Central Air with Brooke Jenkins & Bobby Pulido
SF's crime decline + quinceañera behind-the-scenes, live from WelcomeFest
The latest episode of the Central Air podcast comes to you live from last week’s WelcomeFest!
Josh Barro, Ben Dreyfuss, and Megan McArdle interviewed San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins and Tejano music superstar-turned-congressional candidate Bobby Pulido to discuss winning back the middle for Democrats.
Jenkins — a crowd favorite at this year’s WelcomeFest — explains how she brought crime down in San Francisco, pushing back on the idea that the city’s improvement was merely part of a broader national crime decline1:
That’s actually one of the criticisms that I get from both the far left and the far right: “Oh, this is happening nationally anyway.” But the truth is our trend started sooner than the national trend did. And we’ve been ahead of the curve as far as what the percentage rate of reductions has been in reported crime.
We are actually leading the nation in what those reductions look like. Yes, there’s probably something just going on in our country that has improved things, but we have made a concerted effort that has now helped us to be a leader in showing how low you can get it.
When Barro asked what Jenkins was doing different, her answer was simple:
Prosecute crime. Sounds really wild, doesn’t it?
My predecessor was a career-long public defender. He didn’t believe in prosecution. He literally didn’t believe it should happen at all. Not only did he carve out a number of low-level crimes that he simply refused to prosecute outright, but he also dealt very leniently even with felony crime. In 2021, only three people charged with drug dealing that entire year received a felony conviction. Everyone else who was convicted got a misdemeanor, for selling fentanyl. So you’ve essentially decriminalized it, even if you’re still technically prosecuting.
I’d like to say that I came in and said, “No, no, no. I’m going to do the job of a real prosecutor.” There will be accountability. There will be appropriate consequences depending on what you did. And it goes a long way when somebody realizes, “Oh, wait. They’re not going to just let me run wild.”
So that’s been the biggest thing. But also a partnership with the police department, which was nonexistent when I took over, and which you have to have when you’re on a joint mission together.
The Central Air crew also talked to Bobby Pulido, the Welcome-endorsed congressional challenger in South Texas. Bobby explains the brilliant campaign strategy behind his appearances at quinceañeras, and how it hacks the attention economy:
Let me tell you why it’s great. Because it works on so many levels.
First of all, we ask them for permission to sign up their people. So when they get there and sign in, we collect data, and they tell us, “Yeah, of course.” As a result, we reach a lot of people who are registered to vote but really have nobody to vote for and don’t normally turn out. That’s number one.
Number two, we’re driving the algorithm nuts, because almost everyone in there is streaming while I’m singing. So we’re literally everywhere on social media because we’re actually reaching all of their friends and everyone they know.
And more importantly, what we’ve learned from running and campaigning is that cash-on-hand really matters. This is incredibly budget-friendly. We don’t have to pay for the venue, feed anyone, or provide liquor. We just show up, sing to them, make them happy, and say, “I’m Bobby Pulido and I’m running for Congress, and I appreciate your support.”
Be sure to check out the full podcast below.
Transcripts were edited lightly for clarity.