Candidate for District 6 Supervisor James Keys. Photo by Luke Thomas.
By Luke Thomas
July 21, 2010
Candidate for District 6 Supervisor James Keys announced today he has submitted over 1,000 signatures to qualify his candidacy for the November ballot.
Keys is the first candidate in the hotly contested race to reach the milestone. (*)
If the signatures are deemed valid by the San Francisco Department of Elections, Keys will be exempt from paying a $500 filing fee. The deadline for filing signatures in lieu of paying a filing fee is tomorrow at 5 pm.
“I am proud of our grassroots campaign and all volunteer effort,” Keys said in a statement posted on Facebook.
“While the other campaigns have focused on endorsements and fancy events, James Keys has been going door to door in District 6, reaching out directly to the voters of the district,” said campaign volunteer Jeremy Miller.
District 6 is considered a difficult district to collect valid signatures due to low voter registration. In 2006, outgoing Supervisor Chris Daly submitted 1,240 signatures for his reelection bid though as much as 40 percent of those signatures were deemed invalid.
“I know how hard it is to collect signatures in District 6,” said Daly, who has yet to formally endorse a successor. “Any number approaching 1,000 is most impressive.”
“James Keys’ campaign reminds me a lot of my own first run for Supervisor in District 6,” Daly added. “We didn’t have a lot of money or endorsements, but we had a special connection to the district and a will to overcome great odds.”
When asked how he was able to gather all the signatures, Keys told FCJ: “I had seniors, people with disabilities, people with HIV/AIDS, poor people, SRO tenants and anarchists helping me.”
Anarchists?
“Yes, I’ve got two guys helping me who hate the government but love me,” Keys said.
When asked if reaching the 1,000 signatures milestone will elevate his candidacy to frontrunner status, Keys responded: “I’m not running against anybody. I’m running to serve the people of District 6.”
Update: According to Debra Walker, she will file 1,003 “valid” signatures tomorrow. According to the SF Department of Election (as of July 19), Walker filed 459 signatures (393 were deemed valid).
Editor’s Note: Luke Thomas is a resident and voter in District 6. In the interest of transparency, he has provided photography services to the campaigns of Jane Kim, Jim Meko and Debra Walker.
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Luke Thomas
Luke Thomas is a former software developer and computer consultant who proudly hails from London, England. In 2001, Thomas took a yearlong sabbatical to travel and develop a photographic portfolio. Upon his return to the US, Thomas studied photojournalism to pursue a career in journalism. In 2004, Thomas worked for several neighborhood newspapers in San Francisco before accepting a partnership agreement with the SanFranciscoSentinel.com, a news website formerly covering local, state and national politics. In September 2006, Thomas launched FogCityJournal.com. The BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, New York Times, Der Spiegel, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine, 7x7, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Bay Guardian and the San Francisco Weekly, among other publications and news outlets, have published his work. Thomas is a member of the Freelance Unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, TNG-CWA Local 39521 and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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The Hunger Site
July 22, 2010 at 9:03 am
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate candidate Debra Walker on her campaign’s signature gathering effort.
Having collected signatures in every corner of this district, from the ballpark to residential hotels in the Tenderloin, I can attest to the difficulty of this endeavor. I look forward to the policy discussion with Ms. Walker in the months to come.
July 21, 2010 at 9:45 pm
I am impressed, but not surprised. Most of the “pundits” and self-proclaimed political experts who initially wrote him off don’t understand the district or his base giving too much weight to factors which may not be pertinent to this district. He has established himself as a credible candidate. I am glad we have IRV in that there are at least 3 candidates I would like to vote for, but am far from firm in my decision as to ranking or which 3.