San Francisco’s Sunset District welcomed its newest representative, Alan Wong, on Monday — its third supervisor since October.
As Mayor Daniel Lurie swore Wong in, the crowd reflected the 38-year-old’s political journey: While his early political life was marked by progressive positions, allies and endorsements, the hundreds gathered for the occasion were largely moderates, often allies of the mayor.
Many who witnessed his ascent described Wong as hard to pin down.
“He hasn’t been consistent,” said former District 1 Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer.
Wong was elected to the City College Board of Trustees in 2020, and reelected in 2024, with the backing of the union representing college workers. He worked as an aide to former progressive District 4 Supervisor Gordon Mar from 2019 to 2023.
In 2024, he supported Free City College in 2024, but also backed Catherine Stefani, who had voted against it, in her successful run for State Assembly race.
Wong originally supported Danny Sauter, a moderate, in District 3, but backed progressive candidate Chyanne Chen in District 11.
In 2025, Wong ran as part of a pro-development slate to be elected as a delegate to the California Democratic Party.
“We kind of don’t know how he’ll vote on things,” Fewer added.
Wong had a history of working with progressives and receiving union backing early in his career. In 2020, while running for City College Board, Wong wrote in a questionnaire that 25 percent of the San Francisco Police Department’s budget should be reallocated to housing, homeless services, social workers, health and education.
He also wrote that his campaign would not accept any donations from law-enforcement unions or associations.
But Wong also sat on the board of the law-and-order group Stop Crime SF, which has argued in support of reduced police oversight and longer sentences for drug offenses.
On Monday, at Wong’s former high school, Abraham Lincoln High, Lurie mentioned that he and Wong have a “shared” public safety stance, and Wong said that he supports a fully-staffed police department.
Wong also said he voted “No” on Proposition K, the citywide ballot measure that closed the Great Highway to cars — and which angered District 4 voters enough to recall Wong’s predecessor, Joel Engardio.
At the swearing-in, Wong declined to say whether he would support another citywide ballot measure that would seek to reverse that decision.
Wong plans to vote in support of Lurie’s upzoning plan — also unpopular with District 4 residents — tomorrow, he said. But, he added he will, at the same time, “follow through with legislation and potential amendments.”
‘Both sides don’t trust him‘
David Ho, who has known Wong since the latter was a student at Lincoln High, and who consulted on Wong’s 2020 run for City College Board, said these shifting allegiances mean that today, “both sides don’t trust him.”
Ho met Wong when he was serving as a student delegate on the Board of Education, and remembered him as a working-class kid who was being mentored by progressive community leaders, like former Richmond District supervisor Eric Mar, the twin brother of Gordon Mar.
Wong is the son of immigrants from Hong Kong. His father worked as a chef in a unionized hotel. Wong grew up in the district he is now supervisor of, which is home to one of the highest concentrations of Asian voters in the city.
And yet, many in the Chinese community “don’t really know him,” said Fewer, pointing to Wong’s infrequent mentions in Chinese newspapers and absences at many Chinatown events.
Donald Luu, president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, showed up at the swearing-in and appeared to support the appointment.
“I think District 4, right now, is in a good place with Alan Wong as your supervisor,” Luu told the crowd.
Wong’s address to the district implied, however, that he thought it could do with some improvement.
“I’m stepping up to be District 4 supervisor because I believe in the Sunset and San Francisco can thrive again,” Wong said at the ceremony. “For too long, the Sunset community has felt that local government is more of a burden imposed on them than a valuable service. I’m here to change that.”
Prior to the appointment, Wong worked in San Mateo as a legislative aide. He also worked as a union organizer for United Healthcare Workers West from 2013 to 2019, and as communications director at the Children’s Council of San Francisco since 2024.
Gordon Mar, Wong’s former boss, said Wong has not shown the “level of honesty and clarity” the Sunset needs.
“I respect Alan, and worked closely with him for years, but District 4 is in the middle of major fights over the Great Highway and Mayor Lurie’s sweeping upzoning plan. I’m disappointed that Alan still hasn’t told the public where he stands,” said Mar in a text message before Monday’s ceremony.
Chinese American voters, in particular, were a major force behind the recall of former Supervisor Joel Engardio, and have been outspoken in their opposition to Lurie’s upzoning plan.
(Nearly) the last candidate standing
The appointment of Wong appears to conclude the debacle that followed Engardio’s Sept. 16 recall. Mission Local is told that a number of potential candidates either refused the appointment or took themselves out of the running.
Lurie’s first appointment, on Nov. 6, was Beya Alcaraz, a small business owner.
