SAN FRANCISCO — Nancy Pelosi will face a challenge from a prominent California lawmaker if she runs for reelection, adding to pressure on the former House speaker to step aside amid Democrats’ widening intraparty generational divide.
State Sen. Scott Wiener, a moderate Democrat by San Francisco standards, is expected to announce his campaign next week, according to three allies briefed on his plans and granted anonymity to discuss them. He has previously said he would wait until Pelosi retired to run for the seat.
Pelosi, 85, hasn’t said if she plans to run for another term in 2026. Wiener’s abrupt foray into the race comes as Pelosi already faces a stronger-than-expected primary challenger in Saikat Chakrabarti, a wealthy former tech executive who previously worked as chief of staff to New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
One person familiar with Wiener’s thinking said he’s eager to launch his campaign now to start fundraising, noting Chakrabarti has poured $700,000 of his money into the race.
Wiener’s move will upend politics in a citadel of Democratic power while adding fuel to an uncomfortable generational divide between a party establishment and megadonors loyal to Pelosi and younger activists backing Wiener, 55, or Chakrabarti.
Wiener’s campaign declined to comment on his plans, which were first reported by The San Francisco Standard.
Pelosi spokesperson Ian Krager did not directly respond to questions about Wiener’s expected candidacy. He said the former speaker is focused on campaigning for California Democrats’ redistricting ballot measure, which aims to offset Republicans’ congressional gerrymander in Texas and other red states.
“Speaker Pelosi is fully focused on her mission to win the Yes on 50 special election in California on November 4th on the path to taking back the House for the Democrats,” Krager said in a statement. “She urges all Californians to join in that mission.”
Speculation about Pelosi’s future has swirled in her hometown since she stepped down from leadership after Democrats lost the House in 2022. But Pelosi, who was first elected in 1987, has remained in Congress longer than many local party leaders expected.
If Pelosi retires, other potential contenders for the seat include Christine Pelosi, her daughter and a longtime party organizer; city Supervisor Connie Chan, a leader of the city’s progressive wing; and Jane Kim, a former supervisor and director of the left-leaning California Working Families Party.
Meanwhile, Wiener has spent the last few years building his shadow campaign to succeed her and has raised nearly $1 million for the effort — a move that has angered Pelosi allies.
But Wiener, a former city supervisor and lawyer, has built his own San Francisco political machine. He’s also one of California’s most prolific state legislators, passing landmark laws to bolster housing construction, regulate artificial intelligence models, protect the rights of LGBTQ+ people and expand funding for public transit.
Laura Foote, a longtime Wiener ally, said supporters are hopeful that he could help nationalize the pro-housing YIMBY (or Yes in My Back Yard) movement that aims to remove local regulations stymieing development.
“I am optimistic about the prospect of a younger, pro-housing leader bringing new energy into Congress,” said Foote, who leads the advocacy group YIMBY Action. “More than any other individual he has driven change in California housing policy.”
Wiener, while known as a pro-development moderate in San Francisco, is also a lightning rod for the right. He has routinely sparred with conservative influencers like Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and commentator Tucker Carlson over his efforts to expand LGBTQ+ rights.