She was always a neoliberal Democrat who dismissed the left and put the party and its power ahead of her constituents at home

By Tim Redmond

November 9, 2025 (48hills.org)

When Rep. Nancy Pelosi first became speaker of the House, I got a call from a reporter from a DC paper; I think it was Roll Call. He wanted to know what someone from a liberal San Francisco publication thought of the new speaker’s “San Francisco values.”

Right-wing politicians and pundits around the country were going crazy. Some progressives were overly excited. A speaker from (gasp?) San Francisco, that crazy left-wing city? She must be some kind of political freak, maybe even a commie.

I told the reporter the everyone on all sides needed to chill out. Pelosi was by no means a “San Francisco leftist.” She was a very mainstream Democrat who hadn’t represented San Francisco in years; her constituency was the leadership and members of the Democratic Caucus in the House. She was all about raising money from rich people to elect Democrats, even right-wing Democrats, to keep her party and herself in power.

“I’m a San Francisco leftist,” I said. “Nancy Pelosi is not.”

Well, this stirred up quite a storm, and I got my 15 minutes of right-wing talk show fame. Sean Hannity called. Laura Ingraham called. They were fascinated by the idea that someone in San Francisco though Pelosi was too conservative.

I told them I wasn’t the only one.

When Pelosi ran for Congress, she had no local political experience except raising money for the Democratic Party. She was handpicked by the old Burton Machine to make sure that Sup. Harry Britt didn’t become the first gay Democratic Socialist to represent San Francisco in the House. Also: Harry was independent of the Machine, and not prone to cozying up to rich people. He almost won.

Pelosi did some fine work in Congress. She helped the party control the House in critical years. She helped pass the Ryan White Act during the depth of the AIDS crisis, and she was instrumental in getting the Affordable Care act across the goal line (although she never considered a single-payer Medicare for all system). She famously tore up Trump’s State of the Union speech on live national TV.

But she showed only disdain for the left wing of the Party, ignoring and belittling AOC and the Squad, dismissing the Green New Deal as “the green dream, or whatever they call it, and helping ensure that Sen. Bernie Sanders didn’t become the party’s nominee for president.

She never, ever, suggested that raising taxes on the very rich to the levels of the 1960s was a good idea. Meanwhile, she and her husband made millions in the stock market.

Many of her constituents today have no memory, or were too young to remember, or were not in town back then, but in 1995, Pelosi pulled together a group of corporate leaders to turn the Presidio, which had just become a National Park as the Army moved out, over to a private trust with the goal of making enough money to become self-sufficient.

No other national park has ever had to pay its own way. That’s not how national parks work.

But Pelosi and the corporate crew in essence privatized the park, allowing George Lucas, among others, to build luxury office space in a federal enclave that was exempt from city taxes and fees. Lucas alone cost the city $25 million.

At the time, federal law required surplus housing to be made available to unhoused people. That never happened at the Presidio, where refurbished military housing was, and is, rented at high rates to rich people.

So let’s celebrate her career as the first woman speaker, a very effective legislator, a leader in the Democratic Party—and look forward to an election next year where economic inequality might be a serious issue. But let’s not forget her real record.

48 Hills welcomes comments in the form of letters to the editor, which you can submit here. We also invite you to join the conversation on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

Tim Redmond

Tim Redmond has been a political and investigative reporter in San Francisco for more than 30 years. He spent much of that time as executive editor of the Bay Guardian. He is the founder of 48hills.

CultureNews + PoliticsProtest

Catching up with the young activists as they press for the removal of the Trump regime through multiple protest actions.

By Dorothy O’Donnell

November 8, 2025 (48hills.org)

In 2024, Sully Atheirne was a high school senior planning to go to college after they graduated. Then the unthinkable happened: Donald Trump was elected president for a second term. Though they’d participated in several climate demonstrations and Black Lives Matter protests, Atheirne didn’t consider themselves an activist. But now, instead of attending classes and studying, the 19-year-old spends their days fighting to save our democracy with the organization Refuse Fascism.

“As Trump took power, I started to get out there more and more,” Atheirne told 48 Hills. “I had a bullhorn and I was leading chants on a pole at one protest—I like to climb things. One of the Refuse Fascism volunteers zeroed in on me and was like ‘Let’s sign this person up!’”

