In his first public interview as a congressional candidate, on Monday Sen. Scott Wiener ran through his record of housing and healthcare bills in the State Senate while he inveighed against national Democrats for capitulating to Republicans, defined his limits of U.S. aid to Israel and presented himself as a prolific state lawmaker who could be even more effective on Capitol Hill.
During an interview with Mission Local managing editor Joe Eskenazi to a sold-out room at Manny’s, Wiener said he’s eager to “show national leadership” for a city that’s unique culturally, economically and politically. He denigrated critics who “beat up on us and write our obituary and are obsessed about the closing of a Nordstrom.”
His priorities would include healthcare access; building more housing; transitioning to clean energy; protecting immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community and reproductive health; and all the critical goals “that this administration is tearing down,” said Wiener.
Following the retirement of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, 85, announced last week, Wiener is the front-running candidate for a seat that essentially represents all of San Francisco in Washington, D.C.
Also in the race is Saikat Chakrabarti, a centimillionaire with a tech background who’s best known as the former campaign manager and chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. During his campaign kickoff last month, Chakrabarti drew a young, progressive crowd that included many fans of New York City’s mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani.
Pelosi’s daughter Christine, meanwhile, is now running for Wiener’s soon-to-be-vacant State Senate seat. Wiener said it was too early to say whether he would support the younger Pelosi’s candidacy.
Attitudes on Gaza have been one of the biggest differentiators between Wiener and Chakrabarti among San Francisco voters.
The latter is a vocal critic of Israel who unambiguously accused it of genocide at his kick-off, stating, “If I am elected, I will vote to end all military funding to Israel.”
Wiener has long had a strong pro-Israel stance. Soon after the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, Wiener said in a statement that “Israel has every right to fight back,” while calling on it to “protect as many innocent Gazan civilians as possible.” Two years later, nearly 70,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza.
Last night, Wiener emphasized that his support for Israel had limits.
“I will not support the U.S. selling offensive arms to Israel as long as Israel has a government that’s not committed to peace and democracy,” Wiener said.
He reiterated that he will not accept support from AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby.
“I have, just, a lot of disagreements with AIPAC about this Israeli government, which I think is a disaster, about Israel’s destruction of Gaza and the mass killing and maiming, destruction of the health care and education system,” Wiener said.
In other matters, Wiener offered a strong rebuke to the Democratic senators who crossed the line on Sunday to support Trump’s budget proposal to reopen the government.
It was “terrible” and, basically, the senators “didn’t get anything for it,” Wiener said.
Given that Republicans control all three branches of government, “when we have leverage and we have power, we need to use it,” he added.
Wiener was 17 when Pelosi matriculated to congress in 1987. And he would have to serve into his 90s to duplicate Pelosi’s seniority in Congress, a seniority-based system.
But that system, Wiener said, “needs to be much more flexible” to have more wisdom for making public policy, he said.
In Wiener’s view, Chakrabarti, a passionate 39-year-old, has done “really smart things,” but is deficient in three aspects.
First, Chakrabarti has a limited connection to San Francisco. “Before he was running for Congress, I’m unaware of any local involvement,” said Wiener.
Then there’s Chakrabarti’s lack of policymaking experience, said Wiener. Apart from leading the legislative effort of pushing the Green New Deal, Chakrabarti spent less than a year on Capitol Hill. The 55-year-old state senator, in contrast, has been widely considered as one of the most prolific lawmakers in Sacramento.
He emphasized the need for a coalition builder in D.C. Meanwhile, Chakrabarti is under attack from both the city’s progressives, who distrust him because he helped unseat democratic socialist Dean Preston, and tech moderates, many of whom have been longtime allies with Wiener.
Wiener also appeared ready to face other contenders.
Perhaps consciously echoing a favorite term of Pelosi, when asked about former mayor London Breed’s reported interest in running for Congress, Wiener answered, “come on in, the water’s warm.”
Wiener expects more challenges to materialize, as “this is San Francisco.”
Supervisor Connie Chan, who was endorsed by Pelosi in past races and would enjoy a benefit as the only Chinese candidate in the race, is also weighing a run.
Wiener said he has not had the conversations he’d need to support Christine Pelosi, Nancy’s daughter, who just announced her intention to run for his state senate seat.
If Wiener wins his congressional race, Christine Pelosi will compete in a special state senate election in 2027. Otherwise, the race will be in 2028, when Wiener is termed out.
