San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters

This is it! The Pissed Off Voter Guide for San Francisco's November 2026 election.

November 2026:
Protect Democracy from the Billionaires!

Statewide Offices

Governor: No Endorsement
Lieutenant Governor: No Endorsement
Secretary of State: Shirley Weber
State Controller: No Endorsement
State Treasurer: No Endorsement
Attorney General: No Endorsement
Insurance Commissioner: Jane Kim
Superintendent of Public Instruction: Richard Barrera
Board of Equalization, District 2: Sally Lieber

San Francisco Offices

US Congress, District 11: Connie Chan
US Congress, District 15: No Endorsement
State Assembly, District 17: No Endorsement
State Assembly, District 19: No Endorsement
Public Defender: Mano Raju
Assessor-Recorder: Joaquin Torres
Supervisor, District 2: No Endorsement
Supervisor, District 4: No Endorsement
Supervisor, District 6: No Endorsement
Supervisor, District 8: Ranked Endorsement: #1 Gary McCoy, #2 Michael Nguyen
Supervisor, District 10: Non-Ranked Dual Endorsement: J.R. Eppler and D.J. Brookter
SFUSD Board of Education: Virginia Cheung, Reina Tello, Ryan Hazelton
City College Board of Trustees: Leah LaCroix, Bunny McFadden
City College Board of Trustees Partial Term: No Endorsement
BART Board, District 8: No Endorsement

Judges

CA Supreme Court: Retain all (Groban, Evans)
First Court of Appeals: Retain all (Smiley, Banke, Wilson, Desautels, Stewart, Fujisaki, Petrou, Simons, Chou, Burns)

San Francisco Ballot Measures

Prop A: Weaken citizen oversight: No
Prop B: Public bank: Hell Yes!
Prop C: Housing Trust Fund: Yes
Prop D: Reduce ballot initiative access: Hellllllll No!
Prop E: Decrease government spending oversight on contracts: Hell No!
Prop F: Mayoral power grab: Hell No!
Prop G: Great Highway compromise: No Position
Prop H: Parcel tax to fund Muni: Yes, and…
Prop I: Affordable housing guarantee act: Oh Hell Yes!
Prop J: Close Foreclosure Tax Loophole: Yes
Prop RTM: Regional Transit Sales Tax: Yes, and…

Statewide Ballot Measures

Prop 1: $11 billion affordable housing bond: Yes
Prop 2: Budget stablization and expand rainy day fund: No position
Prop 3: Extend high income tax for schools and healthcare: Hell Yes!
Prop 4: Legalize public campaign financing: Hell Yes!
Prop 5: State recall reform: Hell Yes!
Prop 37: $25B bond for new home buyers: No position
Prop 38: $8.4B bond for billionaire’s immunology research projects: No
Prop 39: Require ID to vote: Hell No!
Prop 40: Billionaire wealth tax: Hell Yes!
Prop 41: Wealth tax poison pill audit requirements: Hell No!
Prop 42: Poison pill to prevent future wealth taxes: Hell No!
Prop 43: Limit local voters' ability to pass local taxes: Hell No!
Prop 44: Burdensome requirement for health clinic spending: No
Prop 45: Limit environmental CEQA review: No

Real people (pissed off ones) do the researching, endorsing, writing, editing, designing, and distributing of the Pissed Off Voter Guide. No oligarch or AI had a hand in any step of creating this voter guide.

Want to know why we recommend voting this way?
Keep reading for our research and snarky analysis!

Not in San Francisco?
We focus on SF, but if you are in the Bay Area we recommend voting with Bay Rising Action's 2026 midterm voter guide for Oakland, Alameda, Contra Costa, Sonoma and beyond!

Voting Logistics

Register to Vote at any Post Office or online at RegisterToVote.ca.gov. If you’re registered by October 19th, you’ll get a ballot in the mail. But in SF you can always register in person at City Hall up until Election Day. You can also register at any polling place on Election Day: just ask to cast a provisional ballot. Call 415-554-4375 for more info.

