While a majority of the funds in the race for the San Francisco board of supervisors have come from individual contributors, close to 10 percent of the $5.3 million have come from big tech and real estate backed groups.
These are the same political action committees, or PACs, that backed conservative candidates in order to oust progressives from the Democratic County Central Committee in March.
And now, these same candidates are running to be part of the Board of Supervisors.
Joe Rivano-Barros, a reporter for Mission Local, who covers the election, says that unlike individual donations, there are no limits on contributions.
“So they can take corporate money, they can take big checks from wealthy folks, and then they can run attack ads and voter guides and just generally criticize the candidates who they are either fighting. Or, support the candidates that they are backing.”
Rivano-Barros says these candidates, such as Trevor Chandler, who is running for District 9, and Marjan Philhour, who is running for District 1, are tougher on drugs and homelessness, more police friendly and are pro-development.
"So this is kind of a very self-stated, very clear goal, to kind of remake the city and to fight progressives on the board and to shift the direction of the city in a very concerted way."
While San Francisco has always had a push and pull between progressives and moderates, because of the presidential election this year, Rivano-Barros says the stakes are especially high.