“As an adjudicated insurrectionist, Trump is an illegitimate president according to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, and therefore every official act as president will be illegitimate.”
–Mike Zonta, co-editor of OccupySF.net
The 14th Amendment states: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”
Call your Congressperson and your U.S. Senators at (202) 224-3121
Sen. Chuck Schumer faced fresh calls to step aside as the Senate Democratic leader on Wednesday after he broke with the overwhelming majority of his caucus and voted against a pair of resolutions aimed at preventing the Trump administration from selling more US bombs and bulldozers to Israel.
“Mr. Schumer, you are out of touch with the base of this party, and with your own caucus,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who first called on Schumer to resign as Democratic leader last year, said in a short video posted to social media following Wednesday’s votes. “Step aside.”
The two resolutions, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), called for halting the sale of around $450 million worth of bulldozers, 1,000-pound bombs, and related military equipment to the Israeli government, which has repeatedly used American weaponry to commit war crimes in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon, and Syria.
Despite facing record support from the Senate Democratic caucus—with 40 votes to block the sale of bulldozers and 36 votes to block the sale of bombs—the resolutions failed to pass, as Senate Republicans united against them.
But strong Democratic opposition to new US weapons sales to Israel was seen as evidence that the party is slowly catching up to its base, which overwhelmingly supports restricting American military aid to Israel.
“The fact that 40 of 47 Democratic senators voted to withhold military hardware from Israel is a new high-water mark in holding Israel accountable for violating US and international law,” said Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy.
Williams went on to rebuke Schumer, who has led the Senate Democrats for nearly a decade, for opposing the resolutions “against the supermajority of his own caucus and Democratic voters.”
“It’s well past time for him to step aside for leaders who actually represent the views of the party’s base,” said Williams.
Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action and a New York City resident, said Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)—who also voted against both resolutions—“are betraying their constituents and woefully out of line with the Democratic voter base.”
“Instead of sending the bombs that Israel uses to commit war crimes, the people of New York want our representatives to invest in lifesaving policies here at home,” said Miller. “We need to stop arming Israel so that the people of Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran, and across the region, can live. Millions of lives depend on it.”
The votes on the Israeli arms measures came after the Senate rejected another war powers resolution aimed at withdrawing US forces from the illegal assault on Iran, which President Donald Trump launched without congressional approval—and in partnership with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—in late February.
Schumer vocally supported the Iran war powers resolution. But one of his colleagues, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), said the efforts to end the US-Israeli war on Iran and the push to halt weapons sales to Israel are interconnected.
“A vote to approve arms sales to Israel at this time would be seen as a message of approval for Trump and Netanyahu’s disastrous war against Iran. I will not send that message,” Markey said in a statement late Wednesday. “Why would we send American military weapons that could prolong, escalate, or worsen this horrible situation in the Middle East? I say no more.”
J Street, the pro-Israel liberal advocacy organization, similarly connected the two fights following Wednesday’s votes.
“We continue to oppose Trump and Netanyahu’s war of choice against Iran, and applaud those senators whose principled stand in today’s vote reflects the American public’s strong opposition to both the Iran war and to Israel’s actions in Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank that undermine efforts for peace in the region,” said Jeremy Ben-Ami, the group’s president.
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By Joe Garofoli, Political Columnist April 16, 2026 (SFChronicle.com)
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From left: California governor candidates former Rep. Katie Porter, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former Health Secretary Xavier Bacerra, former state Controller Betty Yee and California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond participate in a forum in Los Angeles last September.Carlin Stiehl/Tribune News Service
The possibility that Democrats will be locked out of the race for California governor has dramatically shrunk, political analysts believe.
That’s a huge silver lining for the party after its leading candidate, former Rep. Eric Swalwell, dropped out of the race after a Chronicle report in which a former staffer alleged he had sexually assaulted her.
Sacramento data expert Paul Mitchell, who created an online model that simulates thousands of election scenarios, said that “the program really believes that the odds of two Republicans splitting the vote is more remote, almost nonexistent.”
