If her run for congress is successful, said former supervisor and longtime union organizer Gordon Mar, it could be an example of how to build a broad enough coalition to counter what Mar describes as \u201cthe billionaire-funded YIMBY political machine\u201d that has spent heavily<\/a> in recent elections.<\/p>\n Coalition of unlikely allies<\/p>\n Chan has long enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with labor, especially unions of public-sector employees and those that lean progressive, like teachers and healthcare workers. But the decision for Gonzales to run her campaign wasn\u2019t a foregone conclusion.<\/p>\n Instead, rival Sen. Scott Wiener\u2019s well-established track record of sponsoring legislation that supports the construction of new housing makes him seem more like a natural ally to Gonzalez, who has served as secretary-treasurer for San Francisco Building & Construction Trades Council since 2021. The council represents workers in the construction industry and has had a reputation for pro-housing advocacy since it was formed in 1896<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Building Trades are sort of the biggest bloc of the moderate unions,\u201d said Mar. In 2024, for example, the Building Trades declined to endorse progressive candidate Aaron Peskin for mayor, and dual endorsed Mark Farrell and Ahsha Safa\u00ed<\/a>. It did not support Chan in her 2020 race for supervisor, instead backing Marjan Philhour<\/a>, her opponent, though it did support Chan\u2019s 2024 run for reelection<\/a> and now Chan\u2019s campaign for congress.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wiener has the support of some unions<\/a>, including the California Conference of Carpenters, which has emerged as one of the most influential<\/a> voices on housing in Sacramento. But, said veteran political consultant Jim Ross, while Wiener is pro-housing, \u201che\u2019s not necessarily pro-housing built by union labor<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Larry Mazzola, Jr., current president of the Building Trades, said much the same thing. In a 2024 message to union members<\/a>, Mazzola described Wiener as a politician who \u201chas made it his mission in recent years to have any and all housing built as fast as possible \u2026 His attempts to strip away \u2018skilled & trained\u2019 language from these housing bills goes against everything he previously stood for.\u201d<\/p>\n Casey sees Wiener as a legislator who has sown division within the labor movement, \u201cpitting one set of unions against another.\u201d That, he said, makes getting Chan into Congress important for two reasons: \u201cOne is to beat Scott, two is to make sure that we have somebody who really does stand up for working families, and that\u2019s Connie.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe Arellano, the communications director for Wiener\u2019s campaign, argued that the state senator\u2019s critics are a sign of how effective he is as a legislator. \u201cThis is where San Francisco politics really work against what is best for the future of San Francisco,\u201d he said. Voters \u201cwant people who are going to deliver results, and that\u2019s what Scott has done.\u201d<\/p>\n Gonzalez\u2019s involvement has given Chan an opportunity to counter Wiener\u2019s branding as a pro-housing candidate. We \u201cwould not support Connie if she was anti-development,\u201d Gonzalez said.<\/p>\n Son of the Westside leading labor\u2019s race\u00a0<\/p>\n The son of a firefighter<\/a>, Gonzalez carried his first union card at 18<\/a> as a member of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and quickly rose<\/a> through the ranks of Teamsters Local 856.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2018, a then-34 year-old Gonzalez was the youngest<\/a> person elected to lead the San Francisco Labor Council in its 125-year history.<\/p>\n To run Chan\u2019s campaign, Gonzalez is taking a leave of absence, which shows how important this race is to labor, said Mar. Putting its top leadership directly at the helm of her campaign \u201cgoes way beyond the usual boots on the ground or financial contributions.\u201d It also shows, he said, that labor believes Chan has a clear path.<\/p>\n As a past and present leader of the two most prominent labor organizations \u2014 the San Francisco Building & Construction Trades Council and the San Francisco Labor Council \u2014 Gonzalez\u2019s leadership could help translate into votes and support from many of its 100,000<\/a> union members, and their families. (As of June 30, 2026, 471,185<\/a> voters were registered in Congressional District 11)<\/p>\n Gonzalez, said Mar, will also help bring more \u201cunion-style organizing\u201d to Chan\u2019s campaign, which will mean \u201ca lot more disciplined and structured\u201d than political campaigns that rely on paid canvassers or volunteers.<\/p>\n \u201cUnions are doing this day in and day out throughout the year,\u201d he said. \u201cI bet [Chan\u2019s campaign] will look a lot different with Rudy in this next round.\u201d<\/p>\n Some current and former campaign rivals also see the involvement of Gonzalez as an upgrade.<\/p>\n Wiener spokesperson Arellano said it signals a campaign trying to \u201cprofessionalize itself\u201d from \u201ca bare-bones operation.