Formed in 2016 by Andy Zee, Sunsara Taylor, Cornel West, and others after Trump’s first election, Refuse Fascism recognized the serious threat his divisive policies, insatiable appetite for unchecked power, and white supremacy agenda posed to democracy. The organization aims to unite people from all backgrounds and political beliefs to join in mass peaceful protest and resistance in the streets and throughout society. According to a statement on their website, the group’s ultimate goal is to “create such a profound political crisis that Trump cannot impose his fascist program or maintain his hold on power.”

After Atheirne’s first encounter with Refuse Fascism, they attended one of the Northern California chapter’s Zoom meetings for on-boarding new volunteers. They were all in. Participating in, and helping to organize Refuse Fascism events, soon became their full-time (unpaid) job. You may have seen and heard Atheirne at local protests—perhaps standing or sitting on top of something—bullhorn in hand, bellowing the group’s signature chant: “Trump must go now!” 

Atheirne said many local Refuse Fascism volunteers are young people like them, compelled to take a more active role in removing the Trump regime after the last election. The Northern California chapter also has a number of older members who participated in the major protests of the ’60s and know the impact they can have. Atheirne added that the group coordinates with more connected, experienced individual activists and activist organizations such as Indivisible to try and build larger resistance networks and momentum to derail the Trump regime. 

Like Atheirne, 43-year-old Justice Forál had joined protests prior to Trump’s second term but didn’t think of herself as an activist or someone with leadership skills. She learned about Refuse Fascism when she met Atheirne at an anti-Trump rally at the Civic Center last May.

“I’d been doing different protests around the Bay at that time and on that day, I did three,” she said. “And of those three, Refuse Fascism stood out the most to me in terms of actually taking action against what’s happening, not just voicing dissent.”

When we spoke, Forál was in Washington DC working with other Refuse Fascism members to plan activities for their most ambitious event to date: a sustained, anti-Trump movement that kicked off on November 5, the one year anniversary of his second term win.

“It’s really important for all of us to converge on DC because it’s the current seat of power,” she explained. “And if we’re going to make any kind of impact, especially a lasting impact, it has to be here and it has to be now. Dissent across the nation is necessary in general, but if we’re really going to grind things to a halt as we’ve been saying, then converging on DC is the most feasible way of doing that. The plan is to always have people in the streets until this is done and we’ve accomplished our goal.”

Refuse Fascism members know that protests alone can’t put an end to the Trump regime. But they believe sustained, ongoing resistance activities in the nation’s capital—beyond a single day of rallies and marches—can lay the foundation for actions that can. Actions have included protesting outside the Supreme Court as it considers a challenge to same-sex marriage and a march to remove the Trump regime. They will continue planned events through November 15, finishing with a rally outside the White House.

“Protest can both compel and give cover to people in the halls of power to push through things like impeachment,” said Atheirne. “Those legal processes can only happen if there’s massive resistance from below. November 5 is just the beginning—it’s a launch pad for massive resistance.”

While Refuse Fascism would love to see millions of people flock to DC, they know that’s not realistic. Many folks don’t have the means to get there or can’t take a break from work and family obligations.

For those who can’t make it to DC but want to support the cause, there are plenty of ways to help: Make a financial contribution. Donate airline miles to fly people to Washington who want to go but can’t afford it. Send a winter coat to shipping centers that will be set up in D.C. for someone who doesn’t have one and will be out in the streets fighting for democracy when the weather turns cold. Call a local pizza parlor and buy lunch for the resisters. Organize a small fundraiser with your book club or running group. Spread the word about the sustained D.C. resistance movement to everyone you know.

Learn more about Refuse Fascism and how you can take action to remove the Trump regime here.  

Dorothy O’Donnellhttps://www.clippings.me/users/dorothyodonnell

Dorothy O’Donnell is a San Francisco-based writer focused on arts and culture. When she’s not writing, she’s usually thrifting or roaming the city streets taking candid photos of people or whatever else catches her eye.

• Cam Lippincott | Staff
• Nov 10, 2025 (DailyCal.org)

Citing a growing cost of living and affordability crisis, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, or AFSCME 3299, which represents more than 40,000 service workers, announced a UC systemwide strike Nov. 17 and 18. AFSCME will be joined by the more than 25,000 members of the California Nurses Association, or CNA, in a sympathy strike. 

AFSCME represents custodians, dining hall workers, hospital technicians and other service workers throughout the UC system and has been without a contract for over a year. CNA’s contract expired Oct. 31 and the organization has since been in active negotiations with the UC.

Previously, AFSCME strikes have led to the closure of campus eateries, some dining halls and the delay of some custodian services. 

AFSCME will be picketing on campus near Telegraph Avenue and Bancroft Way from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days of the strike.

