Civic-minded Chinese American grandmothers and grandfathers have emerged as a potential deciding factor on who becomes San Francisco’s next mayor. 

The community is being heavily courted by incumbent Democratic Mayor London Breed and her three closest challengers in November’s election, which political analysts predict will be the toughest in decades and could move the progressive city more toward the center.

“It’s a community that can determine the outcome of elections,” Jason McDaniel, an associate professor of political science at San Francisco State University, said. 

The Chinese community makes up about one-fifth of San Francisco’s population. 

During the primaries earlier this year, they were enthusiastic backers of ballot measures that mandated drug screening for public welfare recipients as well as measures to expand police powers.

In the past, they voted for representatives in their own community which had ties to left-wing political movements but have recently been important drivers in the backlash against progressive policies in the California city. 

Chinese seniors are also becoming more visible on the campaign trail.

Behind their participation in rallies and other political events are a “handful of organizers who wield outsized influence, both among their peers and with the politicians who aim to reach them,” the San Francisco Standard reported Tuesday.

Among them is Sin Han Cheung, the 68-year-old leader of the Tenderloin Chinese Rights Association, which represents low-income Chinese immigrants in the city’s Tenderloin district. Most don’t speak English but listen to Cheung.

“We trust her leadership,” member Siu Kwan Man, 81, said about Cheung. “We are elders and we don’t know too much.”

The group of seniors spends time with Cheung singing, exercising outdoors, and listening to local politicians vying for votes. She also shuttles them to political rallies around the cities, upping their presence and helping them voice their concerns to candidates. 

The presence of monolingual Chinese seniors at political rallies across the city has been an election-year phenomenon. While their votes may not swing the election entirely, it does send a powerful message about the power of grassroots support, Jeremy Lee, co-president of the progressive Rose Pak Democratic Club, said. 

Community Tenants Association, a Chinatown-based group that has thousands of low-income senior members, hosts weekly meetings to talk about politics and issues affecting their community. They also show up at candidate rallies and have a track record of getting people involved in elections. 

Rose Pak Democratic Club also helped organize CTA members to attend Supervisor Aaron Peskin’s mayoral campaign launch last month. Peskin, an unapologetic progressive, is one of Breed’s closest rivals. 

Breed has also courted the elder Chinese community. Last month, during a Chinatown merchant walk, she held hands with Tow Kuk Wong, a senior organizer. At the event, Breed gave Wong a panda doll, a gift she brought back from her weeklong trip to China. Breed also gave Wong a shoutout at the beginning of her campaign kickoff speech, speaking a few words in Cantonese to a crowd of voters whom Wong helped mobilize on her behalf.  

At the event, Breed called Wong her “adopted grandma” after her own grandmother died. She also posted a tribute on Instagram, complete with a picture of her and Wong having lunch.

“I was raised by my grandmother who passed a couple years ago,” Breed wrote. “Ms. Wong came along and became my adopted grandma. She has supported me ever since. It was so nice to have lunch with her and catch up. We need to make sure that we do everything we can to keep our seniors safe.”

Not everyone is on board with the way politicians court Chinese seniors.

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Critics claim they are lured to rallies with the promise of free meals and snacks. Those attending Peskin’s party, for example, were offered pork buns.

Another mayoral candidate, Mark Ferrell, spoke to potential voters at the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association in an effort to get votes. He also passed out food to those who attended.