AT THE SAN FRANCISCO Board of Supervisors meeting this week, members discussed changing the City Charter to limit the number of terms a mayor or supervisor can serve.
The proposal would amend the City Charter by limiting those who serve as either mayor or county supervisor to no more than two terms in the role. The supervisors ultimately agreed to continue talks at their next meeting.
San Francisco’s current charter limits the mayor and members of the Board of Supervisors to serving two consecutive terms, meaning an individual could return to office after waiting an appropriate length of time. A few supervisors, however, began pushing for limits on terms to be capped regardless of when they were served.
Board members Bilal Mahmood, Myrna Melgar, Stephen Sherrill, Matt Dorsey, Danny Sauter, and Alan Wong sponsored the first draft. They cited the intention to allow future generations of people to represent constituents in San Francisco.
“This is really about sending a message around democracy, democracy requires change,” said Mahmood. “We’ve seen over the last year with the generational change on this Board of Supervisors where we’ve had new ideas and new representation leading to results.”
Pushback for the proposed amendment came from some supervisors who took issue with a major change to the charter and did not believe a non-consecutive limit was necessary. Supervisor Shamann Walton, serving his second term, said his colleagues were wasting time on an issue he doesn’t believe exists.
“This is a proposal that is really a solution in search of a problem,” said Walton. “We have probably one person in the history of the city and county of San Francisco that has decided to run for office after serving two four-year terms.”
Former supervisor Aaron Peskin finished his fifth non-consecutive term in 2025. Currently, four of the 11 supervisors are on their second term, but if the amendment is put on the ballot and adopted by voters in the June primary election, they would be barred from returning to the board.
Melgar, who will finish her second term in 2029, responded to the pushback by saying term limits help bring new people into the positions of mayor and supervisor and also establishes guardrails for people who may take advantage of their position as an incumbent.
“I do see a distinction between the Board of Supervisors and the mayor, which are offices that do not require any special qualifications,” said Melgar. “The bar is actually not that high in terms of who comes into these positions.”
Board president Rafael Mandelman, who will be finishing his second term next year, ultimately closed out the discussion by saying he did not support any of the proposed changes to add more term limits and described them as anti-democratic.
“They also prevent us from voting for people who may who have gained experience in time in office,” said Mandelman. “I do think that we get better over time, that we learn things, that we pick up skills, that we are less likely to make mistakes, and that that’s a benefit for our constituents.”
Salary information published by the city shows supervisors make over $175,000 a year. The mayor, in comparison, makes over $390,000 a year. This is after a raise in pay approved by the board last July, deemed necessary by elected officials as the cost of living has increased.