Ahsha Safaí (born 1973) is an

Iranian-American Iranian-Americans, also known as Persian-Americans, are United States citizens or nationals who are of Iranian ancestry, or who hold Iranian citizenship. Most Iranian-Americans arrived in the United States after 1979, as a result of the Irani ...

elected official in San Francisco, California. He served as a member of the

San Francisco Board of Supervisors The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the board of supervisors, legislative body within the government of San Francisco, government of the San Francisco, City and County of San Francisco in the U.S. state of California. Government and polit ...

representing Supervisorial District 11 from 2017 to 2025. District 11 includes the neighborhoods of

Excelsior Excelsior may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * "Excelsior", an 1877 picture book in verse by Bret Harte, published as an advertisement for the Sa ...

, Ingleside, Oceanview, Merced Heights, Ingleside Heights, Mission Terrace,

Outer Mission Outer Mission is a small residential neighborhood on the south edge of San Francisco, bounded by Geneva Avenue (on the northeast), Interstate 280 (on the northwest), Mission Street (on the southwest), and the city of Daly City (on the south ...

Cayuga Cayuga often refers to: * Cayuga people, a native tribe to North America, part of the Iroquois Confederacy * Cayuga language, the language of the Cayuga Cayuga may also refer to: Places Canada *Cayuga, Ontario United States * Cayuga, Illinois ...

, and Crocker Amazon.

Early life, education and career

Safaí was born in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

in 1973, and moved with his mother to

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

at the age of five. In San Francisco, Safaí served as political director for the janitors union local.

San Francisco Board of Supervisors

In 2008, he ran for the District 11 seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors against

John Avalos John Avalos (born March 11, 1964) is an American politician. He served two terms as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 2008 to 2016. Avalos represented District 11 in San Francisco, consisting of the Crocker-Amazon, Excelsio ...

, losing by a close margin. Safaí ran again in 2016, successfully, replacing Avalos who was

termed out A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potential for monopoly, wher ...

of office. During the 2016 race, he ran against Kimberly Alvarenga; Safaí was endorsed by the ''San Francisco Chronicle''. In April 2022, Safaí voted against keeping cars off the east end of John F. Kennedy Drive in

Golden Gate Park Golden Gate Park is an urban park between the Richmond District, San Francisco, Richmond and Sunset District, San Francisco, Sunset districts on the West Side (San Francisco), West Side of San Francisco, California, United States. It is the Lis ...

. The ordinance passed 7–4.

Actions on housing

He worked with Supervisors Dean Preston and

Aaron Peskin Aaron Dan Peskin (born June 17, 1964) is an American former elected official in San Francisco, California. He was a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors representing District 3 from 2001 to 2009, and again from 2015 to 2025. Distr ...

to delay the construction of thousands of housing units in the Hub so that TODCO, a low-income housing non-profit in San Francisco, could perform a race and equity study on the project within six months. More than two years later, TODCO had not begun the study and the group said it had no intent to do so. In 2021, Safaí said he would oppose the building of modular housing for the homeless in San Francisco unless it used labor from San Francisco; a Vallejo company had up until then provided modular housing complexes faster and cheaper than other companies could. In 2021, Safaí supported a proposal by Mayor London Breed to streamline housing production in San Francisco. In 2024, Safaí voted to downzone San Francisco’s Northern Waterfront, reducing the amount and density of housing that could be permitted in the area.

2024 San Francisco mayoral election

In May 2023, Safaí filed to run in the

2024 San Francisco mayoral election The 2024 San Francisco mayoral election took place on November 5, 2024, to elect the mayor of San Francisco, California. It was originally scheduled for November 7, 2023, but following the passage of Proposition H in 2022, mayoral elections we ...

, challenging incumbent

London Breed London Nicole Breed (born August 11, 1974) is an American politician who served as the 45th mayor of San Francisco from 2018 to 2025. She was supervisor for District 5 and was president of the Board of Supervisors from 2015 to 2018. Raised in t ...

Personal life

Safaí, his wife Yadira, and their children live in San Francisco's Excelsior District.

References

External links

*
Campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Safai, Ahsha 1973 births 21st-century California politicians American politicians of Iranian descent City council members of Asian descent California Democrats Iranian emigrants to the United States Living people MIT School of Architecture and Planning alumni Northeastern University alumni Politicians from Cambridge, Massachusetts San Francisco Board of Supervisors members Politicians from San Francisco Candidates in the 2024 United States elections