Jason McDaniel

This is why I am a YIMBY. The only way to reduce racial segregation is to massively increase housing of all types in cities like SF. I don’t care why you oppose a particular housing project. Neighborhood character is not more important than segregation.

1/ Happy to release StatsClaw — an open-source multi-agent workflow for building statistical software with AI. w/ @Maple_Optboy Site: statsclaw.ai Paper: bit.ly/statsclaw

BREAKING: In response to huge cuts in Trump's budget request, NSF is closing its social sciences directorate. Staff will be transferred elsewhere in NSF, and "grants that align with Administration priorities" will be kept. W/ @dangaristo for @Nature nature.com/articles/d4158…

this whole package is incredible thebaffler.com/odds-and-ends/…

A Supreme Court ruling on mail-in ballots could land in June — just months before the midterms. @fsistanford Senior Fellow @persily weighs in on what it means for states, voters, and election administration. ow.ly/CE2b50YCxZ2

We often ask who wins elections. But who decides to run? New @ElectoralStdies w/Hayes: Multi-member districts ⬆️ Black candidate emergence—and political empowerment matters. We revisit assumptions about US electoral design and show who enters the pipeline—not just who wins.

How Trump's attempt to limit birthright citizenship is taking us back to the 1800s. My @sfc_opinions newsletter @sfchronicle #WongKimArk sfchronicle.com/opinion/articl…

The latest @BUonCities Menino Mayors survey finds 75% of America's mayors "agree or strongly agree that building more market-rate housing will reduce prices, up from 60% in 2021." More than half now “strongly agree,” compared with fewer than 30% in 2021.

Great story on the executive order about mail-in voting from @ballotbase at @VotebeatUS votebeat.org/national/2026/…

NEW: California Dems could be headed for an all-time political upset: handing the governorship to a Republican despite outnumbering GOP 2-1. Race could settle when ads hit/voters tune in. But many see an iceberg ahead and no real plan to change course: politico.com/news/2026/04/0…

RT @JerusalemDemsas: That young men are sexist and hate women and increasingly conservative has become one of those stylized facts of publi…

In new @CNN @SRSS poll, Trump approval remains down near level reached only after Jan 6 riot. His disapproval: 80% 18-34, 77% w/non-whites, 73% indies, 65% women, 64% college+ Whites. Even w/non-college whites he's only at 49/50 disapprove. They're key to widening Dem map in '26.

.@FitzTheReporter did a really great job on this story about the toll public office can have on politics in light of Supe Jackie Fielder news sfstandard.com/2026/04/01/sf-…

Trump signs executive order purporting to place new federal controls on voting by mail, repeating his gobbledygook about fraud. California leaders immediately respond with promises to fight the order in court. @kevrector latimes.com/politics/story…

@beyondchron @GrowSF @SFBlueprint_ @SPUR_Urbanist Perhaps more importantly, charter amendments have reduced the power of the mayor to hire and fire department heads.

@beyondchron @GrowSF @SFBlueprint_ @SPUR_Urbanist Since 1996, charter amendments have reduced the number of mayoral appointees, increased the number of board appointees, reduced ability of mayor to remove appointees, and made most mayoral appointees subject to board approval (i.e. board veto).

"'I’m tellin’ you,” Brown fairly bawled, 'I can produce six votes on that board any day of the week. For anything. . . . But I have to do it when I think it’s wise to do it!'” A primer on getting results in SF. " beyondchron.org/willie-brown-d… @GrowSF @SFBlueprint_ @SPUR_Urbanist

quite the knife-turn by @EthanVPorter in this smart @DemJournal review of Helen Landemore's new book. I share this concern, and it reinforces my deep skepticism of citizen assemblies

@beyondchron @GrowSF @SFBlueprint_ @SPUR_Urbanist Raising the threshold wouldn’t prevent all ballot measures. But my main point is that you ignore all the ballot measures that have diluted mayoral authority since the 1996 charter.

@ValisJason @GrowSF @SFBlueprint_ @SPUR_Urbanist We never went to the ballot on a tenant protection measure if we could pass it legislatively. Initiatives often reflect legislative inaction on popular issues.

How @sfc_opinions @sfchronicle editorial board election endorsement process works sfchronicle.com/opinion/articl…

Journalists and policymakers have been giving me credit for these principles lately, but none of them are my creation - they are old, commonsense approaches that went out of fashion and thankfully are coming back. Link in next 1/2

In @CityJournal, I profile three Democratic-led cities (San Francisco, San Jose, and Philadelphia) which are doing sensible things about crime and drugs and finding that voters appreciate it (even if activists don't). city-journal.org/article/democr…