“During nearly two years of bargaining, UC has spent billions of dollars acquiring new facilities, lavishing exorbitant raises on its wealthiest executives and funding housing assistance programs to help these same ivory tower elites buy mansions or second homes,” said Michael Avant, president of AFSCME 3299, in a press release. “But it won’t offer its frontline workers enough to pay the rent or keep pace with the skyrocketing cost of groceries.”

Initially, the University Professional and Technical Employees Communications Workers of America Local 9119, or UPTE CWA 9119, was planning to strike alongside AFSCME and CNA. However, the strike was called off after UPTE and the UC announced a tentative agreement Saturday. 

“We continue to stand with AFSCME and CNA members as they fight and strike for a similar agreement for their members,” said Dan Russell, president of UPTE, in a press release.

In a Nov. 6 press release, the UC said the demands from UPTE, CNA and AFSCME were “unreasonable” and  “jeopardize (the UC’s) mission of teaching, research and public service.”

According to AFSCME, staffing shortages and “uncompetitive job quality” have led to more than 13,000 UC service workers leaving their jobs in the past three years. AFSCME further cited a 10% decline in real wages and said some members are forced to sleep in their cars or rely on government housing subsidies.

In a statement, the UC said that UC hospitals and clinics will ensure patients receive the necessary care during a strike, although some treatments may be delayed. Additionally, AFSCME said it voluntarily exempted a small number of critical care workers from the strike to support any potential emergencies.

“UPTE and AFSCME members are an integral part of making the UC a world-class institution for education, research, and health care,” said Maureen Dugan, member of CNA’s Board of Directors, in a press release. “The UC Regents’ continued failure to treat these employees with respect and fairness represents a shameful race to the bottom for the UC and a betrayal of the patients, students, and the public who deserve world-class support.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) leaves a Senate Democratic Caucus meeting at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on November 9, 2025.

 (Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“Until we elect Democrats that understand that fighting is what we need to do,” US Senate primary candidate Graham Platner said, “we’re going to find ourselves in this position over and over and over again.”

Julia Conley

Nov 10, 2025 (CommonDreams.org)

One public opinion researcher said Sunday that there may be one positive aspect of the capitulation of eight Senate Democratic Caucus members—none of whom will face voters in a reelection campaign next year—who joined Republicans in voting to end the government shutdown without securing concessions on the central issue of healthcare.

“The only silver lining about this completely pointless, cowardly, and tone-deaf cave is that it’ll accelerate the complete overhaul of the leadership—and god willing, direction—of the Democratic Party,” said Adam Carlson of Zenith Research.

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To that end, progressive organizers and lawmakers on Monday morning said that with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) having reportedly coordinated the “yes” vote from the eight senators, voters must remove the lawmakers from office at their earliest opportunity.

“We want to celebrate a Democratic Party that fights back,” said the grassroots group Indivisible. “But after this latest surrender, the next step is primaries and new leadership. We get the party we demand, and we intend to demand one that fights.”

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Ezra Levin, co-founder of the organization, emphasized that anger should be directed not just at the eight Democrats who voted with Republicans on a cloture vote that paved the way to reopening the government without concessions from the GOP.

The eight senators were Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Dick Durbin of Illinois, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Angus King of Maine, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, but Levin said many more centrist lawmakers were likely “in on the play.”

On MSNBC Monday, Shaheen acknowledged that Schumer was “kept informed” of the eight senators’ negotiations with the GOP regarding reopening the government.

“It’s the same reason why they scheduled the surrender for after the election this week,” Levin said. “They didn’t want people pissed at Democrats right before an election.”

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The elections last week, along with recent polls, revealed that the Republican Party and the White House are the target of ire from US voters, with President Donald Trump himself saying the Democratic victories showed the GOP would have to take action to end the shutdown.

New Republic writer Greg Sargent said that Schumer had given up crucial leverage by caving to the GOP’s demand that the shutdown end and pushing senators to support a deal that contains no restoration of Medicaid funding gutted by the Republicans earlier this year, end to Trump’s recissions that cut billions of dollars in public funding, or extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies.

“You’ve changed the story from ‘GOP hurting millions of Americans to please unpopular, failing, delusional despot who’s destroying his party’ to ‘Dems are too weak and divided in the face of Trump’s strength to take a stand and protect Americans,’” said Sargent, addressing Schumer on social media.

Attorney Max Kennerly suggested that the Sunday night vote revealed more than just the party’s views on the current shutdown, and said Democrats who voted “no” should receive “zero credit until they demand a change in leadership.”

