November 2026 Impact Report
San Francisco voted for an affordable city
This year, the number one issue in San Francisco and across the country was affordability. That means being able to purchase a home, get to work, pay for groceries, and send your kids to a public school you trust. On November 3, San Francisco voters backed the candidates and reforms that will make all of that easier, and they did it by wide margins.
Nationally, Democrats took back the House, and 89% of voters told CBS News that the cost of living was a major or crucial factor in their vote. But a lot of what makes San Francisco so expensive, like how long it takes to approve a new home or whether the bus actually shows up, is decided right here at City Hall and on our local ballot.
So this year we ran two campaigns. Here in San Francisco, we published our voter guide and campaigned for our candidates for the Board of Supervisors and the Board of Education, and for charter reform. And through GrowUSA, our new federal PAC, we worked to send Scott Wiener to Congress.
We won big. Stephen Sherrill, Alan Wong, and Matt Dorsey were all re-elected, and Theo Ellington won District 10 in a ten-candidate race. All three of our Board of Education candidates and all four of our City College candidates won too, and Scott Wiener is headed to Congress. That means San Francisco keeps a commonsense majority on the Board of Supervisors, and the student-first majority on the Board of Education grows to six of seven.
Voters also passed every charter reform we championed. Prop A clears out overlapping commissions, Prop D shortens the ballot so more laws are written and fixed by the people you elect, Prop E modernizes how the City signs contracts, and Prop F lets the Mayor reorganize departments. Together, they cut down the number of sign-offs it takes to get anything done at City Hall.
Voters passed Prop H and Regional Measure RTM to keep Muni and Bay Area transit running, and Prop C to put more money into subsidized housing. Statewide, they rejected Prop 40, a billionaire tax we opposed.
Stephen Sherrill
Supervisor, District 2
Won
Alan Wong
Supervisor, District 4
Won
Matt Dorsey
Supervisor, District 6
Won
Darshini Patel
Supervisor, District 8
Lost
Theo Ellington
Supervisor, District 10
Won
Autumn Brown Garibay
Board of Education
Won
Phil Kim
Board of Education
Won
Tim Tung
Board of Education
Won
Elijah Ball
Community College Board
Won
Monroe Lace
Community College Board
Won
Erwin Tam
Community College Board
Won
Ruth Ferguson
Community College Board, Partial Term
Won
Scott Wiener
Congress, District 11
Won
to Proposition A
Commission Reform
Passed
to Proposition B
Public Bank
Passed
to Proposition C
Contributions to the Housing Fund
Passed
to Proposition D
Ballot Measure Process
Passed
to Proposition E
City Contracting
Passed
to Proposition F
Executive Branch Management
Passed
to Proposition G
Cars on the Great Highway
Defeated
to Proposition H
Muni Parcel Tax
Passed
to Proposition I
Real Property Transfer Tax
Defeated
to Proposition J
Transfer Tax Foreclosure Exemption
Passed
to Regional Measure RTM
Regional Transit Measure
Passed
to Proposition 40
Billionaire Tax (statewide)
Defeated
Matt Haney
State Assembly, District 17
Won
Catherine Stefani
State Assembly, District 19
Won
Sara Barz
BART Board, District 8
Won
Joaquín Torres
Assessor-Recorder
Won
Like in June, we took a two-pronged approach. First, we started early. Our TV ads for our Supervisor candidates started running in early August, and we ran the biggest school board campaign in San Francisco history so voters would know our candidates' names. Our candidates tell us those ads literally open doors for them, because when they knock, voters recognize them from TV and want to talk.
Then, once ballots went out, we made sure every voter knew who we supported. Our 48-page voter guide landed in mailboxes at the same time as ballots, and a cheat sheet followed closer to Election Day. Our website got 169,000 visitors, and in the Supervisor races, contrast mail showed voters how the candidates actually differ.
Channel
Reach
Website voter guide
319k impressions across 169k uniques, about 49% of all voters in this election.
Voter guide mail
Two complete voter guides, in English and Chinese, sent to every voting household: a 48-page booklet that explains everything we're voting on in detail, which arrived in mailboxes at the same time as ballots, and an 8.5-by-11-inch cheat sheet sent closer to Election Day.
Candidate direct mail
Two citywide mailers for our Board of Education slate to raise name ID. Two pieces of contrast mail in each Supervisor race, highlighting the policy differences between the candidates.
TV and streaming ads
17.7M impressions in total, with a focus on premium streaming TV and YouTube placements. That's 8.6M for our Board of Education slate, 3.2M for GrowSF Voter Guide awareness, and 5.9M in the Supervisor races.
Meta ads
18.4M impressions in total on Facebook and Instagram. That's 11.4M for our Board of Education slate, 4.6M for GrowSF Voter Guide awareness, and 2.4M in the Supervisor races.
We spent $1,935,000 on our San Francisco campaign. Our team of three does almost everything in-house, so about 90% of that went straight to reaching and persuading voters. Almost half paid for the voter guide itself, and the rest went to our Board of Education and Supervisor campaigns, along with polling and compliance.
GrowUSA is GrowSF's federal PAC. A lot of what makes San Francisco expensive, like slow permitting and underfunded transit, is shaped in Washington too, and Scott Wiener has spent his career fixing exactly those problems. He wrote the state law that made it easier to build homes near transit, and the law that put Regional Measure RTM on this ballot.
Back in August, our polling showed the race was tied. Voters knew Connie Chan's name but not her positions, and most didn't know Wiener's positions either. Nobody was running a big digital campaign to tell them.
So we started GrowUSA and raised $3.9 million to do it. Our research showed us exactly what voters didn't know, and it was clear that once they learned where Wiener and Chan stood, we could win this race.
Channel
Reach
Broadcast, cable, and streaming TV
We ran a large TV program across broadcast, cable, streaming, and YouTube, focused on premium placements, including 49ers, Warriors, and Valkyries games. You can't count views on broadcast and cable, but on streaming TV and YouTube we delivered 32.5M impressions.
Direct mail
6 pieces sent to every voting household in CA-11, in English and Chinese, using formats and messages proven to work, developed with political scientists. They included a comparison mailer and pieces on housing and AI safety.
Meta ads
21M impressions on Facebook and Instagram.
Google search ads
Many voters were searching for the candidates because they didn't know where they stood, so we captured those searches and sent people to clear, accurate information about the race.
Partners
$150,000 to Equality California Votes for their work in this race.
A randomized controlled trial found our ads increased support for Wiener
From October 8 through Election Day, YouTube ran a brand lift study on our ads. It works like a medical trial. YouTube randomly split viewers into a group that saw our ads and a control group that didn't, then asked both groups who they planned to vote for. People who saw our ads were 3.31 points more likely to pick Wiener, and by the final week that gap grew to 5.24 points. Our ad about Scott's plan for affordable housing did best, with a 5.63-point lift.
We raised $3,900,000 for this campaign, and most of it went to TV and mail because those reach the most voters across CA-11.
Here are the ads we ran this fall for the voter guide, our local candidates, and Scott Wiener.
What's Next
Now we make sure they deliver.
The leaders and laws are now in place to make San Francisco more affordable. In 2027, the Board of Supervisors can approve the homes we need and pass a responsible budget. The Mayor can use the new charter powers to reorganize departments and sign contracts faster. And the Board of Education can stay focused on the basics for kids.
Winning is only the first step. Between elections, we'll keep tracking whether City Hall delivers on housing, the budget, and Muni, and we'll hold the people we endorsed to their promises.
None of this happens without our supporters. With your help, we'll keep being a source San Franciscans can trust, and we'll be ready for the next election.