{"id":242138,"date":"2026-03-29T14:05:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T14:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/242138\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T14:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T14:05:10","slug":"san-franciscos-district-9-closes-ranks-around-jackie-fielder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/242138\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco’s District 9 closes ranks around Jackie Fielder"},"content":{"rendered":"

District 9 leaders hope that Supervisor Jackie Fielder will stay on the job, even after she said on Friday that she plans to resign<\/a>. Mission District, Bernal Heights, and Portola leaders said there is little trust that if Fielder were to step down, Mayor Daniel Lurie would appoint someone representative of what the district wants.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us in the Mission, we\u2019re supporting Jackie. We\u2019re waiting for her recovery, and she has not resigned,\u201d said Tracy Gallardo Brown, an executive committee member of the Latino Task Force<\/a> and lifetime Mission District resident. Gallardo Brown said neighborhood organizers do not want an appointee \u201cimposed on\u201d the district.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe definitely do not want anyone else, because it\u2019s going to be someone we will not agree with,\u201d she said. The Latino Task Force, the San Francisco Parity and Equity Coalition<\/a>, and Calle 24<\/a> \u2014 groups that represent a broad array of Mission District nonprofits \u2014 issued statements saying they hope to continue working alongside Fielder when she recovers.<\/p>\n

Fielder told Mission Local in a phone call Friday that she was in the hospital and planned to resign.\u00a0Her staff said she was undergoing an \u201cacute personal health crisis.\u201d There was no update on her condition as of Saturday evening.<\/p>\n

The Board of Supervisors clerk has not received formal notice of a resignation, and Fielder may yet stay on. \u201cSupervisor Jackie Fielder is prioritizing her health,\u201d read a statement from her office. \u201cShe has not officially resigned and is taking time to recover while considering her next steps.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Fielder does step down, however, Lurie would have the power to appoint her replacement, who would then run for the seat in November.<\/p>\n

Mission Local spoke to half a dozen leaders in District 9, which includes the Mission, Bernal Heights, and Portola. All said they hoped Fielder would take time to make a full recovery, and stay in office.<\/p>\n

\"ADistrict 9 supervisor Jackie Fielder, on her second day in City Hall. Photo by Abigail Van Neely.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to see her back in City Hall,\u201d said Amy Beinart, a longtime Bernal Heights organizer and the former president of the neighborhood\u2019s Democratic club. \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m hearing most from people.\u201d Beinart called Fielder a \u201cfantastic supervisor\u201d with neighborhood chops who has been critical of Lurie \u2014 and, in so doing, has reflected the district\u2019s stances.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really don\u2019t want to guess who he\u2019d cast about for and find who would rubber-stamp what I\u2019m seeing as a push towards centralized mayoral power,\u201d Beinart said of a Lurie appointee.<\/p>\n

Aaron Peskin, the former District 3 supervisor who ran unsuccessfully against Lurie in 2024, said he did not have faith Lurie would tap a candidate progressive enough to win in the district if it meant that appointee would vote against Lurie\u2019s\u00a0agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that Lurie is politically facile enough to go, \u2018I\u2019d rather have someone who\u2019s with me 40 percent of the time,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s Willie Brown thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yensing Sihapanya, executive director of the Family Connections Center, a nonprofit that has provided early childhood services in Portola for 35 years, said even in that more moderate-leaning neighborhood<\/a>, her neighbors want Fielder to stay.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just no denying how hard working she is,\u201d she said. Portola residents often feel ignored<\/a> by District 9 supervisors. Sihapanya, who has been at the Family Connections Center for the last 14 years, said that Fielder \u201chas probably been, in the last 14 months, more active [in the Portola] than a few supervisors combined.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fielder was elected handily<\/a> in 2024, winning at a 60-40 tilt against her moderate opponent, Trevor Chandler.<\/p>\n

Graph by Kelly Waldron. Data from the San Francisco Department of Elections.<\/p>\n