Not only that, Mitchell, said, but the model forecasts Swalwell’s supporters migrating to Tom Steyer and former Rep. Katie Porter, meaning support for those two candidates could be “growing to an extent that they could actually be the top two candidates, creating a greater chance of a Top Two general election with NO REPUBLICAN, which would be quite a twist!” he wrote in an email.
Other analysts weren’t ready to go that far, but agreed that it is now unlikely — but not impossible — that Democrats will be watching the November election from the sidelines.
“I’ve been saying all along that I think that two Republicans is possible, but not probable,” said Mark Baldassare, survey director at the Public Policy Institute of California. “I continue to say it’s not probable that there would be two Republicans” on the ballot in November.
The organization released a poll Tuesday that showed Swalwell leading the race with 18% support, followed by Fox News commentator Steve Hilton with 17%, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco with 14%, Steyer with 14% and Porter with 10%. The other top Democratic candidates scored at 5% or lower. The survey was conducted before Swalwell exited the race and resigned from Congress.
Since PPIC’s February survey, Swalwell surged higher than any other candidate (11% to 18%), while support for Porter decreased the most (21% to 10%).
Baldassare noted that Swalwell’s name will remain on the ballot, and it is probable that he will receive votes.
In 2014, former San Francisco Democratic state Sen. Leland Yee received 380,361 votes out of 4 million cast just two months after being indicted in a federal corruption investigation. He finished in third place in the primary, ahead of several candidates who had been actively campaigning. Baldassare noted that 69% of Swalwell’s supporters described themselves as liberal in the new PPIC poll, meaning “that they’re going to be looking for a liberal, and that’s a sizable number of people who will make it possible for at least one Democrat to get into the top two.”
There are roughly twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans in California.
Some of the migration of Swalwell supporters has begun. Steyer received the endorsement Monday from the board of the 310,000-member California Teachers Association, which had previously backed Swalwell.
CTA President David Goldberg praised Steyer for walking the picket line with teachers and for promising to reform Proposition 13, even though that will be a huge uphill battle.
“He’s been a champion for holding corporations accountable and closing the corporate tax loopholes that leave hardworking Californians behind and our essential public services without vital revenue to benefit the wealthy few,” Goldberg said.
Analysts also said President Donald Trump’s endorsement this month of Hilton “probably consolidates at least a lot of the MAGA support behind Hilton,” decreasing the chance of two Republicans advancing, said Ruth Bernstein, the senior principal with EMC Research, which was Swalwell’s longtime pollster.
Bernstein added that it’s possible that with some of the lower-polling Democrats trying to breathe life into their campaigns in the aftermath of Swalwell’s exit, “we could, instead of seeing support consolidating around one or two Democratic candidates, potentially support starts to spread between more candidates, which again, could lead to two Republicans.
“So I do think the likelihood (of a Democratic lockout) has decreased, but it’s not impossible,” Bernstein said.
Joe Garofoli is the San Francisco Chronicle’s senior political writer, covering national and state politics. He has worked at The Chronicle since 2000 and in Bay Area journalism since 1992, when he left the Milwaukee Journal. He is the host of “It’s All Political,” The Chronicle’s political podcast. Catch it here: bit.ly/2LSAUjA
He has won numerous awards and covered everything from fashion to the Jeffrey Dahmer serial killings to two Olympic Games to his own vasectomy — which he discussed on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” after being told he couldn’t say the word “balls” on the air. He regularly appears on Bay Area radio and TV talking politics and is available to entertain at bar mitzvahs and First Communions. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and a proud native of Pittsburgh. Go Steelers!
Image: Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announces charges.
Thank you, Mary Moriarty, for demonstrating the courage to do your job in this challenging moment.
Here is what has happened.
Gregory Donnell Morgan, Jr. was driving a black rental SUV east on Highway 62 in Minneapolis on the afternoon of February 5. He had no ICE markings on the vehicle. He was driving illegally on the shoulder to get around slower traffic. The driver of another car briefly pulled onto the shoulder to slow him down, then moved back into the legal lane.
