SF Mayor Daniel Lurie says city improving after Trump deployment issue

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, who was recently thrust into a national debate about the safety of big cities, told CNBC on Thursday that he feels “pressure every day” to continue improving conditions for residents.

Last week, President Donald Trump reversed plans for a “federal surge” in San Francisco. The potential National Guard deployment hit the headlines when Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told the New York Times that he’d support Trump’s call for federal troops to be sent to the city.

Benioff’s sentiments were supported by Elon Musk and David Sacks, high-profile techies with close ties to the Trump administration. Benioff quickly backtracked as criticism mounted.

Unlike California Governor Gavin Newsom, Lurie has tried to avoid clashing with Trump since taking office in January. But he has spoken up to say that the city is progressing on business development and crime, often citing data to back up his claims.

In Thursday’s interview, Lurie’s first on television since the Trump incident, the mayor said there’s plenty of hard work ahead.

“I felt that pressure in January, I feel it today,” Lurie said, when asked about support from tech leaders. “I think they understand… when San Francisco is strong, America is strong.”

Lurie, a moderate Democrat, pointed to an array of data that show the city is making progress on a post-pandemic comeback, largely driven by the boom in investment and usage of artificial intelligence. CBRE data on venture funding show 2025 is expected to surpass the record reached in 2021, thanks in large part to AI investments in San Francisco and Silicon Valley.

In addition, crime rates are down 30% from 2024, as event bookings and tourism are up, residential real estate is becoming more scarce and the office market is getting hot.

“We have a lot of competition out there in the world, and we are on the rise,” Lurie said. “Anything that would have hindered that rise is something that we don’t need.”

Lurie is also leveraging philanthropic commitments to work with the city in cleaning up streets and supporting small businesses. He shared on CNBC Thursday that the San Francisco Downtown Development Corporation has now raised $50 million for this effort, up from the $40 million at launch.

The goal is to spark a comeback, with the help of the tech boom in the city, but one that paves the way for all businesses to thrive, he said.

“What we’re trying to build here is a broad-based recovery at City Hall,” Lurie said. “Our job is to create the conditions so that not only these [tech] companies can succeed, but our restaurants and small businesses can succeed. We’re stripping away red tape. We’re telling everybody that we’re open for business. We want you here, and we want you to be part of the community.”