\u201d It\u2019s \u201cleveling up,\u201d agreed Nate Allbee, a main consultant on Chakrabarti\u2019s campaign who now works to support Chan.<\/p>\n The Pelosi connection<\/p>\n On a recent afternoon, Gonzalez described his new role as \u201ca full circle moment.\u201d His mentor, Fred Ross, Jr., a key architect of California\u2019s farmworker movement, played a crucial role in Pelosi\u2019s first run for Congress in 1987, and helped guarantee that Pelosi would be a \u201cstalwart champion\u201d of labor for the next four decades.<\/p>\n Gonzalez was only three years old during that fight. Now, he\u2019s investing in a new labor ally who, at 47, is the same age as Pelosi when she first entered Congress.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gonzalez is one of two San Francisco labor leaders closest to Pelosi. \u201cIf you watch any of the events that she hosts in the city, she normally has either Rudy there or she has Kim Tavaglione from the Labor Council,\u201d said a former citywide campaign manager.<\/p>\n Pelosi was not involved in hiring him, Gonzalez said. \u201cConnie asked me if I would take on this role. I told her I\u2019d be honored, but I had to make a couple phone calls,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Gonzalez called his wife, Sarah, a former union lawyer, and his board chair at the Building Trades Council, Mazzola. Both gave their blessings.<\/p>\n The campaign clearly hopes that Pelosi will be active, opening access to a prodigious nationwide donor network and helping to secure coveted endorsements, such as Mayor Daniel Lurie, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, that might otherwise be unattainable.<\/p>\n \u201cThe closer you can be tied to Nancy Pelosi, the better,\u201d said political consultant Ross.<\/p>\n Gonzalez said he will reach out for Pelosi\u2019s counsel frequently. Already, Pelosi has shown up more often<\/a> for Chan\u2019s campaign<\/a> than Chan\u2019s partner Ed, who\u2019s a member of the beloved local firefighters\u2019 union. And in the last three weeks, two fundraising emails in Pelosi\u2019s name have gone out.<\/p>\n Wooing the undecideds<\/p>\n Chan still needs to win over the LGBTQ+ community, where Wiener is popular, and conservative voters and Republicans who might be put off by her progressive reputation.<\/p>\n Gonzalez, however, can be effective in securing support from unions \u201cthat are still non-committal between Scott and Connie,\u201d said political consultant David Ho, who runs a pro-Chan independent expenditure committee funded mainly by unions.\u00a0<\/p>\n A major component of Gonzalez\u2019s role as campaign director will be raising money from national unions and mobilizing manpower from state and local unions.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gonzalez\u2019s links to Building Trades will help, said Casey. It\u2019s one of these labor organizations that not only focuses on San Francisco but has interests \u201cin Sacramento, in Washington, and of course, in San Francisco in City Hall.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had the benefit of being in this [labor] movement for a while now. And it is really fun to get to call my friends and colleagues\u201d in D.C. and around the state, said Gonzalez.<\/p>\n However, for some local unions, there might also be incentives<\/a> to keep Chan, who has been a reliable ally, in City Hall.<\/p>\n While fundraising for Chan\u2019s campaign, Gonzalez will be constrained by the $5,000 limit that unions can donate. Donations to Ho\u2019s independent expenditure campaign have no limit.<\/p>\n Local union chapters often need buy-in from their national umbrella union to donate to a federal candidate. That could get complicated<\/a>. Any big player in national politics, unions included, may see more to gain from trying to flip Republican-held seats nationwide, as opposed to taking sides in the all-Democratic matchup between Chan and Wiener.<\/p>\n But potential support is considerable. In 2025, labor-affiliated federal PACs raised a combined $215 million<\/a>. Moreover, the seat that Wiener and Chan are vying for is deemed a \u201cleadership seat\u201d by Capitol Hill insiders, meaning whoever wins is poised to grow into a national leader.<\/p>\n Gonzalez thinks Chan could be that leader. Connie overperformed in the primary, he said, to the point where she surprised some of the unions that had hesitated to commit to her candidacy. <\/p>\n Now, he thinks, they will: \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s good enough to have any Democrat represent San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n \t![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/052026_ZM_ConnieChanNancyPelosi-10-930x620.jpg\")
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi visiting San Francisco to make an endorsing speech on May 29, 2026 for Connie Chan, District 1 Supervisor running for Congress. Photo by Zoe Malen.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/edit-chan4-930x596.jpg\")
District 1 supervisor and budget chair Connie Chan, who requested the audit, addresses the Board of Supervisors. Photo on Jan. 8, 2025 by Abigail Van Neely.<\/p>\n