Walton earlier served on the San Francisco Board of Education and was its president immediately prior to his election as supervisor.

His teenage years were often troubled; he was expelled from the Vallejo City Unified School District and was in juvenile hall numerous times.

[7] Walton was the only member of the Board of Supervisors to explicitly reject a potential plan to allow four-plexes in San Francisco in areas previously restricted to single-family housing (which had been implemented in the state capital of Sacramento).

"[8] In 2019, Walton supported a resolution that expressed opposition to California Senate Bill 50, which mandates denser housing near “job-rich” areas and transit hubs.

[10] In October, he introduced the CAREN act, which would make fraudulent emergency telephone calls motivated by racism illegal.

[12] In July 2022, Walton admitted to using a racial slur against an African American sheriff's cadet at San Francisco City Hall because he was frustrated with having to take off his belt for metal detectors.

"[15] In July 2020, Walton and supervisor Aaron Peskin opted to not introduce a $100 million sales tax measure into the November 2020 ballots to finance Caltrain, which has seen a 95% reduction in ridership due to the COVID-19 pandemic in California.