Gary McCoy will be the next District 8 supervisor, or at least Nancy Pelosi seems to think so.
The speaker emerita joined McCoy, her former aide, on Thursday to canvass homes in Dolores Heights, one of the half-dozen neighborhoods that make up District 8.
Five days ago, Manny Yekutiel’s campaign imploded after the San Francisco Standard published two new sexual assault allegations. McCoy is now the presumed front runner.
“It’s clear he’s going to be the supervisor,” Pelosi told reporters today, after finishing up a conversation with a voter. “I am so happy.”
Neither Pelosi nor McCoy dwelt on the allegations against Yekutiel — Pelosi said she felt “sad, because I like elections just to run on where you are on the issues. It’s tragic all around.”
But on the campaign trail it was business as usual, and the joint canvassing “was scheduled a while ago,” Pelosi explained.
“This is when I was going to be in town because I’m all over the country to win the House for the Democrats.”
McCoy acknowledged that he has benefitted from Yekutiel’s withdrawal, pointing to “additional endorsement meetings” since. On Monday, McCoy announced he was the pick of over a dozen new politicians, including several city supervisors and former District 8 supervisors Scott Wiener and Bevan Dufty.
The District 8 race is still a three way contest between McCoy, drag queen and patent attorney Michael Nguyen, and former DoorDash and Obama White House employee Darshini Patel. But McCoy has the most money and more institutional backers, and before Yekutiel withdrew he was presumed to be in the No. 2 slot.
Pelosi was eager to talk about why she was excited for a future Supervisor McCoy.
“One of the things that first attracted me to Gary years ago was his help for people who needed to transition from addiction,” she said. “He’s been a model on that.”
McCoy struggled with addiction in his 20s, but 15 years ago he got sober and found his way into government service. He served as an aide to Wiener and then-supervisor London Breed, before joining Pelosi’s office.
Later, he worked for HealthRIGHT 360, which provides mental health, addiction, medical and dental services. Because of his support for harm reduction services like clean needle distribution, he is often targeted by those in city circles focused on drug abstinence above all else. He has a close relationship with Supervisor Matt Dorsey, though, who is also in addiction recovery and is one of the biggest proponents of an abstinence-first drug policy.
Dorsey ranked him his No. 1 choice even before Yekutiel’s departure.
Pelosi said she would be excited “to have someone in office who has had the experience, overcome the challenge, and recognizes and appreciates the challenge other people have.”
“Getting through [addiction] needs strong public policy that does not demonize it,” she said.
For his part, McCoy attributed his understanding of healthcare to the former speaker. His behavioral healthcare plan calls for expanding mental health and addiction treatment at San Francisco hospitals and creating more treatment beds for those trying to recover, among other measures.
Between answering reporter’s questions and posing for pictures with passers-by, Pelosi’s hour knocking on doors with McCoy went quickly, and soon they were on to their next engagements.
But before leaving, Pelosi acknowledged that the race now seems to be in the bag for McCoy.
“Congratulations, Gary,” she told him.
