San Francisco voters are likely to reject Proposition D, and the new york time count through the end of the week showed the Overpaid CEO Tax trailing by a double-digit margin. Mayor Daniel Lurie became the face of the anti-tax campaign after labor unions put the measure on the June ballot.
The result would leave SEIU 1021 and IFPTE Local 21 with a rare defeat after they led the push for the measure. It would also preserve the 2024 business tax reform that labor and business had tried to salvage after the campaign broke apart.
Lurie At The Center
Lurie opposed Proposition D and was still not widely recognized as the campaign’s leading opponent by many voters. Almost half of voters were not aware that he opposed the measure, according to the facts provided, even as he became the face of the No on D effort at the end.
A source involved in the campaign said, “We knew turnout was going to be more last minute because of the uncertainty surrounding the governor’s race,” and added, “So we called in the Lurie cameo at the end.” The campaign’s original business-side slogan was “Let’s go, San Francisco,” before it shifted to “Let’s go defeat that darn tax.”
Business Side Checks
Chris Larsen and Michael Moritz each cut six-figure checks for the business side, while Advance SF aired negative TV ads during the NBA playoffs. Nancy Pelosi and a supermajority of the Board of Supervisors endorsed the campaign, giving it support from some of the city’s most visible names and institutions.
A Chamber of Commerce poll showed support for Prop. D ahead before the election. That made the later double-digit rejection more striking for a city where voters had embraced higher business taxes at nearly every turn for two decades.
What The Vote Leaves
The measure’s defeat would mark a rare loss for San Francisco’s most powerful unions after they put the Overpaid CEO Tax on the June ballot. The business coalition had warned labor unions about the economic consequences of reneging on the business tax reform passed in 2024, and sources said the talks to keep that bargain intact hit a wall.
The practical outcome for voters is simple: Prop. D is headed toward rejection, and the city’s 2024 business tax deal appears to survive. The signature deadline of Feb. 2 had already passed before the June ballot fight began, and the final ballot count through the week pointed to the same end state.
