Incumbent San Francisco Mayor London Breed says childhood memories guide her policy

Stepping inside London Breed’s San Francisco apartment, you instantly feel her connection to generations of family that she says are bonded both by blood and by love.

“I remember this day when I took this picture,” she points at a photo of her kindergarten self. “I remember crying because I didn’t want to wear this shirt. Because I was wearing this shirt almost every day. So, it was like, ‘I want to wear a different shirt.’ I mean, even at five, I was a piece of work. I didn’t understand we didn’t have it to buy a different shirt it was like you’re going to wear what you have.”

She was raised by her grandmother Comelia, whose impact can be felt in each part of the mayor’s home which she’s rented for several years.

“Photos, if we were lucky enough to take any, you know it was a big deal, because now you have them on your cameras, but I don’t have a lot of pictures from when I was a kid,” she explained. “Because we didn’t have money for that.”

But to a young London, growing up in poverty and dependent on food stamps in the same city she now leads, she never could have imagined the shoes she’d later step into.

“I know what it feels like for people in positions like this to make decisions that negatively impact my community,” she explained, reflecting on her upbringing. “And I never want to be one of those people.”

To prepare to make decisions she hopes will carry a positive impact, each morning she tries to dedicate a moment just for herself. Making coffee, watering her beloved plants, and hopping on her Peloton bike for a ride with favorite Cody Riggsby while reviewing her notes for the day.

All with a reminder of her grandmother’s strength.

“A bit of that tough love that my grandmother it was like, you cannot live here unless you do your homework, make up your bed and clean up. There were rules, and I believe in rules,” said Breed. “I believe in structure and that allows for everyone to have an opportunity to be a part of a better community, a better society. I hope is that people learn that it’s not just politics. For me, it’s very personal.”

Her role as mayor has brought some healing to Breed, who recalls her own experience living among conditions she’s worked to improve during her six years in office.

“I know what that’s like, to count pennies, to roll up pennies and to go in with my 50 cents, you know, and try to buy something,” she said. “Being housing insecure and being afraid because of the violence, and being poor and broke and just feeling hurt and angry about everything all the time. It just was most of my life because we had no choice.”

But it’s a time she tries to apply in each decision she makes. 

“It is definitely a blessing to be able to go through that and to use those same experiences as a way to shape policy that could hopefully lead to better results for the people who have similar experiences like I do,” Breed said.

MORE MAYORAL CANDIDATE PROFILES IN THIS SERIES