Tech journalist Kara Swisher plans to run for San Francisco Mayor

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, right, answers questions from Kara Swisher, Co-CEO, Revere Digital; Co-Executive Editor, Re/code; and Co-Executive Producer, The Code Conference during the Inaugural Watermark Lead On Silicon Valley Conference for Women at the Santa Clara Convention Center Feb. 24, 2014 in Santa Clara, Calif. less Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, right, answers questions from Kara Swisher, Co-CEO, Revere Digital; Co-Executive Editor, Re/code; and Co-Executive Producer, The Code Conference during the ... more Photo: Leah Millis, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Leah Millis, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Tech journalist Kara Swisher plans to run for San Francisco Mayor 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

Talk about changing career paths. Prominent technology reporter Kara Swisher says she plans to run for San Francisco mayor — in 2023.

It's hardly the news one would expect from the woman described by New York magazine in 2014 as "Silicon Valley's most feared and well-liked journalist."

But Swisher said she's serious. A former Wall Street Journal columnist, Swisher co-founded the San Francisco technology news website Re/code in 2014 with journalist Walt Mossberg. Vox Media acquired the website last year.

"We all yammer about politicians and how bad things are, and I think it important that we stop bellyaching and act if we want change," Swisher wrote in an email.

"Also this whole election cycle has struck a chord in me that I have always thought about, related to professional politicians and how we need to shift thinking about who should serve and the duty of citizens to be, you know, citizens," she continued. "There is an important and necessary role for good government and I hate this wholesale tearing down of it. Also the increasing divide between tech sector and the city is something that I think a lot about. Not that I have solutions as yet."

One thing is for sure. Swisher would bring a big personality to the job — a world apart from Mayor Ed Lee's low-key bureaucratic style.