“The coordinated nature of this—none [of the lawmakers who voted yes] are facing voters in 2026—means that either Schumer approved it or failed in his job as Senate [minority] leader to stop it,” said Kennerly.

Schumer, who is up for reelection in 2028, has topped the list of Democratic lawmakers who should face a primary challenge in recent months, following his refusal to endorse New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s campaign and his earlier capitulation to Republicans in March, when he supported a continuing resolution to keep the government funded even though to expanded Trump’s control over congressional spending.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who is reportedly considering either a 2028 presidential run or a primary challenge to Schumer, suggested the Democratic leader had abandoned the fight to ensure already-high healthcare costs don’t rise for people who buy insurance through the ACA marketplace.

“People want us to hold the line for a reason,” she said. “This is not a matter of appealing to a base. It’s about people’s lives. Working people want leaders whose word means something.”

“Chuck Schumer should step down as Senate minority leader immediately,” said Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution. “If he secretly backed this surrender and voted ‘no’ to save face, he’s a liar. If he couldn’t keep his caucus in line, he’s inept. Either way, he’s proven incapable of leading the fight to prevent healthcare premiums from skyrocketing for millions of Americans. The country can’t afford his failed leadership any longer.”

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said the cave provided the latest evidence that “Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced,” and that “it’s time for those in the back to make it to the front and for the old guard to make way.”

“You’ve had Schumer cheerleading the Iraq War, cheerleading a blank check to [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, betraying us on the first shutdown,” Khanna told “Breaking Points” host Krystal Ball Monday. “This is the culmination of someone who just doesn’t get it, who doesn’t get how much people are hurting, doesn’t get where the base of this party is.”

In Maine, US Senate candidate Graham Platner—who is facing Gov. Janet Mills in the Democratic primary to unseat Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) after Schumer pushed Mills to join the race—said millions of families had woken up to a “bleak morning” on Monday after the Democratic leader orchestrated the capitulation.

“Now, up the 20 million Americans are going to watch their healthcare premiums double, triple, and in some cases quadruple,” said Platner. “Now we are on a path to watch 15 million Americans possibly lose access to healthcare insurance in the first place. This happened because Chuck Schumer failed in his job yet again, because they do not understand that when we fight, we win.”

“We need to elect leaders that want to fight,” he added, urging voters to call their senators and “tell them that Chuck Schumer can no longer be leader.”

“Until we elect Democrats that understand that fighting is what we need to do,” Platner said, “we’re going to find ourselves in this position over and over and over again.”

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.

Julia Conley

Julia Conley is a staff writer for Common Dreams.

Full Bio >

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) shares a laugh with 80-year-old Frankie Clark of North Carolina as she addresses a rally to reintroduce the Medicare for All Act in Upper Senate Park on Capitol Hill on April 29, 2025, in Washington, DC.

 (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“These subsidies have to get bigger and bigger and bigger to keep the ACA affordable,” said US Senate candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. “The fight for healthcare right now can’t end with ACA subsidies. It has to be bigger.”

Stephen Prager

Nov 10, 2025 (CommonDreams.org)

As the government appears poised to reopen, with Republicans having successfully avoided concessions on their goal of eliminating Affordable Care Act tax credits, President Donald Trump has proposed his own solution to the looming explosion in health insurance costs.

By agreeing to reopen the government without a deal, Democrats have given up their main leverage to force Republicans to extend the credits set to expire at the end of the year. If this happens, over 22 million Americans are expected to see their monthly insurance premiums more than double. As enrollment data for next year shows, Americans are already seeing skyrocketing healthcare costs, not just for ACA recipients but for everyone.

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While Republicans successfully strong-armed their opposition into caving by using the shutdown to turn the screws on government workers and food stamp recipients, they still have to weather the political fallout of the coming healthcare apocalypse. A poll released Thursday by KFF found that 74% of Americans—half of whom are self-identified Republicans—want to see the credits extended. Three-quarters also say they’d blame either Trump or Republicans in Congress if they weren’t.

On Truth Social Saturday, as a shutdown deal appeared likely, Trump proposed his own idea:

I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies in order to save the bad Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE, and have money left over. In other words, take from the BIG, BAD Insurance Companies, give it to the people, and terminate, per Dollar spent, the worst Healthcare anywhere in the World, ObamaCare.

