The Phoenix Review is a weekly analysis of the right-wing forces shaping local politics through campaign spending. Learn about the billionaire agenda in short takes from the Bay Area’s most thoughtful political observers.
In a few short months, state Senator Scott Wiener may come one step closer to his long-stated goal of replacing Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and attaining a measure of the power that comes with succeeding a Democratic Party icon. Recent polling has Wiener leading what is expected to be a
Where did San Francisco’s environmental movement go? This seems a rather naive question since concern for the climate is everywhere in the city’s political language. But that saturation conceals a troubling shift. Environmentalism in San Francisco has not been defeated in public debate. Rather, despite the indisputable reality
A few weeks ago it was revealed that San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie spent about $1 million on consultants to burnish his image during his first year in office. While the tone of much of this coverage was critical, although conceding that it was perfectly legal, there is another way
Eddie Kim covers San Francisco politics for the Gazetteer www.gazetteer.com, an online publication launched last spring with the aim of covering stories ignored by other media outlets. The Phoenix Project recently spoke with Kim about Reboot 2024: The New Reality, held September 4th and 5th at San Francisco’
La Mediterranee has been a Pacific Heights institution serving authentic Middle Eastern fare to those in the neighborhood and beyond for nearly a half century. Now, the restaurant is in danger of disappearing after Neil Mehta, a billionaire technology investor, went on a buying spree earlier this year, spending $40
Project 2025 is a blueprint for a second Trump Administration. The document, nearly 1000 pages in length, outlines in vivid detail the right-wing Heritage Foundation’s radical plan for reshaping the federal government, eliminating the rights Americans have long taken for granted and enriching the country’s top 1%
In my last blog post, I looked at Marie Hurabiell’s dubious claims of being a moderate Democrat rallying others around a centrist agenda. Hurabiell isn’t the only one playing this game. In San Francisco,“moderate Democrat” or just “moderate” should be considered code for Republicans pushing far-right
The November 2024 election is on track to be the most expensive in the city’s history. Unheard of sums are being spent by San Francisco’s wealthiest as they work to push the city in a dangerously rightward direction. The results they hope to see will create a city
The Phoenix Project is proud to highlight the groundbreaking work of veteran journalist Gil Duran as he chronicles the effort of San Francisco billionaires to move the city rightward and to take a place on the national stage. With J.D. Vance on Trump ticket, the Nerd Reich goes national
Last week, Mayor London Breed was endorsed by San Francisco’s Democratic Party. four major candidates are running for mayor against Breed including a longtime party activist who once chaired the city’s Democratic Party. Despite ranked-choice voting, Breed was the only candidate they chose to support. No surprise
A featured speaker on the opening day of the San Francisco billionaire The tech venture capitalist earned the spot by raising $15 million for former President Donald Trump’s second bid for office. Sacks used his time to give a right-wing diatribe which included an unusual take on foreign
In an April 2024 episode of conservative talk show San Francisco Beat host Erica Sandberg introduced Marie Hurabiell as the leader of “an important group that connects neighborhoods and gets them together.” As head of Connected SF, Hurabiell has launched neighborhood groups in each one of the city’s 11
My first run for elected office was in 1980, a failed campaign for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Education. Ten years later, I won that spot, coming in first and kicking off a string of campaigns, many successful and a few not. I spent 4 years on
More than a half century ago, President Lyndon Johnson announced The War on Poverty, a collection of social programs to help poor and working people. Last week, the United States Supreme Court, aided by San Francisco Mayor London Breed, her handpicked City Attorney David Chiu, and a bevy of billionaires
It has long been true that San Francisco is an overwhelmingly Democratic city, but it has also long been meaningless to say that. Although it is the truth that you have to be a Democrat to win an election in San Francisco, a very broad range of political views are