Mayor Breed endorses Matt Haney in the AD-17 race, which of course, because she could name his replacement

With two weeks to go until the AD-17 special election for State Assembly, Mayor of London Breed has endorsed Supervisor Matt Haney over David Campos – unsurprising given that the outing de Haney from the Supervisory Board would give Breed the chance to have a hand-picked replacement.

Two years ago, when District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney was the new face of the SF Board of Supervisors, a number of political observers wondered, “Does Matt Haney have his eyes on the mayor’s office?

Haney immediately positioned himself as Breed’s most visible and vocal adversary, unrelenting over the Mohammed Nuru/Public Works corruption scandal, and sparked a public tussle with Breed over their mental health care proposals. in a duel. For his part, Breed filed a very clear “Fuck you, Matt Haney” by not including it in his December Tenderloin crime crackdown announcement tailored to his district, while supervisors from other districts Catherine Stefani and Ahsha Safai stood by his side.

But three years and a run for State Assembly after Haney took office, he and the mayor’s odd bedfellow process are over. KRON4 reports that Breed endorsed Haney for State Assembly on Tuesday morning, two weeks to the day before his April 19 special election against former Supervisor David Campos.

“I appreciate that as budget chair, Matt has agreed to work with me during the extremely difficult times of the pandemic to craft a balanced budget that delivers the services and priorities our city needs,” Breed said. in a press release. “I am pleased to support his candidacy and look forward to working with him as a partner of the Assembly.

Yes, Haney is the chairman of the board’s budget and finance committee. It’s yet another obscure thing to compliment him on, and certainly not his best-known work. Breed hasn’t (yet) tweeted any approval beyond the brief statement.

Still, Haney is happy to have it! “As a member of the Assembly, I pledge to work closely with Mayor Breed to advocate for solutions on homelessness, housing and affordability for all San Franciscans,” Haney added in the press release.

Haney did a remarkable balancing act here, pivoting the pro-developer’s traditional centrist platform, the YIMBY wing (which traditionally hated it) into a union-and-union platform. Getting Breed’s endorsement shows good political instincts.

But we seem to forget Breed’s political instincts. If Haney wins, race manages to appoint his replacement. A Haney victory gives him a political power grab wrapped in a brand new Chanel bag; the ability to select Haney’s replacement on the current Board of Supervisors and weaken the progressive wing of the board that often opposes her.

For his part, David Campos has words. “This approval was certainly not unexpected,” he said in a statement to KRON4. “Over the past few weeks, our momentum has increased. We’ve seen the establishment rush to protect Matt Haney, whether it’s the California Realtors Association, the anti-Medicare medical lobby For All, or now the mayor.

In the February 15 four-vote primary for the seat, Haney defeated Campos by just 726 votes (out of nearly 94,000 votes in the race). Their bilateral confrontation in the general elections will take place on Tuesday, April 19.

Related: Haney forces state to change description of Campos ballot, as two campaigns try to create differences [SFist]

Image: @MattHaneySF by Twitter