Trump is correct that under the current scheme, Americans don’t actually receive money directly. But experts warn that while there’s a visceral populist logic to his proposal, the flaws of replacing those annual subsidies with a one-time payment become obvious with the barest of scrutiny, especially when it is paired with a proposal to fully repeal the ACA.

“You have to read between the lines here to imagine what President Trump is proposing,” said Larry Levitt, the executive vice president for health policy at KFF. “It sounds like it could be a plan for health accounts that could be used for insurance that doesn’t cover preexisting conditions, which could create a death spiral in ACA plans that do.”

One of the Senate’s most prominent proponents of eliminating the ACA and other parts of the social safety net, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), said he was “writing the bill right now,” and clarified that it would indeed involve “HSA-style accounts” for Americans in place of subsidized insurance.

On Sunday, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) noted that this was just a reheating of the “same old, tired proposal of repealing the Affordable Care Act, giving people a benefit in the form of a health savings account, but allowing insurance companies once again to cancel policies and refuse to write policies for people who have preexisting health conditions.”

HSAs were a key component of the Republicans’ failed 2017 plan to “repeal and replace” the ACA, which many critics pointed out would allow insurers to skyrocket the costs of insurance for those dealing with preexisting conditions.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who sits on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), called Trump’s new plan “unsurprisingly nonsensical.”

“Is he suggesting eliminating health insurance and giving people a few thousand dollars instead?” Murphy asked. “And then when they get a cancer diagnosis, they just go bankrupt?”

But while many Democrats decried yet another effort to dismantle the ACA, some progressives pointed out that health insurance costs, and healthcare costs more generally, have still exploded under Obamacare, which—despite introducing new guardrails—still leaves profit-driven insurance intact and requires all Americans to purchase it.

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“Yes, Mr. President: You’re right. We do have ‘the worst healthcare’ of any major country,” replied Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the HELP committee’s ranking member, who has long decried the profiteering of insurance companies. “Despite spending twice as much per capita, we are the only major country not to guarantee health care to all as a human right. The solution: Medicare for All.”

He was joined by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who ripped Trump’s plan on Fox News.

“Healthcare premiums… they are going to spike about 100% in some cases,” Khanna said. “Now, if you take the tax credits and you just give them to the American people, who is the president expecting them to buy the plans from? Is he expecting them to get junk insurance?”

“I agree with him that the system is broken,” he continued. “And we should be expanding Medicare to have Medicare for All. But in the meantime, we’ve got to give people help so that their premiums don’t spike.”

On social media, Khanna pointed to a 2020 analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which found that the US would spend about $650 billion less on healthcare per year in 2030 if it adopted Medicare for All because it would drastically reduce the administrative waste and non-healthcare-related spending inherent to private insurance. It would also allow the government to use its massive leverage as America’s primary insurer to negotiate dramatic price reductions for drugs and medical services.

Those arguments have also been made by Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a long-time Medicare for All proponent who is running for the open Senate seat in Michigan in 2026. He explained to a crowd that the fact that Republicans “can muck around with subsidies” in the first place is evidence of a broader healthcare crisis that stems from the preeminence of privatized healthcare.

“The very fact that we’re watching as these subsidies have to get bigger and bigger and bigger to keep the ACA affordable, the very fact that we’re relying on Medicaid to be expanded, that, to me, is the reason why in a moment like this, it’s not enough just to protect what we have,” he said.

He continued on social media: “The fight for healthcare right now can’t end with ACA subsidies. It has to be bigger. Too many Americans are suffering over medical debt and spiraling costs. It should be nothing short of Medicare for All.”

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.

Stephen Prager

Stephen Prager is a staff writer for Common Dreams.

Full Bio >

10 November 2025/SF Politics/Jay Barmann (SFist.com)

Well this is an unexpected turn of events. Christine Pelosi, the daughter of Nancy Pelosi, will not run to take over her mother’s seat in the House of Representatives in 2026, as was widely speculated.

Instead, maybe in an act of deference to state Senator Scott Wiener or in an acknowledgement of her own political inexperience, the 59-year-old Pelosi says she will run to take over Wiener’s seat in the state Senate — a seat that SF Supervisor Rafael Mandelman is also considering running for, and that Assemblyman Matt Haney will also be vying for.

“I’m running to represent San Francisco in Sacramento, fighting for consumer rights, women’s rights, gun violence survivors, immigrants and our most vulnerable communities, against the threat we face,” Pelosi said in her first campaign video, posted Moday to Xitter. “What do we do when our freedoms are under attack? We speak up, we fight back and we organize power for the people, and that’s what I want to do for you.”

