On the eve of the Sept. 16 recall election to determine whether District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio remains in office, many Chinese voters in the Sunset have already made up their minds.
The recall is fueled by frustration over Engardio’s championing of Proposition K, the citywide ballot measure that won and closed the Upper Great Highway to turn it into an oceanfront park.
It was popular with voters citywide, but wildly unpopular with voters in Engardio’s own district, which is 53 percent Asian.
While political experts cautioned that the Chinese community is not a monolith, many of them are “get-off-my-lawn” voters who want to be left alone, said David Ho, a political strategist and former Sunset resident.
“I want to park in my driveway. I want to build my in-law unit. Don’t tax me. I care about public safety and schools and quality of life,” he said.
That’s partly because homeownership is hard-earned in the Sunset Chinese community. When Chinese immigrants first moved to the Sunset, Chinese businesses were scarce. Driving a car means residents can go to Chinatown every week for groceries and eat at Chinese restaurants.
Today, Chinese voters are “more interested in trying to maneuver through their lives and get through their day,” said Jim Ross, a Bay Area political consultant. That means driving to the Richmond or going down to Daly City without sitting in traffic on Sunset Boulevard.
Since the Upper Great Highway closed, they have been reminded of its absence almost daily. “Every time someone drives on 19th Avenue and Sunset Boulevard, or tries to cross Golden Gate Park to the Richmond,” Ho said, “they think about Joel Engardio. That is a bad way to get your name out there.”
As of Monday, nearly 37 percent of Chinese-language ballots have been returned, according to the Department of Elections — 1,876 out of the 5,111 that were issued in District 4. That is slightly higher than the 30 percent of District 4 ballots returned overall.
David Lee, executive director of the Chinese American Voters Education Committee, analyzed the turnout and said that preliminary data showed that foreign-born Chinese voters have turned out at a rate of 34 percent, compared to American-born Chinese voters at 24 percent.
Lee attributed the higher turnout to nearly daily coverage in Sing Tao Daily and on Chinese radio and television. That helped the Chinese voters, especially the foreign-born ones who only read news in Chinese, learn about the recall election.
What’s unfortunate for Engardio, said Ho, is that a large part of the passion that got the recall on the ballot in the first place — and makes it likely that the recall will pass — is coming from those Chinese residents.
Prominent politicians like Rep. Nancy Pelosi and publications like the San Francisco Chronicle endorsed keeping Engardio in office. But Lee hasn’t seen many prominent Chinese leaders standing behind him.
Quite the opposite: Several Chinese American political figures in Engardio’s district, including Albert Chow, Selena Chu, Julia Quon and the Chinese American Democratic Club, have organized against Engardio.
‘Don’t use us’
The anger may come from a population, like many other voters in District 4, that is tied to its cars.
Today, nearly 62 percent of residents in the Sunset are homeowners, according to census data. More than 50 percent of households own two or more cars, way above 26 percent citywide.
It is, as Ho describes it, “a suburb in the city” — and a place where an endorsement from Sing Tao Daily, which supports the recall, carries more weight than one from the San Francisco Chronicle.
Since Prop. K was put on the ballot, residents opposing it have been vocal in their concerns, even during the early days. With bilingual “Open the Great Highway” and “開放海傍公路” signs, they rallied on the City Hall steps. On Sunset Dunes’ opening day, a caravan of cars drove down the Lower Great Highway, honking in protest.
The Chinese community in San Francisco has a long history of political organizing, especially in Chinatown. The political power of westside Chinese voters has its “fits and starts” historically, but in recent years, it has become a decisive force in San Francisco elections, said Ross.
That was true during the 2024 mayoral election, when all candidates worked hard to court the Chinese vote, making regular appearances at banquets and other community events, opening campaign offices in Chinese-majority neighborhoods, and, in Daniel Lurie’s case, paying handsomely for outreach workers to canvass door-to-door in Chinese neighborhoods on his behalf.
“There’s nobody who doesn’t understand the importance of Chinese American voters in San Francisco,” Ross said.
Tomorrow will be the fifth election in three years in which the Chinese voters are likely to play a decisive role. These include the campaigns of incumbent District 4 supervisor Gordon Mar and incumbent Mayor London Breed, and the recalls of three school board members, District Attorney Chesa Boudin and, potentially, Joel Engardio.
At rallies and public meetings, recall supporters argue that Chinese voters have been taken advantage of, and that elected officials take the Chinese community for granted.
“A lot of people feel like, ‘Well, we’ll use them for their votes, but that’s all we really need to do at this point,’” said Ross.
“Time and again, candidates in the city have come to the Chinese community when they need votes,” said Wilson Chu of the Chinese American Democratic Club, which supports the recall, in late August. “But when it comes to policy, when it comes to listening to our concerns and our voices, too often we are ignored.”
And it doesn’t help when Chinese voters don’t see enough representation for their liking at City Hall, especially for the more conservative voters: Currently, there are just two Chinese American supervisors, both progressive-leaning.
At a rally in support of the recall in early September, Sandra Lee Fewer, a former progressive District 1 supervisor and Chinese American, was the only current or former elected official present. Fewer said she does not align with some recall supporters politically, but was delighted to be there.
“They’re willing to hold their elected officials accountable,” she said. “which is something I think that they haven’t done in the past.”
We went through this with The Embarcadero Freeway after the 89 quake.. Business in Chinatown wanted the freeway built back the worst way, they raised such a stink over it… I’m glad they didn’t win, just look at the Embarcadero today, an amazing public space.
