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Monday, January 19, 2026

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TOM’S TOWN: Ammiano, the Pope, and BART

By Tom Temprano

Thanks to an article in 48 Hills, “Run Tom, Run” mania is in full swing! A poll by the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, whose president, full disclosure, is the 9th-grade level writer of this column, showed that all around great guy Tom Ammiano is the strongest challenger to questionably okay guy Ed Lee in a 2015 mayoral matchup.

While Ammiano may currently sit nine points behind Lee in a head-to-head matchup, his recent record (13 of his 13 bills were signed into law by Jerry Brown) is lapping that of Mayor Lee (a smackdown vote against 8 Washington, building public opposition to his legacy project, The Statue of Liber—I mean Warriors Arena, etc).

Such a race would likely be inaccurately framed in the media as a gay versus Asian identity battle, rather than the far more complex ideological battle for the future of our city that it is, much in the same way that the current David (Campos) vs. David (Chiu) fight for Assembly has been. Fortunately for Team Gay, we now have the Pope on our side (see below)! (more after the jump)

Marke B.
Marke B.
Marke Bieschke is the publisher and arts and culture editor of 48 Hills. He co-owns the Stud bar in SoMa. Reach him at marke (at) 48hills.org, follow @supermarke on Twitter.

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