Wiener’s seat, should he be elected next year to fill Nancy Pelosi’s seat in Congress, would become vacant as of January 2027, but otherwise he is not up for reelection until 2028.

This also leaves the elder Pelosi’s endorsement up for grabs in the congressional race, with the chatter so far being that she could endorse SF Supervisor Connie Chan, should Chan decide to run for the seat.

But the move by her daughter, announcing a run for state Senate, could reveal a different calculus. Christine Pelosi only gets to run for the state legislature if Wiener moves on to higher office. So, if Nancy Pelosi were to endorse Wiener, that might give him a leg up, and, in turn, increase the chances her daughter can vie for his seat.

Wiener announced his candidacy last month, two weeks ahead of the elder Pelosi’s retirement announcement, which he may or may not have known was coming.

The other candidate officially in the race is progressive newcomer and tech millionaire Saikat Chakrabarti, who worked as a campaign manager for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. And, on Friday, we learned that former SF Mayor London Breed is strongly considering running for the seat as well.

As for the state Senate seat, political consultant Jim Ross tells the Chronicle that Christine Pelosi’s candidacy effectively “clears the field of the establishment left,” meaning that Mandelman and Haney had likely better be looking for a Plan B.

Pelosi is an attorney and longtime Democratic Party activist.

THE POLITICAL MIND Nov 6, 2025 UNITED STATES#ZohranMamdani, In this 41-minute explosive analysis, Prof. Richard D. Wolff breaks down the historic victory of Zohran Mamdani — the first democratic socialist to win the New York City mayoral race. This isn’t just an election story — it’s a turning point in U.S. politics. Wolff explores how grassroots movements, working-class mobilization, and economic justice principles have reshaped America’s largest city and challenged the dominance of corporate power. From the Bronx to Brooklyn, from Wall Street to City Hall, this is the story of how the people reclaimed power. Prof. Wolff exposes the economic realities behind Mamdani’s win, the political backlash from elites, and what this means for the future of democracy in the United States. If you care about the intersection of economics, power, and justice — this is the speech you can’t afford to miss. Stay until the end for Wolff’s piercing final message: “The future of democracy begins when we stop renting it to the rich.”

by Yujie Zhou November 11, 2025 (MissionLocal.org)

In his first public interview as a congressional candidate, Sen. Scott Wiener on Monday ran through his record of housing and healthcare bills in the State Senate while he inveighed against national Democrats for capitulating to Republicans, defined his limits of U.S. aid to Israel and presented himself as a prolific state lawmaker who could be even more effective on Capitol Hill.

During an interview with Mission Local managing editor Joe Eskenazi to a sold-out room at Manny’s, Wiener said he’s eager to “show national leadership” for a city that’s unique culturally, economically, and politically. He denigrated critics who “beat up on us and write our obituary and are obsessed about the closing of a Nordstrom.”

His priorities would include healthcare access, building more housing, transitioning to clean energy, protecting immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, reproductive health, and all the critical goals “that this administration is tearing down,” said Wiener. 

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Following the retirement of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, 85, announced last week, Wiener is the front-running candidate for a seat that essentially represents all of San Francisco in D.C.

Also in the race is Saikat Chakrabarti, a centimillionaire with a tech background who’s best known as the former campaign manager and chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. During his campaign kickoff last month, Chakrabarti drew a young, progressive crowd that included many fans of New York City’s mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani.

Pelosi’s daughter Christine, meanwhile, is now running for Wiener’s soon-to-be-vacant State Senate seat. Wiener said it was too early to say whether he would support the younger Pelosi’s candidacy. 

Attitudes on Gaza have been one of the biggest differentiators between Wiener and Chakrabarti among San Francisco voters. The latter is a vocal critic of Israel who unambiguously accused it of genocide at his kick-off, stating, “If I am elected, I will vote to end all military funding to Israel.”

Wiener has long had a strong pro-Israel stance. Soon after the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, Wiener said in a statement that “Israel has every right to fight back” while calling on it to “protect as many innocent Gazan civilians as possible.” Two years later, nearly 70,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza. 

Last night, Wiener emphasized that his support for Israel had limits: “I will not support the U.S. selling offensive arms to Israel as long as Israel has a government that’s not committed to peace and democracy,” said Wiener.

He reiterated that he will not accept support from AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby. “I have just a lot of disagreements with AIPAC about this Israeli government, which I think is a disaster, about Israel’s destruction of Gaza and the mass killing and maiming, destruction of the health care and education system,” said Wiener.