WHEN?

October 5th: Early voting starts at City Hall, weekdays 8am–5pm.

October 24th: Weekend early voting starts at City Hall, Saturdays and Sundays 10am–4pm.

November 3rd: Election Day! Polls open 7am–8pm. If you’re in line by 8pm you can vote. You can also drop your ballot off at any polling place on Election Day.

WHERE?

Everyone will get a ballot in the mail! Make sure yours is coming to the right place by checking your registration at SFElections.org.

Drop off your ballot early at one of the 37 official ballot drop boxes across the City, starting October 5th through 8pm on Election Day, November 3rd.

Mail your ballot if you can't drop it off. You don't need a stamp, but make sure you sign the envelope and that it's postmarked by November 3rd.

If you’re going to mail your ballot, mail it as early as possible. And don’t forget to sign your ballot envelope!

Where’s your polling place? Check https://SFelections.org/tools/map_poll_time/, call 311, or just go vote at City Hall.

WHAT ELSE?

Did you forget to register? You can still vote! Go to City Hall or your polling place and tell them you want to "register conditionally and vote provisionally!"

People with felony convictions can vote! You can vote even if you’re on parole. Re-register at Restore Your Vote.

Youth can (almost) vote! If you’re 16 or 17, pre-register to vote and your registration will automatically be activated when you turn 18.

Ranked Choice Voting Strategy

SF supervisor races use Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), which allows you to vote for multiple candidates by ranking them. If your 1st choice gets eliminated, your vote gets moved over to your second choice, and so on. This keeps happening until one contender gets 50% of remaining votes.

We can use RCV strategically: to play defense. Sometimes it makes sense to cast an RCV vote for a candidate you don’t love in order to block a candidate you hate.

For instance, juuuuuust hypothetically, say you really don’t want District 8 supervisor candidate and accused sexual assaulter Manny Yekutiel to win. Filling in all 3 spots on your ballot with other candidates in an anybody-but-Manny strategy is the best way to make sure your vote counts to keep Manny out of City Hall. Use ranked choice voting to vote your heart and your brain.

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Dear San Francisco,

This voter guide is our love letter, not just to the San Francisco that is, but to the San Francisco that could be - to the world that could be and to the messy and beautiful political process that can get us there.

We believe in voting for a future in which normal people can afford to live here, public services have the funding they need, and those with the most pay their fair share.

This ballot gives us many opportunities to say hell yeah. And there is plenty of BS to vote against too. To wit:

Send a progressive champion to DC by voting for Connie Chan for Congress!
Bring neighborhood voices to City hall by voting for Gary McCoy (#1) and Michael Nguyen (#2) for District 8 Supervisor and J.R. Eppler and D.J. Brookter for District 10 Supervisor.
Continue the work of the SFUSD teachers strike by voting for Virginia Cheung, Ryan Hazelton, and Reina Tello for School Board.
Send a shot across the (yacht) bow to fund schools, hospitals, and our social safety net. Vote Hell Yes! on Prop 40: The Billionaire Tax.
Bring that same energy home by voting Hell Yes! on Prop I: Affordable Housing Guarantee Act, to spend luxury real estate tax money on affordable housing.
Foil the plot to weaken our democracy by voting Hell No! on Prop 41, Prop 42, and Prop 43, the tech billionaires’ poison pill sabotage of state and local wealth taxes.
Clear out the mayor’s pile of anti-democratic ballot measures: Vote Hell No! on Prop A, Prop D, Prop E, and Prop F.

There’s scads of state and local candidate races on the ballot too. Add in the possibility of switching things up nationwide, and this election is poised to be legendary. The paper guide is all you need, but we have even more details and analysis below!

Let's win this thing for our neighborhoods, our schools, and our city.

Love,

The League

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Full Voter Guide Writeups in Progress - Check Back Soon!