Morgan sped up to pull alongside them. He slowed his car to match their speed. He rolled down his window. And he pointed his duty weapon directly at two people in the car next to his, while he kept driving illegally on the shoulder of the Crosstown.¹
That is the factual basis, in the words of the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, for the first state criminal prosecution of a federal immigration agent since Operation Metro Surge began. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty charged Morgan on Thursday with two counts of second-degree assault; a nationwide warrant is now out for his arrest. Case number 27-CR-26-9656.¹
Let’s take a beat to stop and say plainly what just happened. An on-duty federal agent pulled a gun on two civilians during a petty traffic dispute on a public highway in broad daylight. He was not making an arrest or executing a warrant, though those would not be his duties or jurisdiction even if he had been asked to do them. He was angry that someone slowed him down on the shoulder, so he pointed a firearm at two human beings inside a moving vehicle. The Hennepin County Attorney just filed felony charges for it, and the Minnesota State Patrol assembled the evidence to do it.
Moriarty’s office explained in the release why this charging decision came faster than the ones still pending in the Good, Pretti, and Sosa-Celis cases. The State Patrol was able to investigate without federal obstruction or interference.¹ When state investigators are not locked out of crime scenes, evidence warehouses, and agent personnel files, they are more able to do their jobs. When the FBI withholds evidence and the Department of Homeland Security refuses to identify the agents involved in shootings, investigations become more difficult, though not impossible. Cases should still be prosecuted when publicly available evidence is sufficient even when the federal government is uncooperative.
Morgan is not a famous name, and that is part of the significance. The shooting of Renee Good drew tens of thousands of protesters into the streets;² the killing of Alex Pretti stripped Gregory Bovino of his Border Patrol command.² Morgan’s case is different: an on-duty agent had a wild road rage incident that led to them pointing his firearm at people. An easy case in terms of the facts, still deserving of credit because it is a first. Before today, no a single ICE agent had been charged for beating, murdering, or kidnapping since Trump was put into office. Waving a duty weapon in the face of innocents should result in charges, and after almost eighteen months and thousands of similar incidents, we finally have a prosecutor stepping up.
Over the last 4 months, Mary Moriarty has likely become the most visible County Attorney in the nation, which has produced unprecedented scrutiny and public engagement in how she does her job. That is a good thing, and something for people everywhere to take note of. Learn who your County Attorney and District Attorney are, and set expectations with them.
She has been clear from the day Renee Good was killed that federal agents do not enjoy absolute immunity from state criminal law, though charges have been painfully slow to materialize and there has been minimal transparency over what seem to many like unnecessary delays. Her office has also issued Touhy demands, filed a federal lawsuit against DHS and DOJ for withholding evidence, and opened criminal investigations into seventeen separate incidents.⁴ She has walked her staff and her community through months of work to get to this charging decision. Today’s filing is the first product. More should follow.
I want to thank you all. The Existentialist Republic community is verifiably responsible for thousands of calls to Mary Moriarty’s office. Thousands of emails filled her staff’s inboxes. ER members stood on Minneapolis sidewalks handing out flyers to thousands of their neighbors, face to face, for weeks.
Credit most importantly belongs to the Minneapolis protesters who stood in the streets during single digit temperatures while federal agents fired pepper balls at them, as well as volunteering to follow and document ICE activities. I was fortunate enough to cover the story firsthand in January and February, watching everyone from suburban soccer moms to retired educators to young Uber drivers get assaulted, threatened with deadly weapons, and stalked just for gathering footage of what was happening. They created the public record that made this accountability thinkable.
Local activists, journalists, and organizers have never stopped demanding justice. That community has set the example in a way we should all emulate.
Special thanks as well to Minneapolis journalists at the Star Tribune, the Minnesota Reformer, Sahan Journal, MPR News, and KARE 11 for refusing to accept DHS press releases as fact and for publishing what the video actually showed.
This is how state prosecutors bring criminal charges against federal agents. Prosecutors need evidence they can touch. They need public support that covers their political flank. They need a community that does not go home when the news cycle moves on. Something is changing. Celebrate it and keep showing up. Louder, too.
