The San Francisco Democratic Party endorsed Manny Yekutiel in the District 8 race on Wednesday evening after two rounds of indecisive votes in a fraught meeting that, at times, elicited cries of “Shame!” from outraged attendees.
Supervisor Matt Dorsey, in the third round, flipped his position from supporting rival Gary McCoy to Yekutiel, handing Yekutiel the sole endorsement from the San Francisco Democratic Party.
It was a perplexing move: Dorsey has personally ranked McCoy first and Yekutiel second.
Before the vote, Dorsey shared a story: When Dorsey was appointed to the Board of Supervisors, McCoy, who was in the same recovery meeting with him, called him “with more joy than I had ever heard in his voice,” and said that “now we’ve got a seat at the table.” Dorsey and McCoy have both been in recovery for addiction.
“I know Gary very well. He is somebody I consider a friend. I think he would be a terrific colleague,” Dorsey said, even though McCoy and Dorsey have very different approaches to addiction — McCoy stresses harm reduction, and Dorsey sobriety. “It would mean a lot to people in the recovery community.”
As the vote came to the third round, however, the only two options left were Yekutiel or no endorsement — McCoy had been eliminated because he received the least votes in the second round of voting — and Dorsey voted for Yekutiel.
The vote took place after a, emotional public comment session stretching to nearly two hours: Front and center was the sexual assault allegation against Yekutiel.
The San Francisco Democratic Party on Aug. 26 endorsed Manny Yekutiel in the District 8 supervisor’s race. Photo by Junyao Yang
Brad Chapin, a political organizer who in June accused Yekutiel of a 2020 assault, spoke first among over 70 people giving public comments. “Most of [public comment] is going to be in support of someone credibly accused of sexual assault, not just by me. I’m the only one who came public,” Chapin said, choking on tears. “You should all be fucking ashamed of yourself.”
Chapin alleged that Yekutiel grabbed his testicles at a house party in the Mission six years agoand attempted to penetrate him with his finger. Chapin came forward with the accusations, first reported by the San Francisco Standard, after seeing Yekutiel declare his run for supervisor. Yekutiel denied the allegations.
The San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee, the local party’s governing body, started an investigation in July, a protocol that was established in 2024 after sexual misconduct allegations against city politicos Jon Jacobo and Kevin Ortiz.
The investigation into Chapin’s claims found that it could not substantiate the allegations against Yekutiel because the venue where the alleged sexual assault happened was not at a Democratic Party event, and therefore not within the Democratic Party’s jurisdiction, according to a letter sent to party chair Nancy Tung on Wednesday morning from Gina M. Roccanova, the chair of the judicial commission tasked with the investigation. The letter was first published by the San Francisco Standard.
“This is not a determination on the merits of whether a sexual assault occurred,” Roccanova wrote.
“The jurisdiction of this body is limited in nature,” Tung told the crowd on Wednesday. “We are not a body to make a determination on any event that happens.” Tung urged the members of the committee to take public comment into account.
Chapin was livid.
“I went to your attorneys, I asked him explicitly if this was a waste of my time because none of this happened at a Democratic Party event. And you knew that,” Chapin said, during the public comment period. “This is a sham.”
On Wednesday evening, as Tung read out the party’s code of conduct against verbal and physical harassment during public comment, Chapin yelled from the first row, “If any of that is true, you should ask Manny to leave.”
“I’m asking you to do the bare freaking minimum,” added a representative for the Teamsters Local 856, “and believe survivors when they come forward.”
Following Chapin, a line of dozens of Yekutiel’s supporters spoke, at a microphone directly in front of Chapin. “He’s willing to take on the problems of the city that are challenging with innovative ideas,” one said. “I support Manny for two reasons: authenticity and action,” said another.
“Shame on all of you,” an audience member yelled from the second row.
Yekutiel’s supporters continued to step forward. They talked about neighborhood cleanups, the Civic Joy Fund and Manny’s Cafe. “I personally observed the integrity of Manny by having him deal with lots of issues coming his way,” one said. “He is very much in concert with the mayor. The mayor needs Manny for his agenda,” another added.
As Janet Tarlov, the founder of Glen Park’s Canyon Market, spoke in support of Manny, Chapin blurted, “She smiled at me when I was talking about what happened!”
“I understand this is an emotional thing for you,” Tung interrupted. “You can’t continue to have outbursts during public comment.”
But the heated exchanges continued. “Stop, stop, stop!” Tung said at one point. “We are not going to have back and forth between people. People came all this way to say something. What we’ll do is hear people out.”
“You are gonna hear everyone out?” Chapin said.
At this point, Tung announced that the meeting would take a recess until the mood settled down. After five minutes, the meeting resumed and another hour of public comment ensued on various issues such as Prop. G to reopen the Great Highway and California Prop. 40, the billionaire tax.
Following the meeting, Dorsey emphasized that his vote for Yekutiel came only after his preferred candidate, McCoy, was eliminated. A “no endorsement” vote, he stated, “would have betrayed my endorsed positions.”
And yet Dorsey’s move gave a significant electoral boost to his No. 2 candidate at the expense of his No. 1 candidate.
“I’m grateful to have earned the San Francisco Democratic Party’s endorsement,” said Yekutiel in a statement following the vote. “Our campaign is focused on delivering results on the issues voters care about most, making San Francisco more affordable, building the housing we need, supporting small businesses, and keeping our neighborhoods safe.”
Catie Stewart, a spokesperson for McCoy’s campaign, questioned the timing of the completion of the sexual assault investigation, which dropped only hours before today’s vote. She wrote that it was “suspect, bordering on absurd” to conclude the investigation on the same day that the local party voted on its endorsement in District 8.
“The fundamentals remain true: We believe Mr. Chapin. We also believe the whisper network of other survivors who, for several years, have experienced inappropriate behavior, sexual harassment and assault from Mr. Yekutiel,” Stewart wrote. “We will always stand with survivors.”