Holy shit. This is the first open congressional race in our political lives (and for some of us, our ACTUAL ENTIRE LIVES). Sending a capable progressive to Washington will ensure that SF gets our share of federal funds, and install another sane activist to help fight the good fight for the whole country. 

There are three leading candidates in this top-two primary: State Senator Scott Wiener, New Kid on the Block Saikat Chakrabarti, and District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan. 

We are proud to endorse Connie Chan for Congress! Connie immigrated with her family to SF’s Chinatown as a child, cut her teeth as a community organizer, and then worked her way up in politics, maintaining her commitment to social justice the whole way. As District 1 Supervisor, she’s been a champion for renters, small businesses, seniors, and working families in the Richmond. As a smart and thorough Budget Chair, Connie has prioritized vital city services amidst the call to slash spending, and found money to stave off the worst local impacts of Trump’s cuts to health care and food benefits. She has launched progressive initiatives that can be a model for the country: overseeing free City College, funding public transportation and affordable housing, defending tenants and immigrants, protecting the social safety net, and taxing the goddamn billionaires (see Prop D (#PropD)).

Connie’s got a long list of endorsements, especially from progressive labor unions, who are key allies in the coalition to bring power to working families, and who will help her to win. While Connie’s first order of business would be working with other progressive reps to block Trump’s harmful cuts and evil policies, it’s her vision for what government can do for everyday people that we're really excited about.

Scott Wiener is terrible (see every (https://www.theleaguesf.org/Nov_2014#Wiener) voter (https://www.theleaguesf.org/june_2016#Wiener) guide (https://www.theleaguesf.org/march_2020#Wiener) ever (https://www.theleaguesf.org/nov_2020_real#Wiener)). 

Saikat Chakrabarti is new to San Francisco politics, but he worked on Bernie’s campaign in 2016 and ran Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign in 2018, before doing a brief stint as her Chief of Staff in DC. (AOC has rather pointedly not endorsed him in this race.) Before entering politics, Saikat made boatloads of money in tech, and currently runs a national progressive think tank. As a candidate, his focus is on strengthening the national Democratic Party to stand up to Trump, and supporting reforms that will clean up dirty politics in Washington. We are 100% on board with all  that, but Saikat doesn’t have much to say about San Francisco’s specific needs—and he doesn’t have specific ties to communities here that will keep him accountable if elected (and actually, we’re concerned about the ways he has shown up in local politics—mainly through donations to defeat progressives (https://www.phoenixprojectnow.com/phoenix-review/blog/the-mystery-of-saikat-chakrabarti) in recent Supervisor races). It kinda sounds like he could be running this same campaign anywhere: nice ideology, no grassroots activism, just a lot of money to hire canvassers and buy ads. 

But it’s unclear that Saikat’s millions will buy him a victory in the primary, and it’s even less clear that he would win in November without the support of the labor unions and community groups that are backing Chan (and may not throw down for a wealthy tech bro). If Saikat ends up being on the ballot in November we’ll reassess. But for now, It’s a no-brainer: Connie Chan is the only candidate who can beat Scott Wiener* in November and bring San Francisco values to Congress. Let’s send Connie Chan to DC!

Uh oh! According to a news report (https://sfstandard.com/2026/04/30/lurie-s-top-campaign-consultant-departs-political-group-growsf/), Chakrabarti's campaign has provided their paid canvassers with a script (https://assets.nationbuilder.com/theleaguesf/pages/458/attachments/original/1777735220/saikat-canvas-script.jpeg?1777735220) that implies that voters could rank vote both Saikat and Connie Chan to avoid a Wiener victory. This is misleading. The race for Congress is not ranked choice, and marking a #2 candidate will invalidate your vote.

Vote Connie Chan, and only Connie Chan, for Congress!

*Curious why Scott Wiener is terrible? Click through to read our previous (https://www.theleaguesf.org/Nov_2014#Wiener) voter (https://www.theleaguesf.org/june_2016#Wiener) guide (https://www.theleaguesf.org/march_2020#Wiener) writeups (https://www.theleaguesf.org/nov_2020_real#Wiener), but basically: he’s madly pro-cop, (https://sfstandard.com/2026/01/27/scott-wiener-sfpd-cops-union-nancy-pelosi/)  pro-developer, (https://sftu.org/2020/01/16/scott-wiener-takes-more-real-estate-money-than-any-other-politician-in-the-california-legislature/) pro-YIMBY (trickle-down housing (https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/politics/scott-wiener-sf-housing-debates-family-zoning-plan/article_14b8ccb6-d38e-4c5f-8675-50837ae94118.html)) with a gloss of pro-LGBTQ pinkwashing (https://www.instagram.com/p/DAhFdORzC8Q/). Oh, and Weiner lost the California SEIU endorsement because he opposes Prop D, the Overpaid CEO tax (#PropD).