That’s going to happen with Sunset Dunes, I live in the Mission but I bike over to Sunset Dunes often… You see all walks of life/San Franciscans enjoying the space. Cars don’t belong there.
I feed bad for Engardio they shouldn’t have elections on odd dates like this. All elections should be held the normal dates that people are used to, in November and June.
The Great Highway always had a path along the entire length that the few dozen or so daily users had no problem with. It was and is the safest thoroughfare in SF, and eliminating it put 20-25 thousand cars per day on poorly regulated narrow residential avenues, some even lacking stop signs at intersections. He lied, he put his constituents at risk, and he undermined CA laws that exist to stop this kind of late-night last minute privatizing of the public commons – All with Billionaire dark money, and having secret meetings with Google lawyers that he lied to try to scrub from the official record, a crime.
Engardio is a liar, a criminal, and an embarrassment. His next job will be equally worthless, the man is nothing but a sellout and a parasite to his constituency.
“they shouldn’t have elections on odd dates like this. All elections should be held the normal dates that people are used to, in November and June.”
But for a recall, time is of the essence. If he has to go, and I think he should, then he should go ASAP.
I wonder how much of the hostility towards Engardio, is really towards the 2550 Irving affordable housing project, but they don’t want to say it out loud. I heard a lot of objections and bias against “poor” people and worry about lower property values as a result, and Engardio supported the project.
Non-trivial, that’s for sure.
This was part of the propaganda used on Gordon Mar as well, with “slums in Sunset”.
That’s the “nice” way of putting it.
Recallers are indeed using a slew of local issues, so I’m not surprised.
They also aren’t happy with Lurie right now with the Westside rezoning, so I’d see the recall sort of hand in hand as a warning to Lurie, given his response on the recall, is taking the hint.
Then Supervisor Gordon Mar had the courage (and the class) to hold a number of public community meetings to listen to his constituents; they were very charged public meetings with lots of yelling and blaming. Joel Engardio would rather meet with Todd David and the Astroturf groups that fund him (GrowSF, TogetherSF, Neighborsfor a BetterSF etc.) than listen to his home constituents. There’s a reason why billionaires Chris Larson, Peter Thiel and Michael Moritz funded the proposition that would eliminate district specific supervisors and make them all generalists, who would be accountable to no one.Follow the $$
You forget he personally stripped ADU’s of rent control protections. The entire reason ADU’s exist as an expedited program was to provide low income renters additional opportunities, and he took that and cashed it out for developer interests instead. He’s a thief and a liar. The project on Irving both predated him and had nothing to do with him personally. He’s also pushing for razing rent controlled long term housing and putting up corporate controlled condo towers. The Sunset demands better and will get better without that dishonest parasitic PR machination. Good riddance, no more liars, thanks.
D4 sucks, so glad I moved out. Nobody hassles me about parking in “their” spot on a public street anymore…
Enjoy lovely Marin, free from cyclist whiner problems…
The solution seems simple: take away their cars. They make a mess of the city and we should be investing in public transit anyway.
Cars don’t belong there? On the HIGHWAY? We know where cars belong in your world. The scrap heap. Delusional
Okay, so elect somebody who has an Asian name like Wang, problem solved … but make sure the Asian isn’t a Republican.
It has nothing to do with “being asian” and everything to do with being a liar.
This entire article is about being Asian. Racial block voters who do as they are told.
Except they didn’t, they stood up to Joel Engardio, a shameless liar who pretended to support local interests but didn’t.
They bucked the punk. It has nothing to do with him being asian or not, or even them being asian or not – Don’t lie to people.
The article is misguided. Nobody is a bloc, until you lie to them.
NOW WE ARE – and they can “stand with Joel” somewhere else.
Take note newbie supervisors Danny Sauter and Bilal Mahmood. Instead of making Insta and FB posts about music festivals, awards ceremonies and Labubu/Mario store grand openings, a district supervisor’s primary job is meeting with and listening to their constituents at town halls and engaging with us to attempt solutions and to problem solve. Bottom up. Not top down.
The recall is not about race. It is about Joel’s betrayal of those he swore to represent.
The recall is about a democratically elected district representative and supervisor betraying/not listening to his home district’s constituents. Engardio chose his donors, real estate developers and Tech billionaires over the people who elected him to represent their D4 neighborhoods and communities.
Exactly factly.
The Sunset became more white during the pandemic and there’s a distinct vibe of neighborhood change. Some corners remain staunchly Chinese but on others, there’s a vibe of millennial hipster, now with ebikes. Prop K, the recall— it’s not about “traffic”. Recallers have spent far more time on this than they will ever lose in increased travel time. It’s about who gets a say in the neighborhood, who counts, what counts as “mine” vs “all of ours”. California has always proclaimed the coast belongs to all of us and also, California always wanted to keep those who look different away. The “no building in the mission” ballot prop in 2015 failed city-wide but passed in the Mission. The recall will probably win, and the Sunset will keep fighting this battle no matter who Lurie appoints.
Nobody, Chinese Black Purple or Inside out enjoy being lied to.
The man is a liar. He takes his constituency entirely for granted and lies.
Enough. Whether he’s out now or in a year, we need trustworthy people.
Hurray for these MODERATE Chinese voters. There’s no such thing as a conservative Democrat. Only one more day until Xmas comes early.
“There’s no such thing as a conservative Democrat.” – Wrong. Next?
The idea that voting to kick a liar out of office is “conservative” is laughable. If it were so I would have been voting conservative this entire time nonstop.
ENGARDIO IS A LIAR.