Bilal Mahmood is a relative newcomer to District 5, the neighborhood he hopes to represent on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He moved to the neighborhood in 2023 in preparation for his run to unseat incumbent Dean Preston.

Should he be elected Mahmood, like Michael Lai in District 11,will be another vehicle for the uber-wealthy seeking to move the city to the political right. Without connections to the community, Mahmood would be answerable only to those who bankrolled his way into office.

The similarities between Lai and Mahmood don’t end there. There is the good: Both are first-generation Americans who graduated from top-tier universities; Lai from Harvard and Mahmood from Stanford.

Although they boast academic backgrounds to be proud of, each found it necessary to embellish their resumes. Lai refers to himself an educator although his foray as head of a chain of preschools was nothing short of disastrous. Mahmood called himself a neuroscientist based on two classes he took as an undergraduate. Most people who call themselves neuroscientists and who work in that field have at least one relevant graduate degree.

Now comes the bad: Both have deep ties to the tech leaders like Garry Tan who are using their wealth to buy influence at City Hall. Tan, who sits on the board of GrowSF, is a passionate YIMBY, and at times unhinged agitator for political violence, who believes that removing obstacles to construction — including, but not limited to, environmental protections and community comment — will create housing at all price points. Urban planners have called YIMBYism- a kind of magical thinking.

Tan’s influence goes beyond that of being a generous donor. He’s organizes other tech leaders. As the chief executive of the world’s largest incubator of technology startups, his influence is broad. Among his friends are tech billionaires like Elon Musk who donated $100,000 to Grow SF’s “Dump Dean” PAC, doubling Tan’s $50,000 contribution. Dean in this case is Dean Preston, the current supervisor for District 5. Preston’s staunch advocacy for tenants and affordable housing has made him a target of the YIMBY movement.

As a GrowSF candidate, Mahmood has enjoyed the group’s considerable resources. He has been the recipient of the nearly $300,000 raised for its Dump Dean PAC and is prominently featured on the group’s slate card. In his previous run for State Assembly, Mahmood proudly boasted that his campaign would take no special interest money, a scruple he quickly abandoned in his run for the District 5 seat.

As something of a dry run, the Astroturf Network sponsored Mahmood’s run for a seat on the San Francisco County Central Committee. Amply resourced, Mahmood easily secured a seat on the DCCC. Now comes a greater test: Whether the Astroturf Network can buy a seat for a candidate with a flimsy resume and a troubling history of ethics violations.

Mahmood has spent the campaign season promoting the Astroturf Network’s peculiar mash-up of tough-on-crime rhetoric and pro-real estate policies. The rest of his political platform is notable only for its its vagueness and focus group tested, but meaningless, platitudes. “I believe we can fill our streets with joy, music, and tens of thousands of people every week,” states Mahmood’s website. “But we need safe streets, vibrant businesses, and creative ideas to bring people back.” Among his “creative ideas” are night markets and a downtown university. Neither is original and the latter is a fantasy..

An outsider with ties to wealthy elites, none of whom live in the District 5, make Mahmood is a strange choice for a working-class district with a rich history of grassroots activism, and support for progressive policies and candidates. It’s notable that District 5 voters recently rejected a ballot measure expanding police power. Mahmood’s cozy relationship with outside groups like GrowSF and TogetherSF combined with his recent move to District 5, make the accusations that Mahmood is a carpet-bagger looking to further his career take on greater weight.

Recent ethical violations have done little to quiet accusations that Mahmood is less than authentic. In May 2023, he admitted to violating San Francisco’s strict campaign laws by misappropriating funds from his previous DCCC race to pay for digital ads for his supervisorial campaign. He used those same funds to pay for mailers for supervisor race. Two violations of the same kind in a short time suggest more than a simple oversight.

In Mahmood’s own words, “How one runs a campaign is emblematic of how they will govern.” His run would suggest that Mahmood’s concerns lie less with District 5 constituents than with the Astroturf Network.