Source (https://www.theleaguesf.org/blog#CD11)

The primary for Governor is a clown car filled with seven mediocre Democrats and two scary Republicans. Because there’s a real chance both slots for the November election could go to Republicans, we urge you to vote strategically. We skipped over some long-shot progressive candidates in favor of a progressive-enough candidate who has the best shot at beating the corporate Democrats now, and winning in November. 

We’re going with Tom Steyer: the straight, white billionaire boomer who’s juuuuust progressive enough. 

At one point we thought about just flipping a coin and choosing between Tom Steyer and Katie Porter. Porter's whiteboard sessions were on point, but we doubt her ability to win: she ran statewide for the U.S. Senate in 2024 and came in third, with only 15% of the vote. As of late April, she’s polling at 9%. Porter was progressive but has moved to the right. While she's gone back and forth on supporting the minimum wage increase, we need someone who will stand firm with workers and everyday Californians. And weirdly enough that's billionaire Tom Steyer.

Tom made his money as a hedge fund trader from 1986 to 2012 profiting off real estate speculation, prisons, and fossil fuels. Since his retirement, he's spent the past 15 years trying to atone for these sins by spending his ill-gotten gains on progressive ballot measures and candidates, with a special focus on climate justice.

We like that Tom has put his money where his mouth is: he has contributed tens of millions of dollars to over a dozen (mostly) progressive statewide ballot measures. In 2016 alone, he spent $10 million to pass progressive laws like Prop 57's juvenile justice and parole reform, and Prop 62's repeal of the death penalty. And just last year, Tom dropped $12 million on Prop 50*, the Democrats’ successful response to the GOP's red state effort to gerrymander the House of Representatives.

In 2013, Tom established the progressive climate change organization NextGen America. Through NextGen, he's spent hundreds of millions of dollars to drive youth voter turnout, finance climate warrior candidates in legislative races, and develop the next generation of climate change leaders. A lot of the climate geeks we trust like Rebecca Solnit (https://www.meditationsinanemergency.com/the-case-for-climate-champion-tom-steyer-in-the-california-governors-race/) and Bill McKibben (https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/clean-energy-needs-actual-champions) are excited about Steyer. The fact that PG&E dropped $10M to oppose him speaks volumes. We love his plans on giving the CPUC a backbone to take on the utilities and build a modern, affordable electrical grid.

Tom is a self-financing candidate, and this would be his first time as an elected official. Super-wealthy candidates don’t have to fundraise for their campaigns, and like to claim this affords them some ‘independence’ from ‘special interests,’ but we all know they can become truly unhinged once they buy their way into office. But an important distinction between Tom Steyer and, say, Mayor Daniel Lurie, is that Tom has already put his money to work against special interests, massively funding important parts of left-aligned movements to address the root causes of homelessness, racial policing, and climate change. (https://www.meditationsinanemergency.com/the-case-for-climate-champion-tom-steyer-in-the-california-governors-race/) And unlike most billionaires, Tom supports California’s proposed tax on people like him.

If Tom accomplishes even one or two of his lofty campaign promises—if he's able to close Prop 13 corporate property tax loopholes to raise money for public schools, achieve single-payer healthcare for all Californians, or fully fund childcare and free community college—these would be huge progressive victories for our state, and help California stand strong to protect people against the shitstorm coming from Washington. Tom has the support of important labor unions like the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) and the California Nurses Association (CNA). Progressive electeds like Ro Khanna, Betty Yee, and Alex Lee are also supporting Tom’s challenge to corporate Democrats. 

With his self-funded campaign, Tom Steyer has the best shot at surviving the circular firing squad that is our Democratic primary for governor. And if Tom makes it into the top two, and continues forward to the November election? Well, he's just progressive enough for that to count as a win for pissed off voters.

Vote Tom Steyer for Governor!

Source (https://www.theleaguesf.org/blog#Governor)

If you haven’t heard of Oliver Ma, that’s because he hasn’t run for office before—he was too busy. And if you have heard of him, that’s probably because you’re a rapid responder dealing with ICE raids in Kern County, or a tenant facing eviction in Boston, or an immigrant farmworker in detention, or any other frontline activist, and you’ve needed his help. 

Oliver has been on the ground for years as a civil rights lawyer, a tenant organizer, and an activist defending rural Californian immigrants and workers, most recently as a lawyer for the ACLU.  He’s an immigrant himself, a graduate of UC Berkeley and Harvard Law. As Lieutenant Governor, Oliver would work to divest the UC college system from apartheid. 

Another great candidate in this race is former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs, who shares our progressive values. The rest of the candidates aren’t so great. We’re backing Oliver because he’s endorsed by the California Democratic Socialists of America, and we’re excited to see DSA start running more and more candidates for office. They move the needle of what’s possible in California, so we’re all in on Oliver.

Vote Oliver Ma for Lieutenant Governor!

Source (https://www.theleaguesf.org/blog#LtGov)