The Astroturf Network spent $12 million on San Francisco’s November 2024 election. It’s a staggering sum for a city with about a half-million registered voters, but a trifling amount for a cabal that includes a handful of billionaires. 

The Network wanted nothing less than a top-to-bottom takeover of the San Francisco government. 

All it got was two seats on the Board of Supervisors, and three seats on the School and  Community College boards. Voters soundly rejected its top choice for mayor, former District 2 Supervisor Mark Farrell, and Proposition D, a ballot measure that would have given him significantly more power at the expense of San Francisco citizens. 

The Network’s most significant win was the ouster of District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston, a favorite target of the Astroturf Network for his staunch advocacy for tenants and other vulnerable San Franciscans. Unfortunately, progressives did not have the resources to defeat the devastating impact a relentless — and often ruthless — disinformation campaign would have on Preston. GrowSF, alone, spent $300,000 to replace Preston with Bilal Mahmood.

The Network is now using its formidable public relations machine to spin losses as victories. GrowSF’s Garry Tan has taken to X, his social media platform of choice, to crow: “A near clean sweep of moderate Dems. Incredible work.”

At the same time, it’s scrambling to cozy up to newly elected Mayor Daniel Lurie, a billionaire in his own right who GrowSF, TogetherSF and Neighbors for a Better San Francisco had recommended, with little enthusiasm, that voters rank him second. Currying favor with the new mayor could prove especially difficult for TogetherSF which blasted him in a notably nasty advertising campaign.

Two years before the November election, Tan, who has become something of a poster boy for this group of uber-wealthy elites, declared war on the progressive office holders he believes led San Francisco to its “ruin.” The reality that San Francisco mayors are very powerful, and outgoing Mayor London Breed is hardly a progressive, did not stop Tan from pushing this dishonest narrative.

Tan declared victory shortly after the polls closed on election night. “A near clean sweep of moderate Dems. Hats off to Marjan Philhour, Danny Sauter, Bilal Mahmood and Michael Lai on retaking the Board of Supervisors.” 

Only Sauter and Mahmood won their races. Philhour was defeated by Chan while Lai lost to labor organizer Chyanne Chen in District 11. Another Network-backed candidate, Trevor Chandler, was handily beaten by Democratic Socialist Jackie Fielder in District 9. Matt Boschetto, the Network’s candidate in District 7, fared no better, failing to unseat Supervisor Myrna Melgar. 

Adding insult to injury, two ballot initiatives sponsored by Board of Supervisors President and mayoral candidate Aaron Peskin won easy victories. Prop E, an antidote to the Astroturf Network’s Prop D, raised about $30,000 compared to the nearly $10 million spent by the city’s wealthy elite. Prop C, Peskin’s legislation to create an office of Inspector General to prevent waste and corruption, was another winner. 

Occasionally the façade drops. Of Chen’s victory, GrowSF’s Sachin Agarwal grumbled (on X): “Of course the SF Chronicle doesn’t mention the insane amount of outside money that was spent to elect Chen.” The Astroturf Network spent nearly $300,000 to support Lai while Chen received more than that sum from a coalition of working class-supported labor unions. 

On his part, Tan took to X to complain about the passage of Prop E: “This is easily one of the most idiotic things the voters of San Francisco did and one of the last cancerous gifts given to us by political machine nutjob Aaron Peskin.” 

All the spin in the world won’t disguise that the Astroturf Network’s attempt to buy City Hall largely failed.