The fight is not over, but the exits are narrower than the administration wants you to believe. Morgan’s lawyers will almost certainly succeed in moving the case to federal court under 28 U.S.C. § 1442. Removal is routine, and the bar is low. Removal does not erase the charge. A federal judge still applies Minnesota’s second-degree assault statute to the same facts. Morgan walks free only if he also wins a Supremacy Clause immunity defense, and that doctrine is narrow. Under In re Neagle and the Supreme Court’s 2025 decision in Martin v. United States, the agent must prove he was performing an authorized federal duty, that his conduct was necessary and proper to that duty, and that he had an honest and reasonable belief it was necessary. Morgan fails every prong. Driving illegally on the shoulder of the Crosstown in an unmarked rental car during a road-rage dispute is not an ICE duty. Pointing a loaded weapon at two civilians to retaliate for being slowed down is not necessary or proper to enforcing immigration law. No reasonable federal officer could honestly believe it was.
The administration will still attack Moriarty personally, and the Department of Justice, which caved on its “investigation” into her office back in February,⁵ may try again.
But a wall just came down. For the first time since Operation Metro Surge began, a federal immigration agent is a named criminal defendant in a state court of law, with an active nationwide warrant for his arrest on felony assault charges. Every state prosecutor in America who has been told that a federal badge means automatic immunity just received a template for how to prove otherwise. Moriarty’s office has given them the roadmap and the case number. Sixteen more incidents remain under investigation in Hennepin County alone, and every state in the country now has a working example of how to do this.
We said from the beginning that state prosecution was the mechanism that worked. We said the federal immunity claims don’t hold up against openly criminal conduct. Today, Mary Moriarty proved it. Tomorrow, we build on it.
Feel free to thank Mary Moriarty for enforcing the law:
Office Email: Mary.Moriarty@hennepin.us
Office Phone: 612-348-5550
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Works Cited
Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. (2026, April 16). Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charges ICE agent with two counts of second-degree assault for February incident on Hwy 62. https://www.hennepinattorney.org/news/news/2026/April/morgan-charges ¹
Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. (2026, March 2). HCAO launches new evidence portal, establishes Transparency and Accountability Project. https://www.hennepinattorney.org/news/news/2026/March/tap-portal ³
Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. (2026, March 24). Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, State of Minnesota, Bureau of Criminal Apprehension sue federal government for access to evidence related to Metro Surge shootings. https://www.hennepinattorney.org/news/news/2026/March/federal-lawsuit ⁴
Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. (2026, February 27). HCAO statement on U.S. Department of Justice caving on “investigation” into office policy. https://www.hennepinattorney.org/news/news/2026/February/doj-response ⁵
Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) was pictured at a news conference in Washington, DC on July 17, 2025.
(Photo by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
“It is deeply disappointing that Rep. Golden joined Republicans in opposing efforts to stop further escalation,” said one peace advocate. “Democratic leadership’s handling of this moment is also concerning.”
With the decisive support of one Democrat—Rep. Jared Golden of Maine—the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Thursday voted down a war powers resolution aimed at ending President Donald Trump’s illegal assault on Iran, over six weeks after it began.
The final vote was 213-214, with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) joining nearly every House Democrat in supporting the resolution, which would have forced Trump to withdraw American troops from hostilities in Iran absent congressional authorization. Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) voted present and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) didn’t vote, despite criticizing the war and telling reporters last month that she would “most likely” support the Democratic resolution.
In the lead-up to Thursday’s vote, Democratic leaders—including the resolution’s chief sponsor, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York—faced backlash for slowwalking the legislative effort to end the war even as it appeared that momentum was on their side. Earlier this month, the House Democratic leadership opted to punt the war powers vote until after spring recess, during which the Trump administration and Iran’s government reached a tenuous ceasefire deal.
Three of the four House Democrats who voted against an Iran war powers resolution in early March flipped their votes on Thursday: Reps. Henry Cuellar of Texas, Greg Landsman of Ohio, and Juan Vargas of California. Golden, who also voted against the earlier resolution, is not running for reelection.
