Labor leader Dolores Huerta endorses Breed for mayor
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Dolores Huerta threw her weight behind Breed, which could prove pivotal. Photo: Jemal Countess via Getty Images for TIME
The renowned labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta has endorsed Mayor London Breed, who faces a slate of formidable challengers in her re-election bid.
Why it matters: Huerta's endorsement is likely to give Breed an edge among Latino voters.
The intrigue: Many will automatically vote in line with Huerta, local Latino leaders say.
- "You say Dolores Huerta, you slap that on a flier and you put that out, you got the vote," Tracy Gallardo, founder of the Latino Task Force, told Mission Local.
What they're saying: In a statement shared by the mayor, Huerta said that Breed "demonstrated her leadership during the pandemic by not only delivering one of the nation's strongest public health responses but also providing critical resources to support those most impacted ... such as low-income Latino essential workers."
- "With so much at stake nationally, regionally and locally, it's essential to recognize and celebrate women of color who have led the way in creating a more equitable future for our cities, states and country," Huerta added.
Yes, but: Critics maintain that Breed's record on homelessness, public safety and economic recovery leaves much to desire.
- The Mission, home to a wide range of Latino-owned small businesses, is still struggling to bounce back. From 2019 to 2024 it saw a 25% decrease in sales tax revenue, city data shows.
- And while Huerta praised the mayor's pandemic response, Latinos in San Francisco were infected at higher rates than Latinos in cities with higher overall infection rates, Mission Local found in 2020.
- Breed did later allocate $28.5 million to Latino organizations as part of a neighborhood hub strategy for addressing COVID.
The big picture: Breed is neck-to-neck with her competitors. Though she emerged in the lead in previous polls, an early September survey put her slightly behind former interim mayor Mark Farrell.
- She most recently participated in a forum with the NAACP on Sunday and fended off attacks from opponents at a mayoral debate held by KQED/San Francisco Chronicle in September.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that Breed participated in debates beyond the first four in the election cycle.