San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie advances $120M‑backed ballot measures

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, who contributed nearly $9 million of his own fortune to win the 2024 election, has secured more than $120 million in philanthropic donations for city initiatives such as homelessness, addiction treatment and downtown revitalization. He is now using that financial backing to drive three charter amendments that would increase the signature threshold for citizen initiatives, expand the mayor’s authority to reorganize departments, and give the city administrator greater power. Donors have contributed roughly $8.6 million to the ballot‑measure campaign, including $2 million from venture capitalist Michael Moritz.

A coalition of activists and campaign consultants has created the “Fair Ballot Access” committee to oppose the signature‑threshold amendment, which would raise the required signatures from about 10,700 (2% of registered voters) to roughly 42,000 (8%). The opposition argues the change would make it harder for residents to place issues on the ballot, while supporters say it aligns San Francisco with other large California cities.