Two of the candidates running for Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s congressional seat shared their views on issues facing the immigrant community on Wednesday evening during a forum organized by the San Francisco Latino Democratic Club, alongside other groups.
District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan and Saikat Chakrabarti, former chief of staff to New York City Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, appeared at Brava Theatre in the Mission District for a debate moderated by Marlen Vasquez, an English professor at City College of San Francisco. The theater was mostly empty, with a crowd of about 70 people.
Sen. Scott Wiener, the third major candidate for Pelosi’s seat, didn’t participate in the forum. His absence was highlighted by an empty chair on the side of the stage with his name on it, and a recorded cricket sound effect whenever Vasquez asked the empty chair a question.
Wiener announced in a Feb. 2 social media post that he would not participate in the forum and invited the other candidates to do the same.
“I welcome a candidate forum with SF’s Latino community, but not one spearheaded by an org that refused to hold its leader accountable when he was credibly accused of sexual assault,” he wrote, referencing the allegations against Kevin Ortiz, who recently ended his tenure as president of the Latino Democratic Club and is no longer affiliated with the club.
At the forum, Chan and Chakrabarti — both from immigrant families — emphasized their support for the Latino community; healthcare for all, including undocumented immigrants; and investment in free public education.
Chan said that, as a member of Congress, she would work to expand sanctuary protections across the nation. Chakrabarti proposed hiring more immigration judges for the backlogged immigration court system, expanding the cap on visas, and streamlining the pathway to citizenship. “We need to fix our broken immigration system,” he said.
The two candidates also agreed on defunding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and holding ICE agents accountable if they commit crimes, with Chan saying the Trump administration has been ignoring the rule of law.
“Let’s just take back Congress, and then also take back the White House and making sure that we enforce the rule of law,” she added.
The candidates also agreed on taxing billionaires and stopping increases to the military budget. But while Chan criticized President Donald Trump for his foreign policy, calling him a “threat to our national and global security,” Chakrabarti also emphasized that both parties played a role in the current status quo.
“Trump is using this military state that got developed over decades, and using it for great destruction, but he didn’t create this. He’s just using it,” Chakrabarti said.
On questions about housing for immigrant communities, Chan spoke about the need to expand rental subsidies and build new affordable housing units, citing San Francisco’s Proposition G of 2024 as an example of how she worked on providing rental subsidies at the local level.
“We can continue to support all communities of low income, and all income levels, and including our undocumented community,” she said.
Chakrabarti said that he didn’t believe government programs, like Section 8 vouchers, should be tied to people’s immigration status. He proposed social housing programs to address displacement driven by gentrification.
“In Congress, I will call for a public bank that actually directly finances and builds social housing in places like the Mission,” he added.
When the moderator asked what differentiated the campaigns of the candidates, Chakrabarti emphasized his experience working on legislation in D.C., including the work on the Green New Deal as Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff, and his efforts to remake the Democratic Party.
“I’m trying to build a movement to actually replace what the current Democratic Party establishment is,” he said.
Chan, on the other hand, reiterated that she’s a first-generation immigrant and a working mom, and she understands the struggles of working people.
“We’re also the only campaign that is endorsed by working people,” she said.
In her closing remarks, Chan said she would fight for an agenda that will rebuild the middle class and make life more affordable, citing better wages, better healthcare and better education.
Chakrabarti pointed to ICE activity, artificial intelligence and climate change as examples of issues we are currently facing to stress the importance of the 2026 and 2028 elections, and he underlined, once again, his commitment to changing the system.
Congressional candidates will go through a primary on June 2, and the two candidates with the most votes, regardless of party affiliation, will confront each other in the general election on Nov. 3.
Too bad Scott Weiner, Nancy Tung, Trevor Chandler, Michael Lai, Bilal Mahmood and the SFDCCC “Dems for Change” zealots were silent about their own money man Jay Cheng’s history of sexual assault. Cheng was the head of the Astroturf groupNeighbors for a Better SF(which in recent months has tried to reinvent & rebrand itself as Blueprint, another Astroturf group with Scotty Party Zone Jacobs as its mouthpiece). Weiner and others continue to try to weaponize the issue (and reinvigorate the scandal) by going after a democratic club they disagree with while letting Jay Cheng slide for his history of sexual assault. In doing so, they risk retraumatizing the women who were violated. Gross. Sexual assault by a progressive or a neoliberal is sexual assault. Also: why was the SFDCCC’s performative “sexual assault task force” only comprised of male members? It’s a Yikes Alert.
That’s some weak tea Scott Weiner. He’ll do just about anything to dodge and hide from attending forums hosted by true progressive/pro union and working class political clubs and neighborhood groups. Weiner is a coward. He doesn’t want to answer for his terrible record and selling out to Tech, YIMBY and teal estate commodifiers.
Greeny, given that Wiener’s support derives mostly from the broad backing he gets from the moderate and centrist majority, why would he risk losing that by appearing to be too cozy with left-wing extremists who would never vote for him anyway?
Chakrabarti’s a carpetbagger and Chan is utterly clueless — she’s been an absolute disaster for D1 (i.e., my district).
Thankfully there’s Senator Scott Wiener — hands down the best legislator in CA and an excellent choice to represent SF in Congress
I’m sure a public bank sounds nice, but public banks do terribly under conditions of corruption. San Francisco politics are notoriously corrupt and that’s saying nothing about what’s going on at the federal level. Simply looking at this event, we have an event sponsored by an org that made no real attempt to investigate credible allegations of sexual assault against it’s former president, Kevin Ortiz, who has seemingly found a soft landing as a consultant for Monkey Brains, another sponsor of the event.
I’m a volunteer coach for FIRST Robotics, which was founded by the guy who invented the Segway, who was just discovered to be in the Epstein Files. So, I guess I should drop the volunteer gig, tell the kids to stop learning so I can tell my friends I won’t be associated with them.
That’s what Scott Weiner did here. The loser guy who founded this group wasn’t there, wasn’t involved. You know who was there? People who live and work in this city. People who don’t have piles of money and influence.
And you know why? Because he thinks, “what are they going to do? vote republican?”. He thinks this is wrapped up, and it might be. He’s out courting the real power – “moderates”. People with money and influence.
And he’s probably right. These two aren’t much competition. Chan? She’s pretty awful in general. That that other guy? Seriously? He talks a wonderful game, but you know what? If I had hundreds of millions in the bank, I’d probably do more for my community than talk a good game and ask for votes. I’m not saint, but I’m involved in my community, I donate about 20% of my time and income. I’ve got foster kids, coaching jobs, my wife’s on 2 PTA boards. Even my KIDS (all in public school) volunteer. And yet, I seriously don’t think I’m good enough to represent this city.
Think about it. What has this centi-millionaire done with his money and influence to make San Francisco better, and is it 20% of his time, money and influence – or is it just a show?
Ugh. I’m so disappointed with the ruling class here. I’m tired of living blocks away from billionaires and centi-millionaires who have fancy fund-raiser parties and private galas to talk about how liberal they are, while I walk over homeless people on my way to work each morning, just down the hill from their private estates. I’m tired of it.
All three candidates are feckless self-promoters. Hardly a worthy successor to Speaker Pelosi.