{"id":491593,"date":"2026-10-10T13:58:34","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T13:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/491593\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T13:58:34","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T13:58:34","slug":"brad-chapin-endorses-darshini-patel-in-district-8-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/491593\/","title":{"rendered":"Brad Chapin endorses Darshini Patel in District 8 race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brad Chapin, the man who first accused<\/a> Emanuel \u201cManny\u201d Yekutiel of sexual assault in June, said that he was so stressed in the months that followed that he could hardly sleep. <\/p>\n

Now that Yekutiel is out of the race<\/a>, he says he\u2019s better, and can rest.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also advocating for other sexual-assault survivors, and today announced his endorsement in the District 8 supervisor race: Darshini Patel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Patel, Chapin said, was one of the people \u2014\u00a0along with Supervisor Myrna Melgar and Ivy Lee, the director of the Office of Victim and Witness Rights \u2014 he felt particularly supported by when he first came forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He remembers appreciating a statement<\/a> Patel put out on the day his accusation was first reported, which called out the \u201creflex to question and minimize\u201d survivors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Later that week, he ran into Patel at a rally in support of sexual-assault survivors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though I tried to go in disguise, she recognized me immediately, and walked up and gave me a hug,\u201d Chapin said. \u201cI felt really, truly connected to her through that process, and just could tell how much she genuinely cared and not in a self-serving way.\u201d<\/p>\n

He endorsed her shortly after, but initially she didn\u2019t want to publicize it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were horrible to him, and I didn\u2019t want it to add to that in some way,\u201d said Patel, who used to work at DoorDash and in the Obama White House. \u201cI didn\u2019t want it to seem like I was politicizing the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Chapin came forward, many prominent political figures cast doubt on his allegations. Mayor Daniel Lurie endorsed<\/a> Yekutiel in September, saying that he had been reassured by Yekutiel that the incident did not happen. <\/p>\n

A\u00a0 few weeks prior to that, the San Francisco chapter of the Democratic Party endorsed<\/a> Yekutiel as well, after a so-called investigation<\/a> that did not examine whether or not an assault had taken place.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yekutiel dropped out<\/a> of the race last Thursday after two subsequent allegations of sexual assault<\/a> were published by the San Francisco Standard. Chapin\u2019s June accusation<\/a> \u2014 that Yekutiel painfully grabbed his testicles at a house party in 2020 \u2014 was first published three months before that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those three months were traumatizing, Chapin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TwoDarshini Patel and Manny Yekutiel at the District 8 supervisor debate at Noe Valley Town Square on August 12, 2026. Photo by Io Yeh Gilman.<\/p>\n

In early August, Chapin lost his job as a city worker, which he attributed to the stress he was living under since speaking out in June. His friends set up a GoFundMe<\/a> to help him cover his rent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThank God,\u201d Chapin said. \u201cOtherwise, I would definitely be losing my apartment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The District 8 race is now a three-way contest between Patel, recovery advocate and former Nancy Pelosi aide Gary McCoy<\/a>, and attorney Michael Nguyen. <\/p>\n

McCoy is considered the front-runner; he has raised the most money<\/a>, and has received mainstream endorsements<\/a>. Prior to Yekutiel\u2019s departure, McCoy and Patel formed an alliance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chapin, for his part, said he was also drawn to Patel because \u201cshe knows what she doesn\u2019t know.\u201d He thinks she will consult outside experts and actually listen to them, instead of making decisions \u201cthat are just politically advantageous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chapin added that he is also excited to elect a queer woman of color in District 8, which has only ever been represented by gay white men, though, he added, \u201cI would never vote for someone or support someone just because of that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chapin plans to campaign and host fundraisers for Patel in the remaining weeks of the race.<\/p>\n

In the wake of Yekutiel\u2019s withdrawal, Chapin said he has met with Nancy Tung, the chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party, who some are calling on to resign<\/a>, and is planning a meeting with Mayor Lurie.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He wants both Tung and Lurie to use their political power to work with people advocating for survivors. Lee and Melgar, for instance, are working to improve how the city responds to reports of sexual assault \u2014 the police clearance rate for rape cases<\/a> is half the national average.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What Chapin wanted to emphasize the most, though, is how grateful he is to Ryan Clark and his partner, the two men who came forward about their own alleged experiences with Yekutiel last week, ultimately leading to Yekutiel\u2019s withdrawal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore they came forward, my life, every day, was traumatizing,\u201d Chapin said, explaining that people would regularly harass him in the street.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople,\u201d he says, \u201chave called me an anti-Semite\u201d \u2014\u00a0Yekutiel is Jewish. They have also told him he was \u201cun-rapeable\u201d and that \u201cManny is so sexy,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chapin said he had been struggling to sleep and was thinking about leaving San Francisco.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Clark and his partner going public \u201cgave me my life back,\u201d Chapin said. \u201cNow I feel like I can go outside and not fear people saying just such terrible things.\u201d<\/p>\n