Progressives did well in San Francisco, expanding their majority on the Democratic County Central Committee. "In an environment where it was about hundreds of millions of dollars from PG&E and Meg Whitman and Chris Kelly outspending us, we showed that San Francisco is San Francisco and we support San Francisco values," DCCC chair Aaron Peskin told us.

Money used to define the debates in San Francisco, but the dominant narratives are now being written by the coalition of tenants, environmentalists, workers, social justice advocates, and others who backed a progressive slate of DCCC candidates, which took 18 of the 24 seats on a body that makes policy and funding decisions for the local Democratic Party.

"This time it was the coalition that really made the difference," DCCC winner Michael Bornstein said on election night. "Frankly, our people worked harder."

Board of Supervisors President David Chiu agreed, telling us, "For the Central Committee, the message is people power wins."

The lesson from this election is that people are starting to get wise to corporate deceptions. And they're realizing that with hard work and smart coalition-building, the people can still prevail.

Steven T. Jones, Rebecca Bowe, Sarah Phelan, and Tim Redmond contributed to this report.