Congressional hopefuls Wiener, Chan and Chakrabarti to face off in candidate forum Wednesday night
State Senator Scott Wiener, San Francisco City Supervisor Connie Chan, and Saikat Chakrabarti, the three candidates running to replace Nancy Pelosi in Congress
SAN FRANCISCO - The candidates vying to replace Nancy Pelosi as the representative for California’s eleventh congressional district will on Wednesday night meet for their first candidate forum.
The event will be hosted at UC Law San Francisco, at 198 McCallister Street, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
The forum will give voters their first opportunity to hear the candidates — State Senator Scott Wiener (D-11), San Francisco City Supervisor Connie Chan and Saikat Chakrabarti — make the case for why they should be elected to the office Pelosi held for nearly 40 years.
The forum will be moderated by Bay Area Reporter News Editor Cynthia Laird and Mission Local Managing Editor Joe Eskenazi. Those residents who can’t attend in person can watch online, or they can view the forum on a livestream at The Beer Hall, on 34 Mason Street.
The Candidates
Former Silicon Valley engineer Chakrabarti was the first candidate to throw his hat in the ring. He announced his intention to challenge Pelosi last May, 21 months before the 2026 midterms, and well ahead of Pelosi’s November announcement that she would retire from Congress.
Chakrabarti made his political bones working with well-known progressives. He worked on Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, and helped recruit and guide Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to victory in 2018. He went on to serve has her chief of staff.
State Senator Scott Wiener announced in October that he would challenge Pelosi for her seat. He has represented San Francisco in the state senate since 2016. Prior to that he served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
Wiener has said that if elected he intends to push progressive policies while working across the aisle. He has touted his relationships with his Republican colleagues in the state senate as evidence of his ability to work outside party lines.
Supervisor Connie Chan announced her candidacy shortly after Pelosi made it known she would not seek re-election. Chan was elected to represent District 1 in 2020, but has spent two decades in public service.
She serves as the budget committee chair on the Board of Supervisors, and has said her background has given her the skills and experience to fight back against President Donald Trump’s attacks on immigrants, the LGBTQ community, people of color, and the working class.