Manny Yekutiel ends campaign for SF district supervisor amid new allegations, denies sex assaults

SAN FRANCISCO - Manny Yekutiel has ended his campaign for San Francisco's District 8 supervisor, but is not admitting to having "assaulted anyone" after new allegations of sexual assault surfaced following an initial sole accuser over the summer. 

New sexual assault allegation

Calls for the community organizer and café owner with big political aspirations to drop out of the D8 race, which includes the Castro neighborhood, became all but insurmountable for the front-runner who started his day with the endorsement of San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and outgoing D8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman. Those endorsements are no more following a day of rapid developments. 

Yekutiel issued a statement late Thursday afternoon following The San Francisco Standard's report that he had assaulted a gay couple at a Pride event in 2023. Yekutiel says he does not recall groping a man outside his pants and then groping the man's partner inside his pants at The Midway SF event. The report says Yekutiel had a date with this new accuser two years prior, but that the groping in this instance was unwelcome and Yekutiel was told to stop. 

In his statement, Yekutiel said some of what is being said about him is "fundamentally untrue." He apologized for the "boundaries that I crossed."

"I'm going to take time to work on myself," the statement reads. He adds, "Moving through the machinery of San Francisco’s politics has left me with very little light left in my heart." 

His statement concludes by saying his campaign may be ending, but his work to "help build a better San Francisco has only begun." 

Prior allegations 

KTVU previously reported on another story The Standard broke in June about a former Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club board member, Brad Chapin, who claimed Yekutiel groped him at a party in a Mission District home in 2020. The news outlet had also obtained text messages composed by Chapin to a friend from six years ago, where Chapin says, "Manny just sexually assaulted me." 

Yekutiel at the time denied the allegations. In addition, charges were never filed. He is not facing criminal charges over the new allegations either. 

Losing endorsements 

Despite the initial allegations, the San Francisco Democratic Party endorsed Yekutiel over the summer. Perhaps even more notably, Mayor Lurie, who co-founded the nonprofit Civic Joy Fund with Yekutiel prior to becoming mayor, stood by his side, until now. 

Lurie endorsed Yekutiel in September. In the mayor's statement, he said he believed he was the best candidate to represent District 8. 

"My endorsement is a statement of my confidence in someone’s character and leadership, and in light of the additional accounts reported today, I am withdrawing it," Lurie said. "Coming forward is hard and these survivors deserve to be heard, and treated with dignity and respect."

Lurie said he would not be making any more endorsements in this race and that it would be up to the voters of the Castro, Noe Valley, and Glen Park to decide. 

The San Francisco Democratic Party said they would "reconsider its endorsement" in light of these new allegations. They will hold a special Oct. 11 meeting. 

"Our endorsements must reflect the values of the Democratic Party, and San Franciscans deserve to have confidence in the process behind them," Party Chair Nancy Tung said. She would later tell KTVU, the party's bylaws do not provide a process to rescind an endorsement. The party had to give 10-days notice for the special Oct. 11 meeting, which will address this issue, Tung clarified.

The other candidates 

Before he ended his campaign, the other D8 candidates issued a joint statement where they said they would no longer appear alongside Yekutiel at forums and campaign events, including tonight's Cole Valley meet and greet. 

D8 hopefuls Gary McCoy, Darshini Patel and Michael Nguyen called on Manny to end his campaign, but the real pressure was applied when Supervisors Bilal Mahmood, Matt Dorsey, Danny Sauter and Mandelman withdrew their prior support. 

In his statement, Mandelman said Yekutiel had "work to do on himself" and "is not ready to serve as an elected official." 

Heavy hitters entangled in their own political battle against each other aligned on this issue and called for Yekutiel to end his campaign. 

Supervisor Connie Chan, who is running to fill the House seat that will be vacated by Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, said the allegations against Yekutiel are "appalling and the conduct described is reprehensible." 

Her opponent in the race, State Sen. Scott Wiener said this morning that he had never endorsed Yekutiel, but called on him to suspend his campaign, "given the repeated allegations of sexual misconduct and the pattern they represent." 

Wiener was once the D8 supervisor himself. 

The Cole Valley meet and greet was held at Wooden Coffeehouse. It was a full house with people on the waiting list. The other candidates shared their reactions to the day's turbulent developments. 

"Surprised. Disappointed. Incredibly sad for everyone involved," said McCoy, who is the Pelosi-backed candidate. He said his priorities are housing, vibrant merchant corridors and public safety in the neighborhoods. 

"It's about time. I've always stood by survivors and I stand by survivors," said candidate Patel. "We need to hold people accountable." 

She said her priority would be to follow through on how to get things done, but didn't offer specifics. 

Nguyen said it's a different race without Yekutiel. 

"I'm really glad he stepped aside and is taking care of his health," he said. "Look, now the District 8 voters have a real opportunity to get to know us." 

He said his priorities were building housing for working families and housing that is affordable. 

What's next:

The voters are left to decide who will lead the district as the election is a little more than four weeks away. 

KTVU's Amber Lee contributed to this report.

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