State Sen. Scott Wiener Is Running for Pelosi’s House Seat, Saying ‘It Was Time’

State Sen. Scott Wiener, one of the most effective and prolific legislators in Sacramento, announced Wednesday morning that he is running for the San Francisco congressional seat held by Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi.

It was widely assumed in political circles that Wiener, who has long expressed interest in running for Congress, would wait until Pelosi announced her retirement to launch his campaign. But he told KQED this week he could no longer wait until the 85-year-old Democrat decides whether or not to retire.

“This really isn’t about Nancy Pelosi,” Wiener said. “Nancy Pelosi has moved mountains for the country and for San Francisco, and I think the world of her. She’s not said whether she’s running again and we’re now to the point where we’re just a few months out from the filing deadline. And so it was time to enter the race.”

Wiener, 55, served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for five years before he was elected to the state Senate in 2016. He was reelected twice, in 2020 and 2024.

During his eight years in Sacramento, Wiener has been a leading champion of the pro-housing California YIMBY, or “Yes in My Backyard,” movement, sponsoring or co-sponsoring bills that aimed to clear away impediments to housing construction.

Two weeks ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Wiener’s landmark SB 79, which will allow greater housing density along public transit corridors and major bus stops statewide, even in neighborhoods where local zoning laws restrict development to single-family homes. Developments closest to transit hubs could rise as high as nine stories.

“I fight hard and I can be stubborn about it, but I’m being stubborn because people need housing and the system is broken,” Wiener said.

While Wiener’s leadership has won praise from advocates for greater housing development, it is not universally liked. For example, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass objected to the state dictating development policy from Sacramento and unsuccessfully urged Newsom to veto Wiener’s SB 79.

The San Francisco Democrat already represents neighborhoods that tend to resist new housing, such as the Sunset and Richmond districts.

“I was just out at a big town hall in the Outer Sunset, which was mostly about housing,” Wiener said. “And I have no problem with people disagreeing with me, telling me why they think I’m wrong, having those conversations.”

In fact, Wiener seems to relish taking on issues with major opposition, as he has with bills to regulate artificial intelligence, protect gay and trans youth and prohibit federal immigration agents from concealing their faces.

“I’ve been in a lot of different situations where I’ve been willing to break glass and sometimes piss people off, but it was the right thing to do. And so I want to take that approach to Congress,” Wiener said. He said he’s also faced “thousands of death threats,” primarily “from the MAGA hard right.”

Pelosi, who is actively raising money to help pass Proposition 50 on the November ballot, has declined numerous opportunities to say whether she’s running again, leading some to think she’ll retire. Her plans could become clearer after next month’s election on the redistricting measure.

Also running is 39-year-old Saikat Chakrabarti, a wealthy software engineer who helped launch payment processing company Stripe. He also worked as chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who unexpectedly defeated New York incumbent Democrat Joe Crowley in 2018.

Chakrabarti said he’s running against Pelosi, who was first elected in 1987, to offer San Francisco voters a younger generation of leadership.

In that first race for Congress 38 years ago, Pelosi defeated Democrat Harry Britt, the openly gay member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, in the primary.

Pelosi has been a staunch ally to the LGBTQ community, but Wiener said, “It is definitely a time for an openly gay member of Congress from San Francisco,” adding, “We love our allies, but we need our own seat at the table as well.”