Manny Yekutiel dropped out of the District 8 supervisor race on Thursday, hours after new sexual assault allegations were published by the San Francisco Standard.
“I am not admitting to having assaulted anyone, and some of the things that are being said about me are fundamentally untrue. But I am deeply sorry for any boundaries that I crossed. I’m going to take this time to work on myself,” Yekutiel said.
Yekutiel’s candidacy became untenable. Within hours of the allegations, which Yekutiel said he had “no memory” of, most of his endorsers pulled their support, including Mayor Daniel Lurie and six city supervisors.
“My endorsement is a statement of my confidence in someone’s character and leadership, and in light of the additional accounts reported today, I am withdrawing it,” Lurie said. Other backers, including labor unions and advocacy groups like GrowSF, also withdrew their support.
Gary McCoy, a former Rep. Nancy Pelosi aide, is now the presumed frontrunner in District 8. He has formed an alliance with rival Darshini Patel and is also facing Michael Nguyen as an opponent. All three had called on Yekutiel to withdraw.
Though Yekutiel is suspending his campaign, his name will still appear on the ballot; the deadline to withdraw passed in June.
Yekutiel was first accused of sexual assault in June by progressive political organizer Brad Chapin, who alleged that in 2020 Yekutiel stuck his hands down his pants and painfully grabbed his testicles at a house party.
Thursday’s allegations matched Chapin’s closely: Ryan Clark and his partner told the Standard that Yekutiel had grabbed their testicles, both inside and outside their pants, at a Pride club party in 2023.
Clark said he was motivated to come forward after seeing Yekutiel’s supporters stick with him after Chapin’s allegation, and particularly by Lurie’s decision to do so: In August and September, Yekutiel became the official pick of Mayor Lurie and the San Francisco Democratic Party.
The new allegations were too much for most of Yekutiel’s endorsers.
The local party chapter has now scheduled an Oct. 11 vote to reconsider its endorsement, which is all but certain to be withdrawn.
Even District 8 supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who stood by Yekutiel the morning of the new allegations, had pulled his endorsement by the afternoon.
“Manny is an extraordinary person who has made extraordinary contributions to San Francisco,” Mandelman said. “Unfortunately, it has become painfully clear to me that he has work to do on himself and is not ready to serve as a public official. I have therefore asked him to remove my name from his endorsers.”
Additional reporting by Kelly Waldron.