For the first time in nearly four decades,San Francisco voters are choosing someone other than Nancy Pelosi to represent them in Congress, setting up a closely watched showdown between Supervisor Connie Chan and state Sen. Scott Wiener.
Throughout her career in Congress, Pelosi broke several glass ceilings, including being elected House minority whip of the House Democratic Caucus in 2001 and, only a few years later, being elected Speaker of the House in 2007 and again in 2019.
Chan has served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for District 1 since 2021. Prior to serving on the Board of Supervisors, she spent more than a decade working in local and state government administration, public policy, and communications. She is running on a platform
that focuses on affordability, support for working families and labor unions, economic opportunity, immigrant rights, and progressive policies to improve the quality of life for working-class communities. Pelosi and U.S. Senator Adam Schiff have endorsed Chan.
Wiener was elected to the State Senate in 2016 to represent the 11th District. Before that, he practiced law for 15 years, including a stint as deputy city attorney at the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office. Some of the issues Wiener is campaigning on include housing affordability, healthcare access, public transit, climate action, criminal justice reform, gun violence prevention, and protections for immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities. Assemblymember Matt Haney and Attorney General Rob Bonta have endorsed him.
In June's election, Weiner received the most votes out of the 12 candidates, earning 95,816 votes, 40.7% of the vote. Chan earned the second-most votes, receiving 69,899 votes, 29.7% of the vote. In total, 235,337 voters cast their ballots.
Since the midterm election, the two candidates have been on the campaign trail, and the fight has at times become controversial.
In August, Wiener faced criticism after releasing ConnieChan.ai, an interactive AI chatbot aimed at targeting his opponent with a new campaign tactic. The chatbot, which was designed to be a tool to criticize her policy record, ultimately became controversial as it generated stereotypical answers about her race. Wiener ultimately took down the site, but not before officials like Pelosi and other Democratic leaders denounced it.
According to the latest poll, conducted by USC's Democracy and Fair Elections Lab and published on Oct. 22, Scott Wiener holds a slight lead over Connie Chan among those polled in District 11.
Specifically, about 47% of pollsters believed Wiener would be a favorable candidate, compared with 41% for Connie Chan, with 9% undecided and 3% not planning to vote in this U.S. House contest.
The poll also found that among undecided voters, Wiener held a 51% to 44% lead over Chan, with 5% not planning to vote in this U.S.
Results from California Congressional District 11 race: Chan v. Wiener
What time do polls close Election Day?
Polls close at 8 p.m.
Election results timing for San Francisco
According to the San Francisco County Department of Elections, residents will receive vote-tally updates in batches throughout the night.
The county will update vote results for mail-in and early-voting ballots cast before Election Day by 8:45 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. Before the end of the night, the county will update totals with Election Day ballots.
The county will continue processing ballots in the days after Election Day, with daily updates at 4 p.m. Nov. 4 - 13.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: California District 11 Election Results: Who will replace Nancy Pelosi
