To the surprise of almost nobody, Sup. Connie Chan has announced that she’s running for Congress.
In a video posted this morning, Chan describes herself as an immigrant who supports working people—and directly takes on state Sen. Scott Wiener’s approach to allowing luxury housing developers to demolish rent-controlled housing.
Chan talks about building “real affordable housing, not the Sacramento version that destroys our neighborhoods.”
Her entry into the race, which many have expected, sets up an epic race for a powerful seat in Congress that hasn’t been open for 40 years.
Chan has a path to victory: She will have support from labor unions around the country, and will be able to raise all the money she needs. She would be the first immigrant and first Asian to represent San Francisco in Congress.
As the threat of housing demolitions and small business displacement because of Wiener’s legislation hits the Sunset and Richmond, the senator may lose popularity. The progressive vote is now about 25-30 percent citywide, and Chan, who has the endorsements of former Assemblymember Tom Ammiano and former Sup. Dean Preston, will get most of that.
She will also get a lot of the critical Chinese vote. And at a time when the Trump administration is attacking immigrants, sending an immigrant to Congress could have a lot of appeal in San Francisco.
Tech millionaire Saikat Chakrabarti is also in the race, and will run as a former AOC staffer—but his record of supporting the billionaire agenda locally is going to make it hard for him to win progressive votes.
Both Chan and Wiener will oppose Trump, but all politics is local—and on zoning and demolitions, Wiener—who once thought he could walk his way into this seat—may be vulnerable.
There’s also the issue of Pelosi’s endorsement. It’s pretty clear at this point that she’s not going to support Wiener. No way she supports Chakrabarti. If she supports Chan, that could be a game changer.
We’re looking at a wild spring.
