The primary election to succeed Nancy Pelosi in the 11th Congressional District is less than a month away, with the top two vote-getters moving on to the polls in November, and one of them onto Washington in 2027.
The latest polling has State Sen. Scott Wiener leading, with Saikat Chakrabarti and Supervisor Connie Chan fighting for second place. ConnectedSF head Marie Hurabiell is basically out of contention.
All four candidates came together at the Randall Museum Wednesday night to court District 8 voters and make their cases once more. Here are five takeaways.
Pick your lane
Throughout the evening, each candidate made it clear that they’ve honed their political brands and are sticking to them.
Wiener is all anti-Trump competency, with a dash of compromise. He portrayed himself as ready for Pelosi-esque backchanneling and vote-whipping in a large political body. While Wiener went hard on the right (and joked about his “MAGA fan club”), he repeatedly indicated he’ll reach across the aisle.
Chakrabarti positioned himself as the opposite of Wiener in many ways. He played the part of a leftist disruptor who’ll attack the levers of power with the help of outside movements. Chakrabarti’s theory of change includes pressure from groups like Justice Democrats, which he co-founded, and Sunrise Movement, the grassroots climate-action org that has built an impressive ground game. Think of him as the anti-Pelosi.
Chan is the endorsement queen, having scooped up the approval of labor unions, legacy progressives like former Mayor Art Agnos, and current power players like Sen. Adam Schiff, whom she mentioned multiple times. She’s in the middle of Wiener and Chakrabarti in approach, with equal emphasis on her time governing in the city and working-class rhetoric.
Lastly, Hurabiell is attempting to hold the center-right as the underdog with so-called “common sense” policy ideas. She’s the vibe candidate in this race; Hurabiell began by telling the crowd, “If you are one of the 70 percent of San Franciscans that thinks Daniel Lurie is doing a great job, I’m your candidate.” (Lurie, for his part, has moved as far from her “hateful” statements as he can.)
The cost of living is too damn high
Chan has been flamed, especially by the YIMBY crowd, for criticizing market-rate construction and voting against policies like the mayor’s Family Zoning Plan to accelerate dense housing development around the city. Chan, however, remained consistent in her support for affordable housing, and hammered the idea that she wants to tax the rich and reallocate federal dollars from the defense budget to fuel housing construction.
Chakrabarti worked the outsider angle, suggesting that current legislative tools aren’t powerful enough. “It’s simply not possible even if Dems take the house,” Chakrabarti said, again stressing the power of grassroots activism and his organizing on the Green New Deal.
That perspective was distinct from that of Wiener, who leaned on his past experience working within the confines of government to create affordable housing units and expand opportunities for market-rate building.
The candidates also discussed ways to lower the cost of living, with healthcare a point of agreement. The most left-field solution for the crisis, however, came from Hurabiell, who brought up “small modular reactors” repeatedly. Clean nuclear power is a legitimate strategy to revolutionize our power grid, but the notion sparked some curious looks.
Just one rebuttal
Moderator Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, politics reporter for the San Francisco Standard, stumbled into an odd moment during a question on AI regulation. As Chakrabarti wrapped up his spiel on how AI companies are funding pro-AI candidates across the country, he noted that he is “not taking any AI lobby money,” which elicited laughter from the crowd.
Rodriguez asked Wiener, who had already spoken on the question, to respond because “you’ve been invoked, if not in name then certainly in topic” — a line that inspired a look of annoyance from Wiener. “Uhhh, forced rebuttal, huh? Okay…” Wiener replied.
It would be the only allowed rebuttal of the night. Chakrabarti asked for a “rebuttal to the rebuttal,” which Rodriguez rejected. The evening would have been spicier, and more organic, if such rebuttals were encouraged, but alas.
The “singular” priority
Rodriguez tried to get the candidates to state their one (1) (uno) priority as a freshman congressmember. In classic fashion, it didn’t really work.
Chan said her big item was “the working peoples’ agenda” with changes to childcare, healthcare, free city college, and immigration rights.
Wiener promised to use “every lever of power” and reverse Medicaid cuts in entirety.
Chakrabarti mentioned strong constituent services, cutting congressional stock trading, and outside movement-building (again).
Hurabiell, to her credit, kept it simple: Supporting small business.
Down with the sickness (ooh-wah-ah-ah-ah)
Rodriguez admitted at the end of the event that he was sick with a cold from his 10-month-old, but chose not to wear a mask and shook the hands of the candidates after wrapping the debate. Will all four candidates catch a cold in the final stretch of the primary race because of this? Stay tuned!
