Big Money Pours Into San Francisco Race to Replace Rep. Nancy Pelosi

San Francisco’s leading congressional candidates are raking in dollars — some from their own pockets — in an effort to claim retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s seat in the House of Representatives later this year.

Pelosi, the former Speaker of the House who has represented San Francisco in Washington, D.C., for nearly 40 years, will retire in less than a year, and already the race to replace the powerful Democrat is proving both intense and expensive.

Saikat Chakrabarti, a progressive former tech engineer who worked on Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign and previously worked as chief of staff for New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, has pulled in by far the most money, nearly $5.2 million, new campaign finance disclosures show.

The vast majority of that, around $4.8 million, came from Chakrabarti, who is a centimillionaire himself. Other donors contributed roughly $360,000 to the campaign.

“That’s real people chipping in what they can because they believe we deserve a candidate who isn’t backed by tech billionaires and corporations representing San Francisco in D.C.,” said Tiffaney Bradley, communications director for Chakrabarti’s campaign. “We’re investing our resources in reaching more and more voters, knocking doors, showing up in communities and meeting people where they are.”

Chakrabarti’s opponents, who have significantly less hefty war chests, criticized him for pouring his personal wealth into the fight.

“Saikat has already spent more on this race than every other candidate combined. Why? Because he is trying to cover up the skeletons in his closet from his six months in D.C. and make it look like he actually has ties to San Francisco. Newsflash: he doesn’t,” said Joe Arellano, campaign spokesperson for state Sen. Scott Wiener, in a fiery statement.

Wiener, a more moderate Democrat who is widely considered a frontrunner, has nabbed endorsements from groups like the California Democratic Party.

He pulled in the second-most money, nearly $3.5 million from more than 3,300 donors since his campaign launched. He has also received support from tech donors, such as cryptocurrency billionaire Chris Larsen and Y-Combinator CEO Garry Tan.

The two candidates have been using their millions in campaign dollars to boost their image in mailers, social media posts and on TV. Chakrabarti has flooded social media with edgy videos touting his plan to shake up the Democratic Party.

Wiener recently used his funds to launch a TV ad campaign where the 6-foot-7 senator playfully feeds a giraffe at the San Francisco Zoo, a nod to “The Giraffe,” his nickname among some Chinese-American San Franciscans.

Tension has ramped up between the pair, who exchanged tense jabs at a recent debate hosted by KQED.

“Who’s funding these attack ads?” Chakrabarti said to Wiener at the debate, referring to mailers criticizing him. “They’re being funded by crypto billionaires who are Trump donors, by tech VCs.”

In response, Wiener said, “I got my little tiny violin out because let’s be clear: Mr. Chakrabarti has spent more of his tech, hedge-fund money than everyone else combined, including outside campaigns.”

Also in the running is Supervisor Connie Chan, a progressive local politician who has raised around $456,000 so far, according to campaign filings.

Chan, who immigrated to San Francisco’s Chinatown from Hong Kong as a child, has secured support from labor groups and politicians.

But she’s struggled to keep up financially with Chakrabarti and Wiener.

“Connie Chan is a longtime public servant. She is not bankrolled by billionaires. She is not a tech millionaire,” said Julie Edwards, a spokesperson for Chan’s campaign. “This is why she has the support of working people like teachers, nurses, firefighters, hotel workers, seniors, tenants and students — over 2000 individual donors — who will continue to power this campaign to victory on June 2.”

Marie Hurabiell, a former Trump appointee to the Presidio Trust Board of Directors and Democrat whose views skew to the right of the other three Democratic candidates, quickly amassed more than $420,000 for her campaign. Filings show that around $100,000 of those funds came from Hurabiell herself.

“Obviously, San Franciscans want a viable moderate candidate for Congress,” Hurabiell said in a statement to KQED.

The primary election will be held on June 2, and the top two contenders will advance to a general election in November.