As Friday’s 5:00 p.m. filing deadline came and went with no major progressive challenger to incumbent Mayor Gavin Newsom stepping forward, the question became – what will Newsom do next? Will he try to court progressive voters and seek their endorsement, or will the lack of a major challenger only move him further away from pursuing progressive policies in an election year?

On August 11th, Newsom took a step towards courting progressive votes by attending the Harvey Milk Club’s political action committee endorsement meeting. Club President Brian Basinger said it was Newsom’s first time at the club as an elected official. Earlier in the week, the Bay Area Reporter said that Newsom was “insulted” with some of the questions on the Milk Club’s endorsement questionnaire. "When their questions are statements – not questions – that is suggestive of bit of bias," said the Mayor.

But at the meeting Newsom was in fine form, laughing and joking with the endorsement committee on several occasions. Given three minutes to address the committee before fielding questions, he said, “I’ve never been one to speak in three-minute sound bites.”

Newsom consistently framed his answers on a national level where, as San Francisco Mayor, he said he is more progressive than Senate and House Democrats. When he said he thought the drug policy in the United States had been an “abject failure,” he received some cheers.

But when asked if he would agree not to finance independent committees to evade the $500 limit on contributions to candidates, Newsom did not give an answer. He only said that he follows all campaign finance laws.

Newsom told the club that due to his good relationship with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he was their greatest ally in the fight against the federal government’s cuts in Ryan White Care Act funds. Basinger, who works at the AIDS Housing Alliance, said he wasn’t satisfied. “I don’t think we have a plan right now,” he said. “I appreciate what Newsom is doing, but I want to see more. At the end of the day the proof is in the pudding. We need to see results, and we have seen 50 percent in funding cuts.”

There were no major moments of tension between the progressive club members and Newsom. Basinger said that the club has always been respectful of their guests and he didn’t expect any confrontations.

It’s never too early to speculate on Newsom’s political future after he finishes his time as Mayor. With his very public stand in support of same sex marriage in 2004 – as well as the recent sex scandal – some have wondered if he will have a future at the national level. Newsom may have been thinking about that future when he endorsed Hillary Clinton’s bid for president last week, the least progressive Democratic candidate in the field.

When asked how he could justify his endorsement with her views against same-sex marriage he said that he believed, as far as same-sex marriage goes, it doesn’t matter who the President is. “The same-sex marriage movement is going to continue to see progress,” he said. “Even Bush is for civil unions now, and that would have been unheard of a decade ago. We will eventually get there.”

No candidate in the mayor’s race received a sufficient number of votes by the PAC to be recommended to the Milk Club’s general membership. The general membership will vote on its endorsements at the next meeting on August 28.

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