“As we speak, the San Francisco Police Department and sheriff’s department are rapidly shifting resources and personnel to bring drug dealers to justice and clean up our streets,” Lurie said in his inaugural address Wednesday.

Chinese Americans have long played a critical role in San Francisco politics and the city’s identity as a bastion of progress and compassion, advocating for integrated schools, affordable housing and public safety, especially after the pandemic when anti-Asian hate crimes spiked.

It’s also a fast-growing electorate. The Asian population had the highest growth rate of any ethnicity in San Francisco from 2010 to 2020, according to U.S. Census data. Chinese residents account for nearly 22% of the city’s population.

Lurie has already hired several staffers to help him bridge cultural divides, including Han Zhao, a political strategist for Lurie’s campaign who will be the director of public affairs; Paul Yep, a former San Francisco police commander who will be the director of public safety; and Kit Lam, who was the Asian American and Pacific Islander political director for Lurie’s campaign and who was previously an organizer of the school board recall in 2022. He will serve as a press liaison between the mayor’s office and AAPI communities.

Lurie, founder of the nonprofit Tipping Point and heir to the Levis Strauss clothing fortune, campaigned as a political outsider fed up with dysfunction and corruption in City Hall.

He has never held elected office before, but convinced voters that his background in nonprofit work would position him well to bring new ideas to City Hall. Campaign contributions soared past $62 million, topped by Lurie who raised roughly $16 million — about half of which was self-funded — making his run the most expensive in the city’s history.

At Wednesday’s night market, hundreds of residents packed the streets of Chinatown to eat and dance to electronic music by San Francisco-born electronic music producer, Zhu.

“I just got off of work over at Equinox and came because Zhu was performing, but I also came here to support our new Mayor Daniel Lurie,” said Mason Maes, who lives in Noe Valley. “It’s great to see all these residents get together.”

Elizabeth Wang, a Marina resident, came because she was hoping to learn more about Lurie and to have fun with friends.

“I’m just here for the vibes. I can’t say I know much about [Lurie] since he’s new to government,” Wang said. “But having a party here in Chinatown means a lot.”

Others at the event, who didn’t vote for Lurie and had skepticism about his wealthy background, said they’re waiting to see what type of change his administration will bring.

“We weren’t Daniel Lurie fans, but we love this city and hope it gets better,” said Tiny Harris, who was chasing her toddler around the market.

She said she voted for Aaron Peskin partly because he opposed sweeps of homeless encampments and supported housing and behavioral health solutions over law enforcement to address street homelessness.

“But out of all the mayoral candidates, we could have done worse, so I’m thankful for that,” Harris said.

Large turnout for new San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s inauguration night celebrations in Chinatown.
He thanks the Asian and AAPI communities for their support. San Franciscans, even one that said she didn’t vote for him, say they are excited and optimistic that he may bring change.

The celebration of San Francisco’s new mayor isn’t over yet.

San Francisco’s Chinatown hosted a community banquet, a special night market and community-led celebration for new mayor Daniel Lurie on Wednesday night.

There will be live performances, an opportunity to showcase artists and Chinatown restaurants and small businesses said they’re ready for it.

Some of the people who spoke to NBC Bay Area on Wednesday said that clear Lurie is bringing a lot of hope for change to those in this community. A section of Grant Avenue was transformed to host a special night market in celebration of San Francisco’s new leadership.

Lurie made the rounds on Wednesday morning before being sworn in as the city’s 46th mayor and touted the event.

“We’re going to have some celebrations in Chinatown tonight,” he said.

Tane Chan of the Wok Shop said that she thinks the new mayor’s decision to put Chinatown in the spotlight could have a lasting impact.

“We have had some tough times and with mayor Lurie here encouraging all the visitors and all the residents to come and walk through Chinatown and just give us boost,” she said.

Mark Young, co-chair of the unity celebration banquet, said that people can feel the buzz in Chinatown.

“There is going to be 18 vendors a local headliner DJ, his name is Zhu,” he said. “There is going to be cultural festivities as well as this banquet that we have going on which is going to have over 900 guests from the AAPI community.”

The night market celebration is cohosted by the inaugural committee and the non-profit group ” Be Chinatown.”

Jayde Wong with Lion Dance Me said they’re bringing about 75 high school students out to perform at Wednesday night’s event.

“We’re bringing out all red lions tonight and red is the symbol of good fortune and so we’re some hoping to bring some good fortune to Daniel Lurie during his term as mayor and hopefully he will bring some good fortune back to our community as well,” she said.

The night market runs until 9:30 p.m. Wednesday.