California state Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat, one of President Donald Trump’s most outspoken critics, is expected to announce a bid for the congressional seat held by Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) next week.
Wiener, 55, has already laid some of the groundwork for a run, raising $1 million through an exploratory committee. However, the timing of his announcement has shifted. He had previously indicated he would wait for Pelosi to step down before making any type of public announcement.
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Pelosi, 85, who is in her 18th term in Congress and regarded as one of the most powerful women in U.S. political history, has not indicated whether she will run again.
Instead, she is focusing her energy on helping pass Proposition 50, a controversial redistricting ballot measure that could give Democrats a five-seat advantage during next year’s midterm elections. California voters will decide in a Nov. 4 special election whether they want to keep the current congressional map or change it through 2030. The push to change the map was the direct result of Trump telling Texas to redraw its map to give Republicans a five-seat boost.
The decision to move up Wiener’s announcement was influenced by the emergence of progressive candidate Saikat Chakrabarti, a software engineer who was Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) chief of staff. Chakrabarti was able to draw more than 700 people to a rally in San Francisco’s Mission District, where he launched his campaign earlier this month. He has put more than $700,000 of his money into the race.
Chakrabarti said Democrats are craving a generational change and need a “new kind of leader who is not a part of the establishment, because the establishment has failed us.”
Chakrabarti’s campaign released a poll last month that showed 65% of registered voters, including 51% of Pelosi supporters, believe the city needs new congressional leadership.
Wiener, a Harvard-educated attorney who chairs the state Senate Budget Committee, wants to be part of the new class of Democrats. He is known around Sacramento for championing LGBT rights, combating climate change, and pushing for fair housing. Most recently, he made headlines for pushing back on Trump’s recommendation to send National Guard troops to San Francisco.
“San Francisco neither needs nor wants Trump’s private army on our streets,” Wiener said. “Any such deployment would be a massive waste of taxpayer dollars and yet another step toward authoritarianism. And contrary to Trump’s lie, no ‘government officials’ here have requested federal occupation. Under the leadership of our mayor, district attorney, and police chief, crime is down in San Francisco. Our city is coming back. We don’t need Trump’s authoritarian crackdown in our city. Bottom line: Stay the hell out of San Francisco.”
Wiener has to convince voters that he is the best candidate for the job in a race that could be the most competitive one the area has seen in decades.
“It’s been no secret that Senator Wiener has been looking at Speaker Emerita Pelosi’s congressional seat, given the overlap in representation and his prolific legislative track record working on frontier tech regulation and expanding access to housing — two significant and high-profile issues in California,” Jeff Le, managing principal at 100 Mile Strategies, told the Washington Examiner. “He has a war chest of money that would make him competitive for both 2028 and 2026. But Speaker Emerita Pelosi’s daughter Christine, a national Democratic surrogate and strategist, has also been eyeing a run and would represent a significant hurdle for the senator if the Speaker Emerita endorsed her. Party rank-and-file still reliably line up when she speaks, and the political clout has not dissipated.”
California Democratic strategist Steven Maviglio also warned that if Pelosi decided on another run, it would be tough to beat her.
“Toppling Nancy Pelosi will be a decidedly uphill battle,” he told the Washington Examiner. “Few will want to cross her by endorsing her opponent or making contributions. Wiener is an appealing candidate with a solid legislative record. But defeating Pelosi, the patriarch of San Francisco politics and a national hero to many Democrats, is a tall order.”
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Christine Pelosi did not respond to a request for comment.
California does not hold a traditional Democratic primary but holds a vote in which the top two candidates, regardless of party, advance to the general election.
Pelosi won 81% of the vote last November.
