The candidates seeking to replace Nancy Pelosi as San Francisco’s House representative held a debut debate Wednesday night, offering three different approaches to the seat, which is open for the first time in almost 40 years.
Scott Wiener, San Francisco’s state senator and the presumed front-runner, took more moderate stances while pitching himself as the policy wonk who will be an effective legislator on Capitol Hill. “I don’t just talk, I deliver,” he said.
District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan and Saikat Chakrabarti, the former chief of staff to New York City Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, meanwhile, held the progressive line but offered two different visions.
Chan, who is expected to be backed by many of the city’s unions, put herself forward as a voice for “working people in San Francisco” and touted her experience in local politics. “I am the only candidate on this stage today that has beat back the billionaires and their PAC and won not once, but twice,” she said about her elections to the District 1 seat.
Chakrabarti, a multi-millionaire from his time working in tech who originally ran to challenge Pelosi, cast himself as an outsider to the Democratic leadership in Washington. “We’re going to have to take on not just MAGA Republicans, but corporate money and the failed Democratic establishment,” said Chakrabarti. “We need to completely change the direction and leadership of the Democratic Party.”
Saikat Chakrabarti answers a question at the candidate forum for California’s 11th Congressional District on Wednesday. Photo by Mariana Garcia.
San Francisco voters were eager to start parsing differences between the candidates, with over 1,000 people showing up for the event at UC Law San Francisco hosted by the Harvey Milk Democratic Club, California Working Families Party and the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club.
The forum was moderated by Cynthia Laird from the Bay Area Reporter and Mission Local managing editor Joe Eskenazi. Not only did attendees fill the main auditorium and two overflow rooms, they also crowded up the nearby Beer Hall — it was Wings Wednesday — and thousands more listened in online.
The most raucous moment of the two-hour debate came in the closing lightning round, when the candidates were asked: “Is Israel committing genocide in Gaza?”
Chakrabarti and Chan immediately flashed up the green “YES” on their double-sided signs. But Wiener didn’t give a straight answer, twirling the sign near his knees, the red “NO” and green “YES” coming in and out of view.
The defining moment of the first congressional forum in San Francisco for the CA-11 seat currently held by Nancy Pelosi:
“Is Israel committing genocide in Gaza?”@saikatc – YES
Connie Chan – YES@Scott_Wiener – no response
This will be a key part of every write-up tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/k7hFJ62nCu
— Nadia Rahman 駱雯 (@nadiarahmansf) January 8, 2026
The crowd laughed and jeered. “Answer the question Scott!” “Shame on you! Shame on you!” Several waved keffiyahs from their seats.
Regardless, whoever San Francisco sends to Congress will likely be voting against selling offensive weapons to Israel. In a press gaggle after the debate, Wiener said that he finds Israel’s actions in both Gaza and the West Bank “horrifying.”
“What the Israeli government has done in Gaza in terms of killing tens of thousands of Palestinians and so many children … is an absolute moral stain,” he said. “I will not support U.S. funding for the destruction of Palestinian communities in Gaza or the West Bank. Period.”
California State Senator Scott Wiener answers a question at the forum. Photo by Mariana Garcia.
During the lightning round, Wiener also took a different stance from the other two candidates on whether Proposition C of 2018, which taxed businesses’ grossing more than $50 million to fund homelessness services, has been good for San Francisco. The measure has been a bit of a lightning rod among some tech executives, who blame it for companies leaving town.
“At the time, I predicted that if Prop. C passed, the payments industry would leave San Francisco. And it did,” Wiener said after the debate, explaining that he thinks Prop. C was not done in a sufficiently “thoughtful, well-structured way.”
The controller’s office reports that Prop. C has since raised more than $1.8 billion for San Francisco.
When asked about his supportive vote for Prop. C after the debate, Chakrabarti said that he knew Prop. C was a municipal bond but couldn’t remember what it was about specifically, looking it up on his phone.
“Yes, I’m for taxing businesses for homelessness services,” he said after figuring out which measure it was.
During the course of the two-hour debate, Wiener also didn’t take a stance on a potential 5 percent tax on California billionaires that some unions are proposing, saying that he’s waiting to see what tax measures make it to the ballot. Chan and Chakrabarti both said they supported the tax.
Maranda Saling, center, and Chloe Young, right, staffers for Senator Scott Wiener, assist an attendee at the candidate forum. Photo by Mariana Garcia.
“Progressive taxation in all of its forms, in income taxes, wealth taxes, estate taxes are incredibly important,” Wiener said. But, for the billionaire tax proposal, “there is actually some tension and conflict within labor about whether it should be on the ballot.”
Other than those differences, the three mostly agreed with each other: They all threw support behind Medicare for All, want to expand the Supreme Court, and called the Trump administration fascist.
All emphasized the need to stand up for all members of the LGBTQ community, particularly trans people who have come under attack in recent years.
While Wiener’s answer to a question about what actions he would take to protect LGBTQ people focused on specific policies, like a “comprehensive federal civil rights law” for LGBTQ protections, Chakrabarti’s answer turned towards a common talking point: primarying “corporate Democrats” who are ready to “throw the trans community under the bus.”
“The only way we’re going to get these laws passed is if we replace a whole lot of the Democratic Party,” he said.
While Chakrabarti was aggressive against the Democratic establishment nationally, Chan highlighted her local connections.
San Francisco District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan answers a question at the candidate forum. Photo by Mariana Garcia.
In Chan’s response to the question about protecting the queer community, she touted her support of keeping City College free for residents and the city’s investments in community clinics.
“So goes San Francisco, so goes the nation,” she said.
Candidates will go through a jungle primary on June 2, with the top two vote-getters facing off in the general election on Nov. 3, regardless of party affiliation. It is all but certain that both candidates in November will be Democrats and two of the three candidates on the UC Law stage Wednesday night.
Eskenazi closed the event with words to the audience from blues musician Sunnyland Slim: “Be careful how you vote.”