Early on on Election Day, as San Franciscans were still casting their ballots, my colleague Joel Rosenblatt stopped by Scott Wiener’s headquarters at 2055 Market St. to confirm access to the candidate’s watch party later that night.
Josh Raznick, Wiener’s campaign manager, informed Joel that only “invited media” could attend, and that Gazetteer SF was not on the list for our allegedly “one-sided” coverage of the race.
Despite this, I found myself outside of Swedish American Hall on Market Street a little after 8 p.m., asking if I could join Wiener and his supporters as the returns were announced. It turned out we weren’t the only ones un-invited: Reporters from Mission Local and 48 Hills were also stopped at the door by representatives of the Wiener campaign.
By the time I arrived, however, Mission Local and the San Francisco Standard had already published stories about the bans, complete with a statement from the NorCal Society of Professional Journalists excoriating the Wiener campaign.
I explained the situation to a young staffer at the door who consulted with a higher-up before giving me the magic words: “You’re good to go.”
Maybe they were feeling generous thanks to Wiener’s commanding lead over Connie Chan, or perhaps it was the negative press they were getting, but the campaign relented.
Before heading in, I spoke to some Wiener supporters about why they had schlepped in the rain to be at the party. One attendee, Greg Kasten, told me that he voted for Wiener because he expects the state senator to make “good decisions.” Kasten explained he’s not an “issues guy” when I asked about his policy wishlist if Wiener were to win.
“Everyone knows this is Nancy Pelosi’s seat, and it’s an iconic seat, but this feels like a meaningful turnover,” Kasten said.
Down the line, I met Angela Laffan, a former constituent who, despite being unable to vote in the US, came to the party in high spirits.
“I have been a longtime supporter, he was our district supervisor, we’re involved with the AIDS Grove and he’s supported that. We’ve been along for the journey,” Laffan said. “Just the energy tonight is amazing. We’re all on our phones, in our silos, and to come together like this… it’s about Scott, but it’s also about a movement.”
Inside the wood-paneled auditorium, the vibes — and the temperature — were through the roof. The crowd roared with approval when Team Wiener senior organizer Chloe Young took the podium to talk up Wiener’s record and agenda to fight for San Francisco in Congress. The cheers grew when Wiener eventually took the stage for his speech: “I am ready to work for you,” Wiener said.
The crowd responded, “Let’s go, Scott! Let’s go, Scott!”
Later in the night at Connie Chan’s watch party at Gray Area on Mission Street, the energy was decidedly different.
A series of heavy-hitting guest speakers, many of them from union and activist groups, took to the mic to extoll Chan’s left politics and her commitment to working-class organizing. Whereas Wiener’s party had a roundly optimistic feel, Chan’s event rippled with calls to action and declarations that, no matter what the results, the progressive left was building power.
“Call me crazy, but we give a shit about each other on a daily basis,” said SEIU Local 2015’s Executive Vice President Kim Evon, eliciting cheers from fans.
AROC Action head Lara Kiswani took a similarly fiery tone: “Our movement has already won today!” she proclaimed, jabbing her finger at the ground.
Chan supporters I spoke to at the party told me that the evening was a show of force for progressive power in San Francisco, on a night in which progressives were otherwise manhandled by Mayor Daniel Lurie’s agenda. Volunteer field manager Dominic Chan (no relation) boasted about the hard work of Chan’s ground team, which he claimed endured the downpour to knock on doors on Tuesday, “unlike the other guy’s team.”
“As an organizer, we always have to end with a chant,” Dominic Chan said with a wink before leading the room to yell “Yes we Chan!” again and again.
It was the loudest point of the night until Connie Chan herself stepped on stage. Like some of her guest speakers, Chan emphasized that building working-class solidarity was the crux of her campaign. She said the movement will “make billionaires pay their fair share,” and reiterated her desire to force a full arms embargo on the Israeli government. (Wiener supports Israel buying missile-defense systems from the US.)
Near the end of her speech, Chan called on the crowd to be patient with the vote tally, and thanked supporters for believing “someone with an accent can be a voice for working people.”
In the crowd, I ran into District 4 candidate Albert Chow, who was clearly losing to incumbent Alan Wong in the Sunset. He was in good spirits despite the results and spoke proudly of Chan when asked why he was in attendance.
“Connie and I ran on the same values, which is that we’re grassroots candidates. It’s not just about a blue wave, it’s about a wave for the people. Too many Dems have corporate ties and don’t look out for the common folk, and we’re suffering here,” Chow told me. “I feel the energy here. These are my people. This is San Francisco.”
On the way out, I heard one Chan supporter say the quiet part out loud: “Everyone is fuckin’ sad. I’m sad!”
Then he turned toward a crowd of friends to dish about political organizing in the aftermath of election night.