California Ballot Measures

Prop 1: $11 billion affordable housing bond: Yes

Prop 1 would refill the state’s coffers for affordable housing to the tune of $11.25 billion doll-hairs! Most of that would go to building and renovating affordable apartments, with smaller amounts going to programs that support veterans, farmworkers, students, Native American tribal members, renters, and other Californians struggling to afford housing. In general, bonds are a good way to cover priorities with a high price tag (and goddess knows building in CA ain’t cheap!). We especially like that Prop 1 tackles the “3 P’s” of affordable housing: production of new housing, preservation of existing units, and protections against displacement. As with all bonds, this one needs ⅔ of the vote to pass so let’s vote Hell Yes on Prop 1!

Prop 2: Budget stablization and expand rainy day fund: No position

This measure would double the state’s capacity to siphon tax revenue into a “rainy day fund” for use during budget shortfall years. Given that we’re not sailing in the smoothest economic waters, having a larger rainy day fund could protect basic social services in the event of…I don’t know, an AI bubble burst that causes a massive recession? On the other hand, Federal money has been slashed by you-know-who, and we need all the money we can get right now to stop the bleeding. Some argue that having too much of a rainy day fund gives the state less flexibility and creates a slush fund of taxpayer dollars that are meant to be used.

There’s no projected cost in the short term, and this could have real benefits for those who rely on state services in the event of future budget shortfalls. Or, it could harm those who depend on services by siphoning away money we need to pay for them. We’re a No Position on this one, so you make the call.

Prop 3: Extend high income tax for schools and healthcare: Hell Yes!

Prop 3 would extend an existing tax on high-earning Californians (individuals making $361K or more annually, and couples making more than $721K). Set to expire in 2030, this tax generates billions of dollars each year for the state’s General Fund and pays for public services including schools, health care, and prisons (yeahhhh, we don’t love that part). So, Prop 3 is basically just asking if we can stick with this modestly higher tax rate for the top 2% to fund, well, everything.

CA voters have already voted to approve this twice in 2012 and 2016. And this time, the tax would become permanent! This is cash we’re already counting on, so if it doesn’t pass, we’re screwed [gritted teeth emoji]. Vote Hell Yes! On Proposition 3!

Prop 4: Legalize public campaign financing: Hell Yes!

The way campaign finance currently seems to work is: Only chumps obey the limits on campaign donations to candidates. If you’re rich enough, you can give a bazillion dollars to any PAC you’d like—and they can give it to the candidate. Or they can give it to a “cause” that broadcasts the candidate’s name. And thanks a lot, SCOTUS, as of this year there’s no longer a limit on how much a party can spend in coordination with a candidate. Yikes.

But here comes Prop 4 to save the day! It would overturn the 1988 proposition that banned state and local governments from establishing public financing for campaigns. Public financing is a way for communities to counter the power of big-money campaign contributions by setting public money aside for small-dollar candidates who agree to fundraising limits. San Francisco is a charter city, so we’ve had public financing since voters approved Prop O in 2000. Since then, it’s helped level the playing field in SF elections so that the candidate with the most money isn’t always guaranteed to win.

If Prop 4 passes, it would be legal to create public financing programs for statewide executive campaigns, City College and School Board campaigns, and even BART Board campaigns!

Public financing matters. Look at the case of kick-ass New York Attorney General Leticia James, who says she won her early races for City Council and Public Advocate because of public financing, since she didn’t come from family wealth or know mega-donors. Without public financing, the deck is stacked in favor of any super-rich guy/blue jeans heir who decides it would be fun to buy an election this time around. Prop 4 is supported by everyone from the League of Women Voters to the ACLU, the California Democratic Party, California Common Cause, and the Working Families Party. It’s one basic way to un-stack the deck, at least a little bit. (Also, state Republicans hate the idea of public financing, which only makes us love it more.)

A public financing proposition came to voters in 2010, after the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision unleashed a tsunami of campaign spending. It lost then —but now it only needs 50% plus one, and we’ve had a while to understand how important it is. Let’s finally make it work! Hell Yes on Prop 4!

Prop 5: State recall reform: Hell Yes!

