The Facts

Nancy Pelosi backed Supervisor Connie Chan over state Senator Scott Wiener to succeed her in Congress. New reporting shows Wiener spent roughly two years trying to reach Pelosi before launching his campaign, with another candidate already competing for the seat.

Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez at The San Francisco Standard reports that Pelosi hadn’t returned his calls. When they finally spoke, Wiener’s allies say he gave her advance notice of his launch. Pelosi’s allies dispute the conversation’s timing and say she wanted him to wait.

The Context

Waiting carried a cost: Saikat Chakrabarti, a wealthy former aide to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, was already campaigning while Pelosi had not announced whether she would retire. His growing campaign helped push Wiener to run, Josh Koehn reported at The San Francisco Standard in October 2025.

The GrowSF Take

This is petty. A congressional candidate should not need the incumbent’s permission to run, and wounded pride is a lousy basis for choosing San Francisco’s next representative.

We endorse Scott Wiener for his governing record. Voters should judge who will deliver for them, not who showed Pelosi enough deference.