“While we are encouraged to see growing support,” said Demand Progress senior policy adviser Cavan Kharrazian, “it is deeply disappointing that Rep. Golden joined Republicans in opposing efforts to stop further escalation, casting a decisive vote against the resolution.”
“Democratic leadership’s handling of this moment is also concerning,” said Kharrazian. “They previously declined to force a war powers vote before a critical period of escalation before recess, citing a lack of votes. Now they have moved forward under less favorable conditions, including during sensitive ceasefire negotiations, but still without the votes they previously claimed were necessary before proceeding, and with a changed balance in the House. That inconsistency raises a serious question about what is driving leadership’s priorities: strategy or politics.”
“We urge members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike, to support sustained diplomatic efforts to resolve this conflict,” Kharrazian added. “The American people overwhelmingly reject this war and want a diplomatic end to it.”
The House voted marked the sixth time an Iran-related war powers resolution has failed in the House or Senate since Trump started bombing on February 28.
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said Thursday that he supported the war powers effort on Thursday because “Trump’s war of choice was not authorized by Congress, was started without a plan or an exit strategy, and has achieved none of the contradictory objectives used to justify it.”
“Trump’s war in Iran is deeply unpopular,” Pocan added, “and it’s time to end what never should have started.”
Ryan Costello, policy director with the National Iranian American Council, said in a statement that “the narrow defeat of a resolution to definitively end the war on Iran is another tragic missed opportunity, but the gap between public opposition to the war and votes to end it is narrowing.”
“All but one House Democrat voted unanimously in support of the resolution but were joined by just one Republican,” said Costello. “Golden will need to answer to his Maine constituents, many of whom are veterans and pro-peace Americans who question why Washington so consistently sends brave servicemembers into ill-advised, disastrous wars of choice that kill civilians and sabotage the global economy. So too do all of the Republicans who chose again not to use their power to convince President Trump to take an off-ramp and end this disastrous war that puts Benjamin Netanyahu’s dreams, not the American people and American security, first.”
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Several Democrats in the race for California governor gained some ground in a new poll conducted just in the last two days, following the swift downfall of Eric Swalwell, but the two Republican candidates still hold a small lead.
The new poll, conducted April 14 and 15 by Emerson College Polling, has Republican Steven Hilton holding his lead at 16.6%, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco at 14.4%, and entrepreneur Tom Steyer nearly neck and neck with Bianco at 14.1%.
Steyer and former Congresswoman Katie Porter are expected to reap the most votes following the departure of Swalwell, and Porter is at 10.3% in this poll — up from 8.4% in Emerson’s March poll. And also rising in the poll is former health secretary and Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who is now neck and neck with Porter at 10.4%.
As Bay Area News Group reports, this poll is being used to determine which candidates qualify for next week’s Inside California Politics debate, with 5% being the cutoff. San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan just ekes by with 5.4%.
That means that former LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former state Controller Betty Yee, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond have all been disqualified from the debate.
The same three, along with Becerra, were all excluded from a planned debate at USC in late March based on their polling and fundraising numbers, but that debate ended up being canceled amid controversy over their exclusion. Critics of the methodology for qualifying for the debate noted that Mahan had been included, despite his low polling numbers, while the four candidates of color were all excluded.
Despite the new poll putting Hilton and Bianco in the lead, Democrats’ worries of being shut out of the race entirely are starting to fade, given that Swalwell’s voter base will now move to other candidates, and likely mostly to Steyer and Porter.
As the Chronicle reports today, at least one Sacramento-based political data expert is suggesting now that it’s not inconceivable that both Republican candidates will get shut out once all the primary votes are in.
That expert, Paul Mitchell, has created an online “primary simulator” model which now finds that in 87% of scenarios, the primary will result in a Democrat vs. Republican race for governor. And it has Hilton and Steyer as the likeliest top two vote-getters in June. The model gives a 7.5% probability of Hilton and Bianco being the only two in the November race, and a 5.5% probability that it will be Steyer vs. Porter.
Mitchell tells the Chronicle that “the program really believes that the odds of two Republicans splitting the vote is more remote, almost nonexistent” now that Swalwell has dropped out of the equation.