It’s weird how many recalls we’ve been through, right? Some of the strangest have been efforts to recall the California Governor in 2003 and 2020. Those ballots each had two questions: one for the recall itself, and another asking who should step in if the recall is successful. Cue a looooong list of random characters, reactionary recallers, and D-list celebrities — any of whom could actually end up running the state under this confusing setup, even with less than 50% of the vote!

Prop 5 would change the recall process for state officials so that if there’s a recall election, we’d only vote on that first question: Should this person be recalled? If it’s a Governor and a majority of voters say yes, the Lieutenant Governor would step in to fill the vacancy until the next election. The other state offices this applies to would have a specific and transparent process for replacements (like appointments or special elections) in the case of a recall, rather than opening up some weird grab-bag of randos.

Proponents of Prop 5 argue that it will give voters more of a say in who gets elected after a recall, and keep the recall process from being abused as a do-over for unwanted election results or unpopular decisions. As much fun as it is to watch statewide political hijinks with a big bowl of popcorn, we agree that Prop 5 will make recalls more democratic and less like a game show. Vote Hell Yes! on Prop 5.

Prop 37: $25B bond for new home buyers: No position

In England, the people blame not being able to go out, eat healthy, or afford rent on the “Cozzie Livs” (cost of living). Here in San Francisco, we call it business as usual (or something more profane). Prop 37 is a big pile of money to subsidize mortgages for home buyers across California.

We like that Prop 37 aims to bring home ownership within reach for more Californians - it’s an essential asset for housing stability and building generational wealth, and it feels more impossible for most of us each year. The program would be available to low and middle-income households (earning up to 200% of the local median income) as long as they can put down at least a 3% downpayment, which is cool.

But, two things kept us from endorsing Prop 37. First, this measure does nothing for renters who are in desperate need of a lifeline and may not be in a position to buy a home any time soon. Second, Prop 37 mandates that prospective buyers be the first purchaser of the home that they’re purchasing with these funds. Read: It’s only for newly built properties. Wait, what?? While this measure would undoubtedly help first-time home buyers, it’s also a major boon for vampire developers that’s couched in the language of solving the affordability crisis. We have no position.

Prop 38: $8.4B bond for one billionaire’s immunology research projects: No

Prop 38 is put on the ballot by Gary Michelson, a benevolent rich dude. He’s used his money to sponsor decent legislation in the past, regulating animal testing, banning fur, and helping parents with continuing adult education. Prop 38 would give $4.2 billion to Michelson’s immunology institute at UCLA, while the other $4.2 billion would be given out as competitive research grants to universities and non-profits over the next 20 years.

Michelson argues that the $8.4 billion cost would pay for itself through Prop 38’s requirements that some portion of the financial benefits from the research would go back to the state. But who knows what those will be? It could take decades for any money to trickle-down to real needs in California. Immunology is an important research priority, but we’re against rich people pushing through ballot initiatives that use our bond dollars to support their own science projects. Vote no.

Prop 39: Require ID to vote: Hell No!

Prop 39 is a bullshit Voter ID law put forth by Trump’s lackeys to stoke fears of “illegal voting” this November. MAGA Republicans put Prop 39 on the ballot, even though massive voter fraud is a straight-up myth. Experts overwhelmingly agree that widespread voter fraud— both in California and nationally—is a "Big Lie." So why are Republicans pushing Prop 39, which would amend the California constitution to require voters to show government-issued ID at the polls? Maybe because they’re afraid of voters.

Under Prop 39, voters would need to give the last four digits of a government ID, such as a driver’s license number, at the polls. The measure would also require election officials to maintain voter registration lists with citizenship checks, and to verify IDs before counting ballots.

This proposition comes on top of all the voter suppression measures at the national level—gerrymandering to weaken Black districts , trying to end mail-in voting, encouraging states to make it harder to vote, and railing constantly about “voter fraud.” By establishing strict voter ID laws, with layers of cumbersome “verification,” Prop 39 would create unnecessary hurdles for students, seniors, low-income residents, and people with disabilities, who are less likely to have up-to-date driver’s licenses. Ultimately, the plan would lead to longer lines at the polls, and eligible voters having their ballots tossed out. Fewer votes, less democracy: that’s the MAGA plan.

