LOS ANGELES — State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-CA) was declared one of the winners in California’s primary election on Tuesday to advance to the general election for the seat held by Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in the 11th Congressional District.
With roughly 49% of the vote counted on early Wednesday morning, Wiener was at 41.3% with 44,479 votes and declared as one of the winners of the primary, according to the Associated Press. Connie Chan, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and Saikat Chakrabarti, a tech entrepreneur and former campaign manager for then-candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are vying for second place and the right to advance to the general election. As of early Wednesday morning, Chan was at 28.6% with 30,853 votes, and Chakrabarti was at 14.9% with 16,093 votes.
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The contest was the first truly competitive race for the Northern California seat in nearly four decades and had a crowded field of 11 candidates.
Pelosi, 86, who is in her 18th term in Congress, is regarded as one of the most powerful women in U.S. political history. She was the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House and was the chief architect of the Affordable Care Act. She did not endorse either Wiener or Chakrabarti, instead opting late last month to back Chan. Two weeks ago, she endorsed Chan. Over the weekend, Pelosi showed up at an event for Chan wearing a T-shirt with “CONNIE” across her chest. Chan also picked up an endorsement from Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA).
Wiener, 56, was elected to the state Senate in 2016, where he wrote more than 100 laws. The Harvard-educated attorney chairs the state Senate Budget Committee and wants to join the new class of Democrats in Congress. He is known around Sacramento for championing LGBT rights, combating climate change, and pushing for fair housing. He made headlines for pushing back against President Donald Trump’s order to send National Guard troops to San Francisco and has consistently said he would be the strongest candidate to challenge the sitting president.
Chakrabarti, a wealthy ex-tech executive and former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), has 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.”
The progressive candidate, who has largely self-funded his campaign, has focused on housing affordability and said his proposals will help San Franciscans from being priced out of the city.
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“The centerpiece of my housing plan is creating a federal financing entity that can directly provide low-cost loans to make sure affordable housing actually gets built,” he said. “It can even do things like spin off public developers to build the housing if private markets won’t do it.”
California’s 11th District covers all but the southernmost neighborhoods of San Francisco.
