It’s 12 days until the primary on June 2, and there’s a lot of election news: billionaires and business groups dropping six-figure sums on local races, candidates dropping seven-figure sums into their own races, and Jeopardy-themed flyers landing in mailboxes, among many, many others items.
Mission Local is running a pre-election blog for these small(ish) pieces of news.
PAC in favor of two-state solution for Israel-Palestine backs Scott Wiener
J Street Action Fund announced today that it will spend $60,000 on an ad campaign boosting congressional candidate Scott Wiener.
J Street describes itself as “pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy” and has positioned itself as a middle ground between the Democratic Party’s AIPAC-backed, hardline pro-Israel faction and its pro-Palestine progressive wing. The group says that it will support candidates who are concerned about the current direction of the Israeli government but that they must believe in the existence of a Jewish Israeli state.
Wiener has similarly tried to walk the line on Israel-Palestine. While he has been a frequent critic of the Netanyahu government and violence in Gaza and the West Bank, at a January debate he declined to take a stance on whether Israel’s actions in Gaza constituted a genocide. The non-answer sparked backlash across social media, and four days later Wiener released a video saying that he now does believe it’s a genocide.
“Scott Wiener will be a powerful voice in Congress for Americans who believe Israelis and Palestinians alike deserve freedom, safety and equal rights,” said Tali deGroot, J Street’s vice president of political and digital strategy.
In February, J Street Action Fund announced that it had raised $3 million for the 2026 election cycle.
For more on Scott Wiener’s stance on Israel, Palestine, and other foreign policy issues — plus those of the other two leading candidates, Connie Chan and Saikat Chakrabarti — read our Q&A here.
– Io Yeh Gilman
Anti-worker PAC spends for Supervisors Alan Wong and Stephen Sherrill
California Alliance of Family-Owned Businesses has fought an increase in state minimum wage, objected to an act requiring employers to give workers written notice of their rights, and opposed a bill limiting workplace surveillance.
Now, its spending in favor of District 4 candidate Alan Wong and District 2 candidate Stephen Sherrill, Junyao Yang writes.
Read more in our piece “S.F. supervisors Alan Wong, Stephen Sherrill backed by anti-worker PAC.”
— Io Yeh Gilman
Google co-founder dumps $500K to defeat “Overpaid CEO tax”
Sergey Brin, the Google co-founder whose turn to the right — and “MAGA girlfriend” — the New York Times recently profiled, has made his first foray into San Francisco politics.
Brin dropped half a million dollars to tank the union-backed “Overpaid CEO tax.”
The campaign against that tax was already flush: It had raised some $4.1 million when Mission Local last published a fundraising update just two weeks ago, and its total is now over $6 million.
Brin is not the only one:
- Amazon contributed $150,000 on May 20. That’s on top of $50,000 contributed earlier in February.
- Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, the group we once referred to as the 800-pound gorilla of San Francisco politics, put in $550,000 on May 12. In total the group has given $860,000 against Prop. D
- “SF Believes,” a PAC funded by Mayor Daniel Lurie’s wealthy allies that counts a MAGA megadonor among its financiers, has put in $100,000.
- Target chipped in $50,000.
- And Katherine Auguste-deWilde, the former president of the now defunct First Republic bank, donated $50,000.
Read more about why the mayor opposes both Prop. C and Prop. D and where virtually every other elected official stands on Prop. D.
– Kelly Waldron
Saikat Chakrabarti drops another $1.1 million into his campaign
Congressional candidate and centimillionaire Saikat Chakrabarti spent another $1.1 million on his campaign, at least. That brings his total self-financing to at least $5.9 million. By Thursday evening, we’ll know more; that’s the next congressional campaign finance filing deadline.
– Kelly Waldron
Major congressional endorsements drop
While Nancy Pelosi endorsed District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan, on Monday, Chakrabarti had his own endorsement to tout this week: Rashida Tlaib, U.S. representative for Michigan’s 12th District and longtime member of the “Squad,” endorsed Chakrabarti’s campaign.
Read more about Pelosi’s endorsement of Chan here.
— Kelly Waldron
Do District 2 voters care about corruption allegations?
We wrote this week about how corruption allegations that surfaced regarding District 2 Supervisor Stephen Sherrill’s appointment are not making waves among district voters — not yet at least.
Read more in our piece “Stephen Sherrill’s appointment has drawn corruption allegations. But District 2 voters are shrugging it off.”
— Kelly Waldron
The two state solution is just a phrase that keeps the Pro Israel crowd talking and talking and talking — for 50 years talking about this — it will NEVER HAPPEN…a one state solution — democratic state for all who live there is the only solution — Two state is dead, has been dead and whoever talks about it is LYING — they KNOW IT IS DEAD.
This version of Israel = Apartheid, not a true democracy, not a real ally.
This is a very misleading headline. J Street, the organization that donated to Scott Wiener, was set up specifically to oppose AIPAC. It is the political home for Jews, who oppose the Netanyahu regime.
When palestians get representation that doesn’t call for the outright persecution of all Jews, things might progress. This is likely never going to happen and these two groups of people will go on fighting for centuries more.
The persecution of all Jews line you presumably reference comes from the 1988 Hamas charter and is oft-cited, as Dorsey did in his recent resolution. A couple things to keep in mind: “al-Yahud” is the colloquial term used by Palestinians in referencing Israeli Jews, who the charter authors were likely focused on but in translation comes off even worse, written in English as “the Jew.” And the authors were a few dudes, religous zealots, adherents of the Hadith (where the quote originated), and aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood. Notable author was Sinwar’s mentor, Ahmed Yassin, who was expelled from Ashkelon as a boy. I don’t know his particular story overly well, but most Gazans can trace their ancestry to Ashkelon/ al-Madjal (a Palestinian enclave outside the Jewish portion of the partition plan), which was commandeered during the Nakba with many being put into a fenced camp until they were transferred to Gaza two years later.
The 1988 Hamas charter is a ridiculous document, but context is still important as can’t say if I was Yassin I’d feel much different. The 2017 Hamas document/ revised charter sings a different tune, but it is rarely cited over the preferred ‘kill the Jew’ narrative. Both the original charter and 2017 document are irrelevant to the PA/ Fatah and it’s questionable how familiar young Hamas members are to the charter.
A PAC that is in favour of peace and a two-state solution is not “pro Israel” any more than it is “pro Palestine”.
It is simply taking the same moderate and centrist position that most reasonable people do.
“Pro-Israel” fundamentally means to support Israel as Jewish state. To J Street’s credit, they make this resplendently clear.