Prop 39 is also super-wasteful. It would cost hundreds of millions of dollars each year in an attempt to fix a problem that everybody agrees doesn’t exist. It’s a costly political stunt we can’t afford. The good news is we only need 50% of voters to shut this thing down—vote HELL NO on Prop 39!

Prop 40: Billionaire wealth tax: Hell Yes!

Most Californians–about 39,355,109 of us— are not billionaires and never will be. Meanwhile, millions of us are on the brink of losing our health insurance or food stamps as Washington makes drastic cuts and changes to Medicare, Medicaid, in-home support for disabled people, and SNAP benefits. Even if you’re not impacted by those programs directly, we’re all feeling it: Insurance costs are going up for everyone across the board. Hospitals and clinics across the state, faced with rising numbers of newly uninsured, under-insured, and very sick people, are at risk of closing, and the cash-strapped emergency departments that remain will be overwhelmed. The dominos are falling, and nobody is safe if the entire health care system collapses. We’re staring down a massive crisis, leaving us to wonder: who can actually step up and help?

Proposition 40 offers a pretty straightforward answer: billionaires! California billionaires got t-shirt cannoned with tax cuts from Trump at the same time the administration gutted the safety net. At a time when the rich keep getting richer while everyone else struggles to keep afloat, a billionaire tax is a great idea.

Prop. 40 would ask the state’s estimated 200 billionaires to pay a one-time 5% tax on their enormous wealth (a minimum of $50 million apiece, leaving them more than enough for generations) while raising tens of billions to offset the drastic cuts from Trump’s “Big Beautiful (cough BULLSHIT) Bill.” The tax money would go toward things California families and communities depend on, like health care, hospitals and emergency rooms, schools and community colleges, and food assistance. The tax wouldn’t touch everyday taxpayers or small business owners or even multi-millionaires, and it wouldn’t even apply to the annual income or primary property of billionaires. Prop 40 simply asks those who have “earned” such Scrooge McDuck-scale fortunes within California’s economy to toss a modest, one-time lifeline back to the public infrastructure and systems that they “definitely didn’t exploit” in pursuit of their success.

Critics say that if Prop 40 passes, the ultra-rich—who, by the way, already use complicated schemes to avoid paying taxes the way regular people have to—will just move their money out of the state. But it’s kind of a moot argument, since the tax is retroactive, and would apply to billionaires who were living in the state as of January 1, 2026.

And while it’s true two of the most ridiculously rich guys, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, claim to have left California because of high taxes, their billionaire buddy Jensen Huang has doubled down on his commitment to California, saying he’s “perfectly fine” with a wealth tax if it means he can continue to reap the rewards of doing business here. The doom-mongering of Newsom and other critics who fuss that if the wealth is taxed, job loss and economic catastrophe will follow seems unsupported by evidence. And besides, if the wealth-tax movement continues to grow alongside Republicans’ decimation of public services, we suspect other states will be doing the same thing soon, anyway.

Reasonable voters have expressed concern that this billionaire tax is just a one-time tax and won’t solve ongoing inequality. OK, but why should that stop us from raising money for the state’s most crucial services now?

Passing Prop 40 is not only the logical and moral thing to do, it would also send a loud and clear message to billionaires: You need to finally pay your fair share, and you can’t spend $50 million in attack ads to buy your way out of it. Let’s get this passed as a first step to a national wealth tax! Vote Hell Yes! on Prop 40!

Prop 41: Wealth tax poison pill audit requirements: Hell No!
Prop 42: Poison pill to prevent future wealth taxes: Hell No!
Prop 43: Limit local voters' ability to pass local taxes: Hell No!