Still to come will be the possibility of the lowest-polling candidates departing the race, though mail-in primary ballots are set to be sent out in less than three weeks.
Top image: Xavier Becerra and Katie Porter attend “Our Climate Future: A Forum with California’s Next Governor” on January 28, 2026 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Matei Horvath/Getty Images for California Environmental Voters)
Congressional candidate Saikat Chakrabarti poses for a picture at a cafe close to Duboce Triangle on Feb. 25, 2026. Photo by Yujie Zhou.
Saikat Chakrabarti, a top contender in the race to succeed Rep. Nancy Pelosi in California’s 11th congressional district, has more money fueling his campaign than every other candidate combined — most of it from his own wallet.
Chakrabarti’s campaign raised $5.2 million, which includes $4.8 million he’s pitched in himself, according to federal filings released on Wednesday. The filings show money raised by campaigns as of the end of March.
Already, Chakrabarti has burned through all but $209,000, spending close to $5 million — $3.3 million of that in the first quarter of 2026 alone. Chakrabarti, who became a centimillionaire after working for Stripe, can contribute more money to his campaign at any time.https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/8Lh0e/6/
The bulk of his spending so far this year has gone toward ads, including TV spots that have become ubiquitous in San Francisco homes. The relatively unknown candidate is seeking to quickly increase name recognition against his rivals, both of whom are long-serving elected officials.
Scott Wiener, the state senator and presumptive front-runner, has raised $3.5 million to fund his campaign.
Unlike Chakrabarti, Wiener’s cash comes almost entirely from direct fundraising: 98 percent of the contributions to his campaign came from individual donors, the rest from political action committees.
Connie Chan, the District 1 supervisor, trails far behind her opponents with $459,000. Around 90 percent of that is from direct fundraising, the rest from PACs. She started fundraising in November 2025.
Both Wiener and Chan, though trailing Chakrabarti in total funds because of his self-financing, have raised more money from donors.
Marie Hurabiell, a former Trump appointee turned Democrat, only entered the race in February. She has amassed some $420,000, with $100,000 of that coming from her own funds.
Wednesday’s filings give voters a detailed look into each candidate’s finances and, by extension, the health of the campaigns. Candidates will face off in a June 2 primary, where only the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, will advance to the November election.
Who has the most donors?
Although only about $360,000 of Chakrabarti’s fundraising has come from individual donors, Chakrabarti’s campaign touted an eye-popping 13,000 of them, according to communications director Tiffaney Bradley. It’s an indication of small-dollar giving.
“You can see the grassroots support behind us in our numbers … with an average donation of $27 and strong support across San Francisco and the state,” she said.
Chakrabarti’s campaign sent out an email blast on March 30, a day before the Federal Election Commission’s filing deadline, to ask for small donations. It’s unclear how many came in after that email.
“Reporters and pundits pay close attention to these end-of-quarter filings to determine whether a campaign is serious about going the distance — so we’re asking people to chip in $1 and demonstrate just how many supporters are ready to back Saikat,” Emily Hyden, Charkarbarti’s campaign manager, wrote in the email.
Wiener has also amassed a large donor base, but it is a fraction of Chakrabarti’s.
According to his campaign, 3,371 donors contributed to support Wiener’s run for Congress, and three-quarters of those who gave this year were first-time donors to the campaign. Wiener’s $3.5 million is also the result of almost three years of fundraising, which began as early as June 2023.
Wiener has relied on larger contributions from fewer donors. Between 2023 and 2025, his campaign received over 800 contributions of more than $3,000.
Chan said over 2,000 individual donors contributed to her campaign.
“Connie Chan is a longtime public servant. She is not bankrolled by billionaires. She is not a tech millionaire,” said Julie Edwards, the 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 2,000 individual donors — who will continue to power this campaign to victory on June 2.”
Marie Hurabiell, who was last to join the race seven weeks ago, has about $420,000 in the bank. While Hurabiell touted this figure on social media, a quarter of that came from her own funds, and not from direct fundraising.
Hurabiell said her campaign will start airing TV ads in two weeks.
