{"id":435196,"date":"2026-08-17T12:02:56","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T12:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/435196\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T12:02:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T12:02:56","slug":"san-francisco-democrats-fight-over-what-comes-after-pelosi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/435196\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco Democrats fight over what comes after Pelosi"},"content":{"rendered":"

For nearly four decades, San Francisco<\/a> politics revolved around one towering Democratic figure: Rep. Nancy Pelosi<\/a> (D-CA).<\/p>\n

Now, as the longtime lawmaker prepares to leave Congress<\/a>, the city is having an unusually public argument over what comes next.<\/p>\n

State Sen. Scott Wiener<\/a> (D-CA) and San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan <\/a>are competing to succeed Pelosi in a race that has become a test of what kind of Democrat should represent one of the country\u2019s bluest cities.<\/p>\n

\"NancyPelosi\/Chan\/Weiner (AP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Both Wiener and Chan are firmly liberal. They differ on how the government should respond to San Francisco\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n

Wiener has made housing construction, development, and government performance central to his campaign. Chan has emphasized tenant protections, organized labor, affordable housing, and neighborhood interests, arguing the government should do more to protect residents from the economic forces reshaping the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fundamental divide between Wiener and Chan is less about whether San Francisco should remain liberal than about what liberal government should actually do,\u201d Democratic strategist James Christopher told the Washington Examiner.<\/p>\n

That debate is becoming more competitive than the June primary results initially suggested.<\/p>\n

Wiener finished first in the primary with 40.7% of the vote, compared with 29.7% for Chan. But with the field now reduced to two Democrats, Chan has a chance to consolidate voters who backed other progressive candidates.<\/p>\n

A poll sponsored by Chan\u2019s campaign and conducted by Lake Research Partners found Wiener leading 45% to 40%, with 11% undecided. The July 14-19 survey of 500 likely voters was conducted in English and Cantonese and included an oversample of 100 Chinese American voters.<\/p>\n

A separate poll sponsored by Fair Housing showed an even tighter race, with Wiener at 39% and Chan at 38%. Twenty-three percent were undecided in the Public Policy Polling survey of 509 San Francisco voters conducted June 26 through 27.<\/p>\n

The surveys are campaign-sponsored, but both point to a race that remains unsettled.<\/p>\n

\u201cWiener\u2019s argument is that he\u2019s the Democrat best positioned to deliver different results,\u201d Nike E. Smith, a Democratic strategist and president of Polaris, told the Washington Examiner.<\/p>\n

Wiener is betting that frustration over housing costs, homelessness, drug use, public safety, and downtown vacancies has made voters more receptive to a pragmatic version of liberalism.<\/p>\n

He has repeatedly pushed for more housing and development, sometimes putting him at odds with progressive groups. His argument is not that San Francisco should become less liberal, but that Democrats should be willing to abandon policies that do not work.<\/p>\n

\u201cVoters don\u2019t always move to the center when they\u2019re frustrated \u2014 they move toward change,\u201d Smith said. \u201cSometimes that\u2019s a moderate, sometimes it\u2019s a democratic socialist, and sometimes it\u2019s an outsider.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chan is making a different case, portraying herself as a champion of working families, tenants, and immigrants and casting Wiener as too closely aligned with wealthy donors, developers, and the technology industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cConnie Chan has spent her career fighting for working families,\u201d spokeswoman Julie Edwards told the Washington Examiner.<\/p>\n

Pelosi has given Chan perhaps her most powerful institutional advantage.<\/p>\n

The former speaker endorsed Chan over Wiener and has continued campaigning for her, allowing Chan to argue that she is not simply seeking Pelosi\u2019s seat but carrying forward the coalition Pelosi built over decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cNancy Pelosi is one of the Democratic Party\u2019s most influential powerbrokers \u2014 so seeing her handpicked successor\u2019s success is a heavy indication of institutional politics\u2019 staying power,\u201d Christopher said.<\/p>\n

Pelosi\u2019s support has also made her an active participant in the race. When Wiener\u2019s campaign launched an AI chatbot designed to imitate Chan and attack her record, Pelosi called it a \u201cgross misuse\u201d of artificial intelligence. The campaign took the chatbot down, and Wiener apologized after some of its responses, including comments about Chan\u2019s accent and background, drew accusations of racism and sexism.<\/p>\n

The episode gave Chan another way to argue that the race is about more than policy \u2014 it is about the kind of politics San Francisco wants.<\/p>\n

Foreign policy has created another fault line.<\/p>\n

Wiener, who is Jewish, has faced criticism from both pro-Israel and anti-Israel activists as his position on Gaza has evolved. In January, he began claiming Israel\u2019s conduct in Gaza is genocide. His campaign website says he opposes AIPAC contributions and offensive U.S. arms sales to Israel and believes Israel should pay for its own Iron Dome missile defense system.<\/p>\n

Chan also claims that Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza constitute genocide and says she opposes U.S. weapons sales to Israel and all U.S. aid to the country.<\/p>\n

She also faced scrutiny shortly before the primary over reports that AIPAC and Democratic Majority for Israel had supported her campaign. The groups did not donate directly to Chan, however, but contributed to independent political committees that later spent money supporting her among other candidates. Chan\u2019s campaign rejected the characterization that she had received support from the pro-Israel lobby and pointed to her pledge not to accept such contributions.<\/p>\n

The competing positions illustrate the challenge for both candidates in a Democratic electorate that includes strongly pro-Gaza activists as well as voters who remain supportive of Israel.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, however, the race is less about whether San Francisco will remain liberal than about which version of liberalism will define its next chapter.<\/p>\n

\u201cSan Francisco has long been an incubator for ideas that eventually shape the national Democratic Party,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThis race is really about whether Democrats believe the next chapter should be defined primarily by ideological identity or by governing effectiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n

CALIFORNIA HIGH-SPEED RAIL UPDATE: STILL BROKE<\/a><\/p>\n

A Wiener victory would suggest Democrats want a more pragmatic approach without abandoning liberalism, Smith said. A Chan victory would demonstrate the durability of the city\u2019s progressive coalition and reinforce Pelosi\u2019s influence.<\/p>\n

After nearly 40 years of Pelosi, San Francisco is preparing to find out what comes next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For nearly four decades, San Francisco politics revolved around one towering Democratic figure: Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Now,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[1400,7,11272,8669,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-435196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-2026-elections","tag-california","tag-house-of-representatives","tag-nancy-pelosi","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}