Mahan has made a name for himself in part as a Democratic critic of Gov. He won the race for mayor in 2022 and has focused much of his two terms on street homelessness. He’s been a particularly zealous adopter of placing unhoused residents into tiny homes as an alternative to traditional shelters because they can be built faster and cheaper. He has also gotten tougher on pushing unhoused residents to accept shelter placements and urged the state to remove more encampments. Newsom opposed the measure, along with much of the Democratic Party; voters passed it overwhelmingly.