But she resigned after only eight days following news reports of appalling conditions at her former pet shop and text messages, published by Mission Local, in which she wrote of paying workers “under the table,” skimping on taxes and writing off nights on the town as business expenses.
During the ensuing public process to name her successor, one candidate was knocked out after Mission Local reported that she’d missed voting in nine consecutive elections and was, until recently, a registered Republican.
On the eve of Wong’s appointment, Mission Local revealed that another finalist had “plain forgot” to file tax returns for his publicly funded nonprofit.
Wong, for his part, said Lurie “never asked me to commit to any specific policy position. He has told me that we understand that there will be disagreements.” At this, Lurie grinned.
Lurie likely has enough votes to upzone District 4 — and much of the rest of the city — even without Wong. The zoning plan is expected to get at least six votes at the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
Supporting the mayor’s plan will likely be a drawback when Wong runs for re-election in 2026.
Still, at his swearing-in, Wong repeated Lurie’s talking points on the zoning plan: “If we don’t offer our own solution, Sacramento will dictate zoning for us, and we will lose local control, which is unacceptable.”
“We need more housing options for our community, so the next generation of Sunset families can call this place home like I did,” Wong continued.
At the Monday swearing-in, Lurie kept things upbeat. “Today marks a new chapter for the Sunset,” he said, to the huge crowd of city elected officials, representatives of different community organizations, journalists, and District 4 residents.
“This district needs a supervisor who can be a strong, steady voice on the issues that matter most,” Lurie added. “With Alan Wong as the supervisor, District 4 will have that voice.”
I’ve talked to Alan a couple times while organizing. Not incredibly charismatic and couldn’t really convince me he was for or against anything in particular. He’s pretty good at repeating talking points if you can give him a good enough reason. Didn’t strike me as thinking too critically about the topics we were discussing. All in all, pretty wet towel vibes. Perfect for Lurie. Not too great for the sunset I guess. A good placeholder until the next election ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I got the same impression when I had to interact with him professionally on an issue that required him to take a position as a City College trustee.
“Ho met Wong when he was serving as a student delegate on the Board of Education, and remembered him as a working class kid who was being mentored by progressive community leaders, like former Richmond District supervisor Eric Mar, the twin brother of Gordon Mar.”
I met Alan around the same time and have observed that he has no distinct, consistent politics at all, which is typical of the political class careering through the revolving door between city political staff, nonprofit, public sector labor and back.
One reason why so many residents who had been involved in progressive politics back when it had a critical mass have backed off is because we invest volunteer time in these candidates who get elected and invest in aspiring members of the political class who jettison the politics that gave them a boost for the political class’ baseline.
This idea that supporting Eastern Neighborhoods upzoning in 2008 with minimal protections for Black and brown tenants was “progressive,” but supporting Lurie’s almost identical upzoning with greater protections for whiter and more Asian American tenants is not “progressive” is a fabrication of the political class that really needs some ‘splaining.
The narrative of black and brown vs. Asian and white, equating Asians with white is troublesome, especially in light of the Anti-Asian hate. Plenty of low income working class Asian and white residents in the Eastern neighborhood suffer from similar fate. It’s more a class rather than race thing.
As the newly-minted D4 Supervisor, Alan Wong, could have played it wishy-washy safe, but he stuck his neck out, followed his conscience, did what was undeniably right, and voted YES for more housing and a more vital and fairer future for SF.
The fact that political hasbeens Sandra Fewer and his former boss Gordon Mar are irritated that they can’t pigeon hole him into their failed ideologically-driven world view, speaks volumes for the character of this new young Supervisor and the new leadership he can bring to D4.
My goodness. That Gordon Mar quote is pretty powerful. So no one who’s worked with Wong in the past is willing to vouch for him, and the moderates/conservatives who support him now are clearly doing so out of opportunism. What could go wrong ! The Sunset deserves better.
Natalie Gee is a legit contender. Lurie should have saved us all the trouble and just appointed her. He’d have had more time to find a challenger to fit his politics. But this mayor is clearly not the best strategist (nor can he apparently hire them)
NOT being endorsed by Gordon Mar is a definite PLUS.
Kurt, but D4 is not a “progressive” district. So appointing someone like Gee would not be in the interests of the constituents.
Gordon Mar was a progressive and was very successful there. If you read the article Wong was a Mar staffer. Gee is a progressive in ways that the Sunset mostly agrees with. She’s not a tool for moderate YIMBY developer sellouts like Lurie’s picks have all been.