Billionaires be flippin’ their shit. In response to the billionaire wealth tax Prop 40, these 3 measures are largely being funded by former California resident and Google co-founder Sergey Brin and his billionaire besties. And, as you may have noticed, they’ve got plenty of $$$ to throw at ad campaigns to mislead and confuse voters.

Propositions 41, 42 and 43 all seek to make it way more difficult to mount campaigns to tax the wealthiest 1%.

Proposition 41 sounds like a good idea since it has all the hallmarks of good governance—ensuring audits of programs funded by new taxes, and enforcing state spending caps to limit waste. But, as usual, the real purpose of the measure is buried in the fine print: it’s a poison pill to retroactively invalidate Proposition 40, the billionaire tax. Nice try, Moneybags!

Proposition 42 says it will protect the retirement and personal savings of regular Californians from government overreach, but once again its main design is ALSO a poison pill to retroactively invalidate Prop 40! Soo original.

Proposition 43 has the unusual and dubious honor of being opposed by its congressional sponsor. State Assembly Member Buffy Wicks is now actively campaigning against her own measure (long story short, she put it on to block something worse). Prop 43 would make it extremely difficult for cities and counties to raise new local revenue, by raising the minimum threshold of passage to a 2/3 super-majority of votes (currently a 50+1 simple majority is required for a voter-led set-aside tax measure to pass.) So, two good reasons to hate this one: 1. making it harder to raise money for local services from the mega-rich, and 2. making it harder to win at the ballot? No effing way!

Vote Hell No! on Propositions 41, 42 and 43.

Prop 44: Burdensome requirement for health clinic spending: No

This sounds good at first glance—nonprofit, federally-funded clinics that care for poor people should spend money on patient care, not on overhead or executive salaries. You might be picturing health care giants like Sutter and Kaiser that may very well be spending their money in the wrong places. BUT this also applies to smaller community clinics like La Clinica de la Raza, Lyon-Martin, and neighborhood health centers. Advocates for these vital health care facilities are opposing Prop 44 because they’re concerned that a lot of what they spend their money on to serve their patients and keep their doors open, like translation, janitorial services, and billing, wouldn’t count as “patient care.” If that’s the case, they could end up having to pay large fines at a time when they’re facing MAGA’s drastic federal cuts to Medicaid and health-care funding thanks to the “Big Beautiful Bill”🤮🤮🤮. Even if those activities do get to count toward the 90%, Prop 44 adds additional paperwork and bureaucratic burden to prove it. Oh, and these determinations would be made not by medical or public health experts but by the CA Attorney General. These clinics are barely keeping their doors open and we need them more than ever.

Do we think clinics should do everything they can to care for patients? Sure. Do we think they should have to spend their time arguing with the state over which operational expenses should count as “patient care? No.

Prop 45: Limit environmental CEQA review: No

This measure would limit the environmental review process for new building projects across the state and restrict the timelines for public comment to 45 days. While we certainly believe that environmental reviews have been disingenuously leveraged by NIMBYs in the past to subvert much needed green energy and housing projects (looking at you, Berkeley), there is nothing in this measure that would prioritize the stuff we need and protect people from being railroaded by data centers and fossil fuel projects. Without those specifics, it’s hard to believe that this measure won’t chip away at necessary environmental protections. Both the Sierra Club and the Building Trades are urging “no” votes, and when those two see eye to eye on something, we should all pay attention. Vote No.

Meet the SF League of Pissed Off Voters

We're a bunch of political geeks in a torrid love affair with San Francisco. The League formed in 2004 with the goal of building a progressive governing majority in our lifetime. Our contribution is this voter guide⁠: a secret decoder ring for SF politics. All of us lucky enough to enjoy the San Francisco magic owe it to our City to fight to keep it diverse, just, and healthy.

This voter guide (our 36th in SF!) is thoroughly researched and thoroughly biased. It’s how we educate our friends on the issues, excite pissed-off progressive voters, and remind sellout politicians that we’re paying attention.

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Paid for by the San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters. Financial disclosures available at sfethics.org.

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