An increasing number of Asian American political leaders are denouncing San Francisco Mayor London Breed as locals continue to signal alarm over rising crime rates and drug use.
"I personally believe we need new leadership — someone who is not in City Hall politics," Chinese-American political organizer Kit Lam told the San Francisco Chronicle in an article published Monday.
"Asian voters played a major role in electing Breed and her most recent predecessors, but many seem to have soured on the mayor amid concerns about anti-Asian violence during the pandemic as well as overall dissatisfaction with the city’s high property crime, open-air drug dealing and other issues," the outlet explained.
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A string of robberies, assaults and other crimes against Asian Americans in San Francisco over the past few years have shaped a growing coalition against Breed as she faces a tough re-election campaign against other mayoral candidates, Daniel Lurie and Mark Farrell.
"A Chronicle poll in February showed that 80% of Asian voters likely to cast ballots in November disapproved of Breed’s performance, and Lurie and Farrell would each receive support from 17% of Asian likely voters if the election were held now, compared with just 10% for Breed," the outlet revealed.
"The reason why people are jumping off the London Breed bandwagon is they were never on it," political consultant David Ho said. "Ho supported Breed’s 2018 campaign but is so far remaining neutral this year," per the Chronicle.
Some political figures and consultants in San Francisco see Breed's lagging support among the Asian community as an opportunity.
"As I’ve said, as the Chinese community goes, as the API community goes, so goes San Francisco," San Francisco mayoral candidate Daniel Lurie said.
"I supported London Breed five years ago when she ran for mayor but in the past five years I saw the result in San Francisco: businesses, big corporations moving out, small businesses moving out," Kit Lam told the Chronicle. "I think we need to have a new leader."
Growing discontent in the Asian community in San Francisco comes amid major political changes in the city, including the passage earlier this month of a pair of law-and-order ballot measures. One of the measures would require welfare recipients suspected of using drugs to undergo screenings to receive benefits.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed's spokesman, Joe Arellano, told Fox News Digital at the time that Proposition E was intended to reverse leftist policies.
"Over the last few years, the City’s policies swung too far to the left," he said. "Now, it’s time to send a message that San Francisco is closed to criminals and brazen theft will not be tolerated."
Breed's office did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital regarding the Chronicle report.