District 9 is far to the left of Lurie. Since district elections started in the 1990s, the area has always elected progressive supervisors. Along with Haight-Ashbury, it is one of the bastions of left-wing politics in San Francisco. In 2024, district voters overwhelmingly backed<\/a> Aaron Peskin, Lurie\u2019s progressive rival, for mayor.<\/p>\n

\u201cDistrict 9 is always going to be the most progressive district in the city,\u201d said David Campos, the district supervisor from 2008 to 2016. Campos said Fielder should take \u201ctime and space\u201d to recover, and that he also hopes that she \u201cdoesn\u2019t resign.\u201d<\/p>\n

2024 election results before ranked-choice voting. Map by Kelly Waldron. Data from the San Francisco Department of Elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has been a critic of the mayor, and I think that is in many respects where the district is,\u201d Campos said. If Fielder does step down and Lurie appoints a replacement, Campos said he is \u201cnot too concerned\u201d about that appointee winning in November, when a special election would be held for anyone to fill out the remainder of Fielder\u2019s four-year term \u2014 he said it would likely be a long shot.<\/p>\n

\u201cA mayoral appointment has not always meant winning at the ballot box,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Christina Olague was appointed to District 5 by then-Mayor Ed Lee in 2012 but lost her election that year to London Breed; Julie Christensen was in 2015 appointed by Lee to District 3 but lost to Peskin; Jeff Sheehy was picked by Lee to represent District 8 in 2017 but lost to Rafael Mandelman; and Vallie Brown was tapped by Breed for District 5 in 2018 but lost to Dean Preston.<\/p>\n

The fates of appointees Stephen Sherill in District 2<\/a> and Alan Wong in District 4<\/a>, tapped by Breed and Lurie respectively, will be determined in a June special election.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s an appointment that doesn\u2019t reflect where District 9 is, the voters of District 9 will make sure that person is not successful,\u201d Campos said.<\/p>\n

\"ADaniel Lurie speaks to Jackie Fielder on inauguration day in 2025. Photo by Abigail Van Neely.<\/p>\n

Names are bouncing around City Hall but no shortlists have been made, according to several City Hall insiders. Publicly, Lurie has said<\/a> he hopes Fielder makes a \u201cspeedy recovery\u201d and can continue to be a \u201cdedicated advocate for her community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some of the names being tossed around include:<\/p>\n

Santiago Lerma, the former legislative aide for Fielder\u2019s predecessor, Hillary Ronen<\/a>. Lerma is currently the city\u2019s lead<\/a> for Mission District \u201cstreet teams,\u201d<\/a> coordinating different groups<\/a> that patrol the neighborhood<\/a> to conduct drug and homelessness outreach, reverse overdoses, treat open wounds, and more. He was a favorite to replace Ronen in the 2024 election but pulled out of the contest<\/a> because of his infant son\u2019s health.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Josh Arce, president of the Public Utilities Commission, leader with the Northern California District Council of Laborers, and a longtime London Breed ally<\/a>. Arce ran unsuccessfully for the District 9 seat in 2016 against Ronen.<\/p>\n

Mois\u00e9s Garcia, the mayor\u2019s community liaison<\/a> and former LGBTQ outreach staffer on Lurie\u2019s campaign. Garcia is one of the few Latinos in Lurie\u2019s administration and has some years of experience in Mission District groups.<\/p>\n

Roberto Hernandez, longtime Mission organizer, leader of the annual Carnaval festival, and CEO of Cultura y Arte Nativa de las Americas. Hernandez ran unsuccessfully<\/a> against Fielder in 2024.<\/p>\n

But most said talk of a mayoral appointment is premature \u2014 Fielder has not officially resigned.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s still our supervisor until she says otherwise,\u201d said Stephen Torres, who ran against Fielder in 2024. Torres is now the president of the Bernal Heights Democratic Club<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy don\u2019t we wait till Jackie tells us, until we hear directly from Jackie?\u201d Torres said. \u201cThat seems like the best course of action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disclosure: This reporter briefly worked with Jackie Fielder in 2018 at The Worker Agency, a communications firm.<\/p>\n

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