In other matters, Wiener offered a strong rebuke to the Democratic senators who crossed the line on Sunday to support Trump’s budget proposal to reopen the government.

It was “terrible” and basically the senators “didn’t get anything for it,” said Wiener. Given that Republicans control all three branches of government, “when we have leverage and we have power, we need to use it,” he added.

Wiener was 17 when Pelosi matriculated to congress in 1987. And he would have to serve into his 90s to duplicate Pelosi’s seniority in Congress, a seniority-based system.

But that system, Wiener said, “needs to be much more flexible” to have more wisdom for making public policy, he said.

In Wiener’s view, Chakrabarti, a passionate 39-year-old, has done “really smart things,” but is deficient in three aspects. First, Chakrabarti has a limited connection to San Francisco. “Before he was running for Congress, I’m unaware of any local involvement,” said Wiener. 

Then there’s Chakrabarti’s lack of policymaking experience, said Wiener. Apart from leading the legislative effort of pushing the Green New Deal, Chakrabarti spent less than a year on Capitol Hill. The 55-year-old state senator, in contrast, has been widely considered as one of the most prolific lawmakers in Sacramento.

He emphasized the need for a coalition builder in D.C. Meanwhile, Chakrabarti is under attack from both the city’s progressives, who distrust him because he helped unseat democratic socialist Dean Preston, and tech moderates, many of whom have been longtime allies with Wiener.

Wiener also appeared ready to face other contenders. 

Perhaps consciously echoing a favorite term of Pelosi, when asked about former mayor London Breed’s reported interest in running for Congress, Wiener answered “come on in, the water’s warm.” Wiener expects more challenges to materialize as “this is San Francisco.”

Supervisor Connie Chan, who was endorsed by Pelosi in past races and would enjoy a benefit as the only Chinese candidate in the race, is also weighing a run. 

Wiener said he has not had the conversations he’d need to support Christine Pelosi, Nancy’s daughter, who just announced her intention to run for his state senate seat. 

If Wiener wins his congressional race, Christine Pelosi will compete in a special state senate election in 2027. Otherwise the race will be in 2028 when Wiener is termed out. 

When Eskenazi noted that San Francisco officials are now overtly using Wiener as a bogeyman to push the city’s upzoning plan on the westside, thereby rendering it awkward for Wiener to turn around and then court these voters in his run for Congress, Wiener countered that his policies are longstanding and unhidden.

“My housing politics have been remarkably consistent for a long time,” he said. He reminded the gathering that his prohousing stance hasn’t been an issue in the past as he ran on a pro-housing platform in his 2016 race, and won. 

For the last 50 years, California has almost tripled in population, but the housing production has gone down by about two-thirds and people started to see “explosive housing costs,” said Wiener. “Sometimes the westside gets stereotyped … there are a lot of amazing housing advocates on the west side of San Francisco.”

He believes he can continue his housing advocacy in D.C. by persuading the federal government to partner with states and cities again to build social housing.

But “how does freshman Congressman Wiener, working as one of 538 representatives, some of whom believe the Earth is 6,000 years old, convince the federal government to get back into the social housing business?” Eskenazi asked.

Wiener emphasized that he’s playing the long game. Lots of huge bills took five or 10 years to pass, he said. Maybe longer: “But if you keep pounding your head against the wall long enough, eventually the wall breaks.”

And, Wiener notes, “I have a particularly hard head.”

The decision by city leaders to drop a labor lawsuit has outraged some union leaders. “This decision looks like abandonment. And it looks like appeasement.”

by Eli Wolfe Nov. 10, 2025 (Oaklandside.org)

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Five days after Oakland’s City Council voted to drop a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines, the Oakland airport’s biggest carrier, for allegedly denying workers paid sick leave, Mayor Barbara Lee met with Southwest’s CEO to talk business.

A spokesman for Lee’s office told The Oaklandside that the mayor met virtually with Southwest CEO Robert Jordan and the company’s government affairs staff on Oct. 28 to “discuss partnerships to promote Oakland Airport.” 

The meeting is a sign that some city leaders are dramatically changing Oakland’s stance toward the company, America’s third largest airline by passenger numbers.

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On Oct. 23, the Oakland City Council voted to dismiss a lawsuit the City Attorney filed in September 2024 over alleged labor law violations. City officials initiated the suit after receiving complaints from Southwest workers that the airline was denying them the right to use earned paid sick leave and was retaliating against workers who tried to use their time-off benefits. The city attorney, which is empowered to enforce Oakland’s minimum wage laws, had settled similar claims with Southwest in 2020, but new complaints prompted the city to sue again.

