SF Supervisor Connie Chan joins race for Pelosi's seat
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Supervisor Connie Chan greets the crowd during San Francisco's 2024 Lunar New Year Parade. Photo: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images
Progressive Supervisor Connie Chan is entering the highly watched race for Rep. Nancy Pelosi's congressional seat.
The big picture: Chan, who has represented District 1 on the Board of Supervisors since 2021, will face a field that includes state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Saikat Chakrabarti, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's former chief of staff, in her bid to succeed Pelosi, who announced her retirement earlier this month.
- If elected, Chan would be the first Asian American to represent San Francisco in the House.
What she's saying: "I've spent my career advocating for the everyday people who are the backbone of San Francisco," Chan said Thursday in her campaign launch video.
- "We don't need a representative who talks and refuses to listen. I'm running for Congress to build coalitions, build up our communities and bring our voices to Washington."
What we're watching: Pelosi has not yet endorsed a candidate, though the San Francisco Standard reports that Chan is considered a front-runner.
State of play: Chan has built a name for herself as a supervisor advocating for affordable housing, small businesses, labor unions and tenant protections.
- As chair of the budget committee, she helped establish a $400 million reserve fund aimed at protecting the city from federal funding cuts to social services.
- The progressive supervisor also led efforts to reach a compromise with Mayor Daniel Lurie this summer when he pushed for city worker layoffs, ultimately leading to the restoration of about 57 positions.
Yes, but: She could face opposition from the city's moderate factions and pro-housing movement.
- Chan has often butted heads with Wiener over efforts to accelerate housing construction, warning of the danger of "speculative real estate interests."
- Critics also point to her stance against a proposed toll hike on Bay Area bridges to fund public transit, her attempt to reopen the Great Highway to cars and her opposition to the 2020 recall of former district attorney Chesa Boudin.
Between the lines: Despite the criticism, she's built a powerful coalition with labor groups, Chinese Americans and critics of market-rate housing development who could make her a strong contender, per the San Francisco Chronicle.
Stunning stat: Chan narrowly defeated Marjan Philhour by only 125 votes in 2020 to become District 1 supervisor. The rematch in 2024 was similarly close.
Catch up quick: Chan was born in Hong Kong. At 13, she moved with her mother and younger brother to San Francisco, where they lived in a rent-controlled apartment in Chinatown.
- After graduating from Galileo High School, Chan pursued a bachelor's degree in comparative religion and classical Chinese at UC Davis.
- Chan made her first foray into politics in 2006 when then-Supervisor Sophie Maxwell recruited her to serve as a legislative aide.
- She has also worked for former Supervisor Aaron Peskin and then-Assemblymember Kevin Mullin and served as an aide and liaison to the AAPI community for the district attorney's office under Kamala Harris.