Sure, Mar won, albeit in a close race. But D4 is not a classical progressive district in the way that D5, D6, D9 and D10 have often or always been.
The west side of the city is moreconservative.
Mar was hardly successful — he failed get re-elected.
His political career is over.
Likewise, Gee will not be successful in D4 either.
Karl, as I am sure you know, gerrymandering by the Breed Democratic machine is what led to Gordon Mar losing.
The ‘fix’ nobody wants is in. We know how he’ll vote.
He puts a good spin on being a lapdog, I’ll give him that.
Massive highrises in the Sunset will be horrible. No parking space for the highrises ????
There should be no more than one highrise in each block at public transit corridor, like Sloat blvd, Taraval St, Noriega St., Lincoln Way, etc.
Congested traffic on 19th Avenue (partially closed now for remodeling) and Sunset Blvd need proper interventions. Great Highway should open on a temporary emergency basis to ease the horrible traffic. The idea of bicycle replace car traffic does not work !
Public safety and supporting the small business are also major issues.
“We need more housing options for our community, so the next generation of Sunset families can call this place home like I did,” Wong continued. These were Breed’s developer approved talking points. The problem is building new housing for average income people in San Francisco does not pencil out -so developers have no motive. The public coffers are also empty – despite Melgar’s wishes. So for now, for the sake of the city and hood, it would be best to work on rent control overhaul and expansion and other market regulatory tools to level the playing field.
Cut all the red tape with excessive wait times, costs of permitting and corrupt inspections. Only then will middle income housing will be built at a cost which makes sense.
Rent control expansion worsens the housing crisis over time.
Brandon, I believe a report just came out showing that streamlining permitting as well other regulations would only have a small impact on the cost of building housing. Materials, labor and interest rates are apparently the culprit. As far as rent control’s impact on affordability? I can agree that it is not the only answer, but it does help a lot for those renters fortunate enough to live in a RC home. The demand for SF real estate (coming from the top of the income ladder and investment entities near and far) is overwhelming our city’s housing market. That is what is pricing out anyone but the wealthiest. There is no way out of the housing affordability crisis until that dynamic is broken up.
Bill M,
You read the report from the City Economist, Ted Egan, incorrectly.
Egan said that the proposed re-zoning, though potentially acceptable the State to satisfy our RHNA obligations, didn’t go far enough by a factor of about 2.5x
Accordingly, we should be up zoning for something closer to 100,000 new homes as opposed to the currently-proposed 38,000.
The ever-escalating cost of housing is not the result of “those at the top of the income ladder” or nebulous “investment entities”, it is due to 5+ decades of entirely self-inflicted, NIMBY-driven, anti-housing policies that have resulted in a chronic housing shortage.
The only effective/long term solution to a shortage is to increase supply.
That is the “dynamic that needs to be broken up”, not your made-up one.
Was not necessarily referring to Egan’s report. There was another recent report explaining the lack of SF housing production being primarily tied to material, labor and interest rate costs – combined with the need for higher paid workers who can afford the exorbitant prices. Upzoning does not solve those issues I hope we can agree. As for who is bidding up the prices to such unaffordable levels? Well, I guess your right. It’s our teachers, muni drivers and hotel workers bidding up the prices of SF homes north of 1.5 million. 🙂
Rent control makes market rate housing affordable to people who’s income is not very elastic and want to find a place to stay.
If I expect my salary to grow at the rate of inflation, but my housing costs can skyrocket at the whims of the market or my landlord, that housing isn’t affordable to me at any price, no matter how much of it there is.
If we build an abundance of rent-controlled housing, the same inevitable market forces should push those prices down, too.
“begforchange”,
Who is supposed to pay for your proposed “abundance of rent-controlled housing”?
Rent control has nothing to do with it. I agree they need to streamline the permit process of course.
The problem is they can write all the laws they want but they can’t force developers to build low-income housing unless they actually find the spine to do that, or fund that. So far neither really.
“Wong’s early political life was marked by progressive positions, allies and endorsements, the hundreds gathered for the occasion were largely moderates, often allies of the mayor.”
Surely it is a natural progression for one to be left-wing and idealistic in one’s youth, and then become more moderate and conservative as one gets older and builds wisdom and experience?
And as for “both sides do not trust him”, I take that as a good sign i.e. that he will think for himself and accept inputs.
@Will – No, that’s not a “natural progression” at all, it’s more of an urban legend, a bromide said by conservatives who try to pass off a betrayal or even the absence of values as “wisdom and experience.”
He’ll accept inputs, then do what Lurie wants.