When Eskenazi noted that San Francisco officials are now overtly using Wiener as a bogeyman to push the city’s upzoning plan on the westside, thereby rendering it awkward for Wiener to turn around and then court these voters in his run for Congress, Wiener countered that his policies are longstanding and unhidden.
“My housing politics have been remarkably consistent for a long time,” he said.
He reminded the audience that his pro-housing stance hasn’t been an issue in the past; he ran on a pro-housing platform in his 2016 race, and won.
Over the last 50 years, California has almost tripled in population, but housing production has declined by about two-thirds, and people started to see “explosive housing costs,” said Wiener. “Sometimes, the Westside gets stereotyped … there are a lot of amazing housing advocates on the west side of San Francisco.”
He believes he can continue his housing advocacy in D.C. by persuading the federal government to partner with states and cities again to build social housing.
But “how does freshman Congressman Wiener, working as one of 538 representatives, some of whom believe the Earth is 6,000 years old, convince the federal government to get back into the social housing business?” Eskenazi asked.
Wiener emphasized that he’s playing the long game. Lots of huge bills took five or 10 years to pass, he said. Maybe longer: “But if you keep pounding your head against the wall long enough, eventually the wall breaks.”
And, Wiener notes, “I have a particularly hard head.”
Anyone but Scott 2026
How odd that Yujie Zhou didn’t mention anything in this article about the very pointed question Wiener was asked by Tish Hyman regarding women’s safety.
It was the most interesting part of the event, and you’re not covering it?
Women’s safety in… Gaza?
I don’t think he cares about that much somehow.
His late PR nonwithstanding, of course. Of course.
Scott stood outside City Hall with the genocidal Israelis and their supporters while we campaigned for a ceasefire resolution. He can never wash away the stain of Gaza.
Wiener is whitewashing his record as an apologist for Israel. The distinction between offensive and defensive military aid is immaterial: the money being spent by the U.S. government at taxpayer expense on weapons, including the Iron Dome, simply empowers Israel to launch offensive military actions against its neighbors (billions of dollars that could have been spent on more pressing domestic needs at home).
Wiener has also repeated unsubstantiated claims of mass rape occurring during the October 7 attack, while remaining conspicuously silent regarding the documented rapes and sexual assaults of Palestinian prisoners, including the sexual assaults of male prisoners at the Sde Teiman prison. The film of Israeli soldiers sodomizing a prisoner in their custody had been leaked after it was made clear that the perpetrators would face no punishment (although the jurist who leaked the video faces imprisonment, as well as death threats, for exposing this war crime).
Wiener is also disingenuous in claiming that AB 715 would not limit the ability of educators to present accurate information regarding the history of Israel and Palestine: under the United States National Strategy to Combat AntiSemitism published by the Biden Administration in May, 2023, any “efforts to delegitimize the state of Israel” are labeled as examples of anti-semitism. Comparing Israel’s actions in Gaza with the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto, for example, would run afoul of the law, as the National Strategy implies adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, which conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism. Educators are likely to avoid providing factually accurate instruction regarding the Nakba, such as the Israeli historian Ilan Pappe’s “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine”, rather than risk their employment.
Wiener has also used his position as a state legislator to attack proponents of BDS as seeking “the destruction of Israel, home to (7 million) Jews”, wildly mischaracterizing a nonviolent movement as genocidal in intent.
Wiener describes his travel as a state legislator to Israel, paid for by the Jewish Community Relations Council, as “important to see with my own eyes the horrors of the October 7 terror attack and to visit with families of hostages. . .” Wiener did not consider it important to see with his own eyes the daily humiliations experienced by Palestinians held up at at military checkpoints on their own land or the continuing attacks by Israeli settlers upon the residents of the West Bank. Nor did he attach any importance to meeting with the families of Palestinians held hostage by Israel, including children who have been imprisoned without anything remotely resembling due process. He chose to meet with the Israeli President who had declared that “It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible” and that “it is not true, this rhetoric about citizens who were not aware and not involved ” in the October 7 attacks. That statement constituted an incitement to genocide.
Wiener understands that, following the election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York, he needs to launder his reputation as an ostentatious supporter of the Israeli state by claiming that AIPAC would not likely donate to his campaign, even though his only declared opponent has already committed to opposing all military aid to Israel. Voters should see through this transparent rebranding. There are already too many Congressional representatives who refuse to accord the lives of Palestinians the same value and dignity as they do to Israeli lives. Wiener is no different from that mold.
Thank you for laying this out so thoroughly. I’ll only add since you didn’t mention it explicitly: the connection to AB 715 is that Wiener co-authored it.