The city was seeking restitution for transport workers, along with enforcement costs and penalties for the city. It also wanted Southwest to come into compliance with Oakland’s minimum wage and sick leave laws. Southwest denied the claims and was fighting the lawsuit. 

Councilmembers who previously spoke with The Oaklandside said their decision to drop the lawsuit had nothing to do with the merits of the case. Instead, Councilmember Charlene Wang said lawmakers were concerned about declining inbound traffic and the possibility that Southwest might leave Oakland. Councilmember Ken Houston stressed that he was “tired” of the litigation. He also said the council’s decision signaled to the business community that Oakland’s leaders want “to make partnerships.”

These explanations do not sit well with the Transport Workers Union Local 555, which represents Southwest workers and is still in litigation with the carrier over the labor law claims. 

On Friday, the union’s president Tony Slavings issued a statement saying, “We are outraged and deeply disturbed by the Oakland City Council’s sudden, unexplained decision to kill its own lawsuit against Southwest Airlines.”

Southwest representatives did not respond to an interview request.

Slavings criticized councilmembers for offering “contradictory explanations” for why they dismissed the lawsuit, and raised alarm at the prospect of “backroom meals and deals.” 

“It unmistakably creates the appearance that political convenience was chosen over worker protection,” Slavings wrote. “I’ll say what workers across Oakland are already thinking: This decision looks like abandonment. And it looks like appeasement.” 

The mayor’s staff reached out to Southwest in September to arrange the meeting, a spokesperson said. The spokesperson added that Lee did not have a vote in the decision to terminate the lawsuit.

The Port Commission, which oversees the airport, previously told The Oaklandside that it contacted Southwest and city officials to encourage them to find a solution to the lawsuit. 

The port has strong incentives to maintain a good relationship with Southwest, which as of 2022 was the airport’s largest airline by passengers and seats and offers, according to an aviation forecast report. Travel at Oakland’s airport suffered during the pandemic and its recovery has been uncertain, according to reports published by the Port. After a drop off in 2020, Oakland’s passenger volume increased between 2021 and 2023. But the airport experienced a decline in 2024 that has continued into 2025. According to the latest Port report, the airport had 9.7 million passengers between August 2024 and July 2025. This is 13.6% lower than the same period between 2023 and 2024.  

This trend could be a problem for the airport, which is pursuing a plan to add 16 new passenger gates and upgrade facilities. The Port argued in an environmental impact report that this expansion is necessary to accommodate projected increase in passengers “due to market-based demand.”

“It is frustrating to see Oakland public officials succumbing to their strong-arm tactics, with City Councilmembers putting Southwest’s interests ahead of the rights of airport workers by cancelling the labor lawsuit,” said David Foecke, a member of a group called Stop OAK Expansion Coalition that is opposed to expanding the airport. 

According to Foecke, Southwest has been threatening to leave Oakland for years unless officials do their bidding. The rumor about the airline leaving has periodically bubbled up in Oakland. In September 2023, Bishop George Matthews told attendees at a public safety forum at Genesis Worship Center that Southwest was considering leaving Oakland. Matthews said he heard this from a city councilmember who he didn’t name. At the time, Southwest told The Oaklandside it remains committed to Oakland.

Focke said it’s also frustrating to see the Port Commission put Southwest’s priorities ahead of the health of East Oakland residents by greenlighting the proposed expansion of the airport without conducting a health study, as requested by Alameda County officials.

“It is time for our representatives to call Southwest’s bluff and stand up for the rights of Oakland workers and the health of Oakland citizens,” Foecke said.

Correction: This story has been updated with the correct spelling of Councilmember Ken Houston’s name.

Eli Wolfe

eli@oaklandside.org

Eli Wolfe reports on City Hall for The Oaklandside. He was previously a senior reporter for San José Spotlight, where he had a beat covering Santa Clara County’s government and transportation. He also worked as an investigative reporter for the Pasadena-based newsroom FairWarning, where he covered labor, consumer protection and transportation issues. He started his journalism career as a freelancer based out of Berkeley. Eli’s stories have appeared in The Atlantic, NBCNews.com, Salon, the San Francisco Chronicle, and elsewhere. Eli graduated from UC Santa Cruz and grew up in San Francisco.More by Eli Wolfe

(Courtesy of Steve Schmidt, info@e.thesaveamericamovement.org)