The year 2025 saw the inauguration of San Francisco’s 46th mayor, Daniel Lurie, a political neophyte and an heir to the billion-dollar Levi-Strauss fortune. It also saw the shift to a more conservative Board of Supervisors.

But all was not rosy in the so-called moderate camp. Last November, saw the recall of District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio, the elected official most identified with the city’s conservative Astroturf Network. Engardio enraged Sunset District residents by prioritizing big-money backers over constituents when he advocated for closing a stretch of the Upper Great Highway.

For us at the Phoenix Project, it’s been a busy year tracking the furious efforts of the newly elected mayor and conservative Board of Supervisors to further the interests of the city’s wealthiest — often at the expense of working and vulnerable San Franciscans. For Lurie and the Board, Engardio’s downfall should be viewed as nothing less than a cautionary tale. 

In the coming year, we will continue to chronicle how the Astroturf Network’s attempt to extend its influence to Oakland, and the ramifications for those elected officials who fall under its sway.

The following is a list of our most-read blogs of 2025.

Our most popular blog was “Moderate” Politics And Its Authoritarian Foundation from monthly columnist Exavier Morrison-Wells. In it, Morrison-Wells carefully documents the authoritarian leanings of the Lurie Administration and the troubling ideology behind much of the so-called moderate agenda. “Politics like this inevitably drift toward authoritarianism because it has already chosen its specific set of enemies. . . the poor, the sick, the unhoused, and the dissenters. These people are no longer constituents; they are a drag.”

Second on our list of most-read blogs was The Oligarchs And Elected Officials Behind Online Surveillance from Phoenix contributor Otto Pippenger. Pippenger identified the wealthy — and politically connected — tech investors and executives pushing online surveillance. Central to the scheme is Flock, an Atlanta-based startup that allows cameras to scan license plates, using the information gathered to amass personal data on motorists — without warrants or any suspicion that laws have been violated. Notably, Flock has been funded by right-wing tech investors Peter Theil and Garry Tan. Online surveillance is supported by Mayor Lurie and Governor Gavin Newsom, and the Oakland City Council recently agreed to extend Flock’s contract with that city.

Next was The Mystery Of Saikat Chakrabarti. Phoenix contributor Pippenger tried to get behind the platitudes and look beyond the thin political resume of the least-known contender for Nancy Pelosi’s soon-to-be vacated Congressional seat. Before announcing his candidacy, Chakrabarti’s only political activity locally were the  financial donations to two Board of Supervisors candidates, Bilal Mahmood, who  successfully unseated incumbent Dean Preston, and Michael Lai, who lost to labor organizer Chyanne Chen in District 11. By helping to defeat Preston, the most progressive member of the Board of Supervisors, Chakrabarti undermined his more-progressive-than-thou posturing.

In the fourth spot was a contribution from former District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston, Everyday People Are Saving San Francisco. Preston decried the complicity of local billionaires like Marc Benioff and Elon Musk with President Donald Trump as well as the elected officials, like Mayor Daniel Lurie, who have refused to publicly condemn the president’s words and  actions. As the powerful cowered before the president, ordinary folks were roused to action, placing themselves between ICE agents as they attempted to abduct San Franciscans. For six weeks, ICE was forced to back down, Preston noted, outnumbered by San Franciscans who had bravely defended  their neighbors. “Don’t wait for politicians and rich tech CEOs to act . . .  continue the long legacy of solidarity movements in the Bay Area.”

Rounding out our Top Five was What The Beya Alcaraz Saga Tells Us About Daniel Lurie from longtime contributor Lincoln Mitchell. Alcaraz, a onetime Sunset District pet shop owner with zero political experience, was Mayor Lurie’s first choice to replace the recently recalled Engardio. A week later, Lurie was forced to accept her resignation after it was disclosed that Alcaraz’s store had been kept in deplorable conditions and that she had attempted to evade taxes. Lurie, Mitchell noted, promised San Francisco voters “competence.” In the case of the Alcaraz appointment, he demonstrated his political inexperience.

We return next week with fresh content on the Astroturf Network and the elected officials who do their bidding — rather than that of the voters they have pledged to serve.