Fourteen politicians announced their endorsement of District 8 supervisor candidate Gary McCoy on Monday following Manny Yekutiel dropping out of the race on Thursday.
“I’m deeply honored to have such broad support from leaders across District 8, San Francisco, and even California – people who don’t always agree with each other, but who agree that we need a steady hand in City Hall advocating for our neighbors,” said McCoy, a former Nancy Pelosi aide.
On Oct. 1, two men accused Manny Yekutiel of sexually assaulting them, joining Brad Chapin, whose accusation was published on June 30. In the hours after Thursday’s allegations were published by the San Francisco Standard, most endorsers pulled their support from Yekutiel, and, soon after, he dropped out.
Now, several politicians who had initially supported Yekutiel, including Supervisors Bilal Mahmood, Danny Sauter and Stephen Sherrill, are endorsing McCoy.
Others are making their first endorsements in the race, including labor activist Dolores Huerta, Supervisors Shamann Walton and Chyanne Chen, and State Sen. Scott Wiener, who was District 8 supervisor from 2010 to 2016.
With Yekutiel out, McCoy is now considered the frontrunner in the race.
And McCoy’s list of supporters may yet grow. San Francisco’s chapter of the Democratic Party is meeting on Oct. 11 to reconsider its endorsement of Yekutiel, which is all but certain to be withdrawn.
Notably missing from McCoy’s new list of supporters are Mayor Daniel Lurie and current District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman. After withdrawing his endorsement from Yekutiel on Thursday, Lurie said he would not make another endorsement in the race. Mandelman, who initially stood by Yekutiel but then later withdrew his endorsement, did not respond to a request for comment.
McCoy had already amassed a number of high-profile endorsements before today, including from Pelosi, San Francisco YIMBY, San Francisco Tenants Union, the San Francisco Labor Council, the Working Families Party, several city supervisors and two LGBTQ Democratic clubs.
