publicly alleged that the Justice Department initially gave special treatment to Hunter Biden — an account that both DOJ and Weiss have denied. Biden’s legal team has argued that Republican pressure caused Weiss to bring charges that otherwise would never have been brought. But federal Judge Mark Scarsi, an appointee of Donald Trump, repeatedly pushed the defense to offer more proof of political motivation. He said during the hearing that “there is no evidence [from the defense] that influenced the prosecutors’ decision here.” The judge asked Lowell whether the defense argument boiled down to “where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” | | | | In celebration of Earth Month, the USC Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability and the USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future, in collaboration with POLITICO, host “Climate Forward 2024: Climate at the Crossroads” on April 4, 2024 at USC. Top experts from politics, government, media, and academia will discuss climate change issues with a focus on finding practical policy and business solutions as well identifying ways to remove political obstacles to implementing those changes. Register to attend in person or virtually. | | | | | | | ELECTION UPDATES | | RECOUNT WATCH — The race for second place in Rep. Anna Eshoo’s solidly blue Silicon Valley congressional district is about as tight as it can get — and far from over. With former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo comfortably in first place, all eyes have turned to the razor-thin margin between Democratic Assemblymember Evan Low and Santa Clara Supervisor Joe Simitian as they vye for the last spot in the November runoff. The two Democrats have spent weeks trading the lead position, with the latest numbers showing Simitian ahead with a two-vote advantage. Neither campaign has called for a recount yet, but with the numbers this close, it’s well within the realm of possibility. Counties have until April 4 to certify the election results, at which point any voter has a five-day window to request a recount in the congressional race. Whoever triggers the recount bears the costly burden of paying for it, which, depending on method, scope and county, could run you well into the six figures. The Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters estimates a manual ballot recount would take about 10 days at a cost of $32,000 per day, for a total of $320,000. Using machines, it would take about $16,840 a day over five days, for a total of about $84,000. That doesn’t include the costs from San Mateo County, which could also climb well into the thousands, depending on how many ballots a campaign wanted to recount and how many panels it wanted to establish to review the votes. | | CLIMATE AND ENERGY | | TRUMP’S WAR ON THE WAIVER — Trump has it out for California's special authority to set its own tailpipe emissions standards under the Clean Air Act. And Newsom's bureaucrats are already working behind the scenes to Trump-proof California's climate rules. Read about it in last night's California Climate. | | Top Talkers | |
— The SEC is suing a San Francisco tech company for selling cryptocurrency to the wrong investors. (San Francisco Chronicle)
— Parents of UC Berkeley students spent thousands on private security for their children this month to ward off crime. (Los Angeles Times) — Fares soared at Long Beach airport last year, making it the airport with the highest price hikes in the country. (The Orange County Register) — Sacramento is now a safe haven for transgender people. (The Sacramento Bee) — California card rooms are spending millions to keep tribal casinos from suing them. (CalMatters) — The San Francisco Board of Supervisors overturned a veto from Mayor London Breed for the first time — and YIMBYs are irate. (San Francisco Chronicle) — Leaving death threats over voicemail for Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas earned a Bay Area man nearly one year in prison. (San Francisco Chronicle) — with help from Ariel Gans | | PLAYBOOKERS | | MEDIA MOVES — Jeong Park has joined The Seattle Times as an assistant metro editor. He spent the past two years covering Asian American communities for the Los Angeles Times. — Laurence Darmiento jumped from staff writer to aerospace reporter at the Los Angeles Times. He began at the Times as an assistant business editor in 2015. — Peter White was promoted from television editor to executive editor of television at Deadline, where has worked since 2017. — Andreas Wiseman rose to executive editor of international and strategy at Deadline. He has edited for the publication’s international section since 2018. — Dominic Patten made the leap to executive editor of legal, labor and politics at Deadline. He has been a senior editor and chief critic for the site since 2012. — with help from Ariel Gans BIRTHDAYS — Peter Ambler … Will Goodman...Ashley Duffey... CALIFORNIA POLICY IS ALWAYS CHANGING: Know your next move. From Sacramento to Silicon Valley, POLITICO California Pro provides policy professionals with the in-depth reporting and tools they need to get ahead of policy trends and political developments shaping the Golden State. To learn more about the exclusive insight and analysis this subscriber-only service offers, click here. Want to make an impact? POLITICO California has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Golden State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness amongst this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com.
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