I wish I could support Wiener because on another issue close to my heart, funding for public transit, he has been an effective legislator. But there are other pro-transit politicians, and no amount of additional bus and train service is worth material support for genocide.
If you look at his actual record both MUNI and BART have significantly declined during Scott’s talking point tenure. The high speed trillion dollar joke train is not significantly closer to being reality nor affordable. Insurance has exploded without anyone doing much about it, major infrastructure declines noticeably, but we’re supposed to believe Wiener is a transit and infrastructure wunderkind or something? It’s BS. His record is terrible all around. His housing initiatives only serve to drive up the cost of new construction and thus are gentrification in plain sight. No new insights, just the same old tired talking points and his nasally voice droning on about basic stuff we all know, but which he’s not actually affecting with his policy priorities. He could have built the low-income housing at the state level – did he? Absolutely NOT. He’s a joke.
It’s an AB, so it’s not technically correct that Wiener was an author, but close enough as he co-sponsored it and is co-chair of the Jewish caucus, who pushed it through.
Collin Gallagher is right…nothing to add. Wiener is a bad actor.Wiener is like the old democratic guard..irrelevant.
Irrelevant would be benign compared to parasite gentrifier YIMBY liars pushing top end development at the expense of the working class.
JCRC ingratiates and plies SF politicians, and at the end of the day, despite being more liberal than their AIPAC counterpart, the m.o. and end goal are the same: shore up support for Israel and stymie dissent. What’s the difference between what that guy that ran for D9 supervisor did at AIPAC and what Tye Gregory does at JCRC? Same job description.
Check AIPAC CEO Elliot Brandt explain how politicians are pocketed, bragging about how he got to John Ratcliffe early:
https://youtube.com/shorts/xEp4RTx6tdk?si=mStBft_V4ZWK_gJi
And while JCRC is flying and plying Wiener, they are quick to slap the antisemite label on those who protest his stance, the smear of choice.
> “Targeting a Jewish elected official [Wiener] who has no role in international affairs — and not their colleagues with the same views — is textbook antisemitism.” — JCRC
JCRC will fly any semi-prominent and up Bay Area politician they can to Israel while pretending said politicians’ views on Istael are irrelevant to the project. JFC.
It’s a matter of time before any criticism of Israel as a national entity will be punishable as a crime in the US, as it is in the UK and parts of the EU. This juxtaposed with Israeli war crimes truly gives one pause about the premise of a democratic style of governance.
Agreed it gives one pause on the premise of democracy, plus I’d add it should give one pause on whether or not designating the Israel debate solely as an “international affair” is accurate.
Wiener would have little influence over US foreign policy if he wins, and I doubt that many US voters care that much about Gaza outside of a few college towns and left-wing enclaves.
He will be more successful in DC if he focuses on core issues like housing and the economy, rather than obsessing about narrow ideological distractions.
“and I doubt that many US voters care that much about Gaza outside of a few college towns and left-wing enclaves.”
I doubt you understand young people are 100% of future voters… anyhow Israel’s crimes in Gaza are being paid for with their money too, and nobody I’ve spoken to thinks genocide being committed with their own tax dollars is at all a ‘narrow ideological distraction’ whatsoever. Your narrow distraction attempt from a serious war crime is not particularly well thought out.
I’m voting for Colin Gallagher!
me too!
Did Wiener address how his SB79 is going to displace residents of at least 7 peninsula mobile home parks?
Regardless, I’d vote for a head of lettuce before I would vote for Wiener.
is there truly nobody else? We’ve got a centi-millionare tech bro and the most annoying politician I’ve ever met. There has to be other alternatives.
No thanks GENOCIDE APOLOGIST HASBARA is NOT WELCOME.
From Pelosi to Wiener wouldn’t be just a step down, it would be a catastrophic plunge.
I’m for Jane Kim.
Scott Weiner is a weasel. (my apologies to Weasels) ..he is like all the democratic old guard; he goes where the wind is blowing conveniently. You get paid very well for being a politician, even during a shut down..you got as an elected official the best health care in the country, Cadillac premium plan..Gaza? settlers daily crimes, shooting farmers, destroying farming equipment’s, destroying their farms, their homes? Moving in, destroying cemeteries first, bulldozed their ways into the enclave, aka concentration camps, then all things culturally linked to Palestinians? preventing food from reaching families? torture programs in Israël’s jail? Jewish whistle blower arrested in Israel for leaking documents about it? attacking all the neighbors in the area with our tax dollars paying for those weapons? really Scott, you want to run ?
