San Francisco – These are days of soul searching for Democrats, an age of math and self-criticism as they try to understand why they have lost Congress and the White House and are struggling to find a way back from political purgatory.
The exam has been extended even before Trump recovered to the White House, San Francisco, a place famous for liberalism and self-righteousness, where inward-looking reflection began.
In 2022, voters came out three super-inferencing members of the Board of Education. He seemed more intended to be iconic gestures, such as changing the names of public schools to erase the likes of Abraham Lincoln and Paul Libya, rather than the achievements of his students. A few months later, District Attorney Chesa Boudin was called in response to his perceived hemorrhagic approach to public safety.
Voters in November selected political newcomers and relatively moderate Daniel Lurie as mayor by presenting the more Shimapachicos supervisory committee at Baroque Mountaineering City Hall in San Francisco. .
Similarly, the city’s Democrats have chosen a leader who has come close to the middle, seen Trump’s election, and improved his position in this blue fortress, rather than exactly the Pro Magazine Choir. It’s ringing.
“One of the current Democrat problems is that much of the party politics, especially at the local level, is primarily performing and has nothing to do with the daily lives of workers.” “And I think we’re seeing a nationwide backlash right now.”
San Francisco is not trying to become a Kansas hillier version or Alabama with views of the Pacific Ocean. Trump won more than 6,000 votes in November than four years ago, boosting his 2.5% support. Still, he lost nearly 65% points to former city district attorney Kamala Harris.
Tung’s politics should also be placed in some way. She checks out all the democratic boxes (pro-choice, anti-Trump, etc.) and jokes with laughter when she is called Communist in many places. But Tsun is a centralist of San Francisco standards, and the city’s political pendulum, which has long vibrated between the left and right, clearly swings her way.
She said after having lunch in the city’s mission district. “I think the government should work for people. At the local level, there are some really basic things that shouldn’t be controversial, right? All communities deserve good public schools. They are safe. A street, deserves a clean sidewalk. Working government, it is not overly bureaucratic…it does not bring about any special benefits greater than everyday people.”
Tung, 50, is the daughter of a Taiwanese immigrant. She grew up in Southern California, Arcadia before moving to the Bay Area, where she spent most of her career as a prosecutor. Her work in her San Franciscoda office focuses on hate crimes.
Tun began her political activities quite recently after Trump’s upset victory in 2016. On her trip to Washington, she was planning to celebrate Hillary Clinton’s historic election as America’s first female president. Instead, she cried out an ugly cry at the National Portrait Gallery, who sat in front of a rendering of a woman who worked for the Supreme Court.
A few weeks later, Tung returned to the capital and picked up a Bullhorn on the eve of Trump’s first inauguration. At home, she doubled her political involvement by signing up with one of San Francisco’s countless democratic clubs. But in the end, Tung felt alienated and not because she was a woman or Asian American, but because other Democrats didn’t accept her comparative moderation.
In 2019, she failed for the district attorney and was defeated by Boudin. The following year, the Board of Supervisors gave up on Tun’s appointment to the Police Commission, as she was seen so pro-politics, in the climate following the murder of George Floyd.
But the slow, political winds were often so. By 2022, the leadership of the San Francisco Democratic Party seemed to have been a step behind. Among other moves, the party opposed the recall of the Board of Education. This is supported by 70% of voters. In 2024, Tung led the centristic slate that controlled the party.
Having lunch at her favourite Indian Pakistani restaurant, she explained her goals between now and ending April 2028. His arms crossed. My brows became wrinkled.
The most important thing that Tung suggested was to move away from abstraction and dul and address issues that touched the everyday lives of voters.
Tung cited a resolution passed by a local party several years ago against the use of child labour in Africa’s chocolate trade. That’s terrible, yes. But why did she wonder if San Francisco Democrats were spending their time on the issue? “It makes people think you’re not in contact with,” Tun said. “What about why there is something about child labour in other countries and how we treat children here?”
It may be reductive, but the points are well taken. If something is shown in the final election, it means that mindful principles, such as standing up for democratic norms, are less important to more voters than the cost of gasoline and groceries, for example.
Democrats said they are forked between rice and lentil servings and “we need to actually show people our value, just like what we do in our community.” …Do you help feed people? Do you help people with clothes? Do you help connect people to services? Are you helping people cut red tape at city hall? ”
Inevitably, the conversation will turn to Trump, fearing that the country will be on its path to dictatorship.
Yes, leaders like her own, said they could speak up and help them out in democratic rage. There is information and resources to share with individuals and groups, such as immigrants, who may be targeted by punitive policies. “Can you provide support to those affected? Yes, you can,” Tung said. “Can you provide a forum for those who want to speak up? Yes, you can do that too.”
But true resistance must come from elected officials, from members of Congress, the Attorney General and others fighting the Trump administration in court, Tun said.
She didn’t say that, but the reality is that if Democrats want to stop Trump’s excess and stop his bulldozing in the federal program, they’ll have to get some measure back in Washington.
And there’s a lot to do.
