With only 16 days until the June 2 Primary Election, voters remain remarkably undecided. Whether on San Francisco buses, at art museums, or at dinner parties, almost everyone I ask still doesn’t know who they’ll support. In all my 49 years in California, I’ve never seen a statewide election so wide open.
One thing is clear: if Matt Mahan—whom I support—fails to advance, it will be because I and others haven’t raised enough money to introduce him to the electorate. While longtime politician Xavier Becerra and billionaire Tom Steyer are known by 90% of Californians, Mahan’s name recognition hovers just above 60%. California is a big, noisy, and expensive state in which to introduce a mayor from a city that often flies under the radar. Yet, given the high number of undecided voters and the tepid support for his opponents, it’s not too late for Mahan to secure a top-two finish if he can bridge that awareness gap.
One thing that’s not clear is Tom Steyer’s math. I have great affection for Tom and respect his skills, but the $22 billion in local property tax revenues he proposes to raise from corporations by revising Proposition 13 represents less than 3% of the $800+ billion California local and state governments spend annually and he is promising to fund everything from a multi-hundred-billion-dollar single-payer insurance system to schools and housing incentives with that same small pot of money. Meanwhile, Becerra offers neither solutions nor math and GOP candidates will be hard-pressed to win a general election in Trump-deranged California. For Democrats and Independents who actually want to solve problems, Mahan is the only choice.