> “I will not support the U.S. selling offensive arms to Israel as long as Israel has a government that’s not committed to peace and democracy,” Wiener said.
An ambiguous contingency that means nothing. He can’t even say as long as Netanyahu is PM. And as if anything in the Knessett will fundamentally change as the right-wing coalitions are underpinned by an easy majority and ever-increasing demographic. Even the more liberal moderate MPs reject a two-state solution at this point, including Yair Golan.
Great event and great summary. I was there that night. It was a productive conversation all around. I would like to add that a singer named Tish Hyman had an lively exchange with Scot Wiener that has garnered millions of views on social media.
As currently being borne out by the D4 supervisor debacle, having experience in legislature and knowledge of local issues is important. I’m not necessarily a huge fan of Wiener but he is measured, professional and committed to doing the job. So far, Chakrabarti has demonstrated none of the above. Curious to see who else jumps in for this important seat, and I will be watching with an open mind. Wiener has also done well holding his ground against vicious anti-lgbtq+ personal attacks. That’s probably a good baseline skill for anyone considering wading into the Washington morass.
On another note though, he needs to start controlling the visual images of his campaign a little better if he wants to be a serious contender on the national stage. These pics with the dubious art behind him, and the comically low chair, and his resulting slouchy posture are not doing ANYONE any favors.
I would love if one of the local media organizations could hold a debate between all the candidates running for Pelosi’s seat!
Always have loved Scott Weiner. Remember when I had issues with SFUSD over my benefits when I retired. When he was city supervisor, I called his office and spoke to him and then he had his aide Adam, called me and even 6 weeks, after the issue was resolved, someone from his office called me to see if everything was okay. Plus, Scott is visible in the Castro and Noe Valley,and he takes public transportation.
So you’re saying he’s a typical politician. BFD.
Contrast this account with Jackie Fielder, whose office doesn’t even respond to constituents, much less seek to solve issues for them.
JACKIE! Yep, he said it. Why? Who cares.
Everyone drink
Are you confusing District 8 with District 9 intentionally, or is that just an interesting comparison you didn’t intend to make between the politics of pandering to supporters in 1 vs. actually addressing the systemic poverty-related issues in the latter?
Scott Wiener solved no drug abuse, lowered no rents, and straightened out zero criminals. Just for the record, the Castro is not the Mission and the jobs are not as cookie-cutter as the Mandelman types would belie.
ANOTHER FIELDER STAN!
Every time some non-reader brings up Fielder unrelated to literally anything in the article, fill your glass with something strong and drink.
It’s better than trying to argue with the drunks.
“and he takes public transportation” Oooooooh, how amazing.
Senator Wiener is, by far, the best legislator in the entire state of California.
The political space that he has created and advanced with regarding to pro-housing policy is truly outstanding — really excellent work.
I may not agree with every position he takes, but he is undeniably thoughtful and trustworthy and deserves the benefit of the doubt.
He will make an excellent Representative for San Francisco — and California more broadly — at the Federal level.
Truly a generational talent.
He would be best served if he became a lobbyist for developers. He has soooo much experience doing that already.
Jake,
Q: Who created the home that you live in.
A: A developer.
Creating homes is a good thing.
Creating top of market rate condos is not helping the housing crisis that it portends to. It’s a lie and Scott Wiener is one of the biggest liars on the planet for repeatedly claiming that.
A generational talent… for lying, or condoning genocide, or…?
None of his BS policies have resulted in lower housing prices. None.
He’s a joke and so are his non-factual supporters.
What topics weren’t mentioned at this “swimming hole” where the “water is warm?”
For example, was there any mention about the way immigrants and others are being terrorized daily in California?
I noticed someone in this forum lamenting the lack of choices of people to replace Pelosi.
Wiener would be the best replacement because he would doubtless represent the oligarchy as ably as Pelosi did over her career.
Too, he probably has more scruples than Saikat Chakrabarti. Anyone who would be a Democratic Socialist exhibits their mendacity and/or ignorance from the get-go by pretending they are a socialist when they are not. Most wouldn’t know the genuine article if it bit them on the nose!
The drama between Dean Preston supporters and Chakrabarti’s clique isn’t very riveting. Small frogs fighting each other to take a dip in larger pond! Ribbiting?
you said :”For example, was there any mention about the way immigrants and others are being terrorized daily in California?”..really? what about Israel terrorizing everyone in the middle east and Scott being silent about it?