Committees run by candidates are subject to contribution limits, unlike independent expenditure committees, or PACs. Individuals can only give up to $3,500 to a federal candidate per election — the candidate themselves, however, can give as much as they like, as Chakrabarti has. The June primary and November election are counted as separate elections.
An independent expenditure for Chan, the “Working Families for San Francisco PAC,” was created on March 26 and will be funded mostly by local labor unions, according to political consultant David Ho, who is running it. It has not yet reported any contributions or any expenditures in the race.
Meanwhile, an anti-Chakrabarti PAC backed by major tech donors and a criminal-justice advocacy group has already paid for more than $200,000 worth of mailers and advertisements attacking the candidate.
Where are the candidates spending?
Over $2 million of Chakrabarti’s $3.3 million in spending during the first quarter of this year went to advertising in January, February and March, including several hundred-thousand dollar television ad buys.
Chakrabarti has also spent heavily on staff. While other campaigns rely on an army of volunteers to canvas, Chakrabarti’s campaign is paying more than 250 canvassers up to $45 an hour.
Wiener, Chan and Hurabiell all ended the quarter with more cash on hand. Wiener, who ended the month of March with $2.6 million in reserves, has three quarters of the total amount he has fundraised left to spend.
Which third-party PACs are spending on the race?
So far, only one PAC has spent on the race: Abundant Future. It has shelled out more than $200,000 to oppose Chakarbarti, including printing mailers spoofing a travel postcard that said “Saikat Chakrabarti sends greetings from Maryland.”
When the PAC was opened in 2025, it received donations from wealthy tech figures who have spent heavily against progressives in San Francisco, like Chris Larsen, Garry Tan, Jeremy Liew, and Jeremy Stoppelman. All four are backing Wiener for Pelosi’s seat.
From January to March 2026, the top donor to Abundant Future was Smart Justice California, a criminal justice reform organization, which put in $250,000.
The group is focused on justice reform in the California legislature, and has donated to Wiener before. Its main funders include Patty Quillin, the wife of Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings; and Elizabeth Simons, the daughter of hedge fund manager James Simons.
That PAC ended March with more than $200,000 in cash on hand, so more spending may be on the way.
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Kelly Waldron is a data reporter at Mission Local. She studied Geography at McGill University and worked at a remote sensing company in Montreal, analyzing methane data, before turning to journalism and earning a master’s degree from Columbia Journalism School. You can reach her on Signal @kwaldron.60.More by Kelly Waldron
Io is a staff reporter at Mission Local covering city hall and S.F. politics. She is a part of Report for America, which supports journalists in local newsrooms.
Io was born and raised in San Francisco and previously reported on the city while working for her high school newspaper, The Lowell. She studied the history of science at Harvard and wrote for The Harvard Crimson.
Yujie is a staff reporter covering city hall with a focus on the Asian community. She came on as an intern after graduating from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and became a full-time staff reporter as a Report for America corps member and has stayed on. Before falling in love with San Francisco, Yujie covered New York City, studied politics through the “street clashes” in Hong Kong, and earned a wine-tasting certificate in two days. She’s proud to be a bilingual journalist. Find her on Signal @Yujie_ZZ.01More by Yujie Zhou
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Troupe is struggling to solidify our favorite Berkeley parks this season — specifically Live Oak, Willard, and Cedar Rose. So far, we haven’t been able to get confirmation from the Parks and Recreation Department that we can book these locations. We are reaching out to you to see if you have any inside influence that could help us lock in these parks so we can continue performing for you there. If you know anyone who can help facilitate these bookings, we’d be appreciative. For decades, our free park performances have been a beloved Berkeley tradition and we sincerely hope we can return. Our difficulty securing Berkeley park sites is creating delays in finalizing our summer schedule overall. At this point, we’ve confirmed several performances (see below), but we’ll need to book roughly 10 more by early May in order to complete our full tour. Therefore, we are taking suggestions and requests for new parks across the Bay Area! If you have a park in mind that you think would be perfect for us, and if you want us in your community, please hit us up. You can send recommendations to marissa@sfmt.org. When deciding on new parks, we take various tech requirements into consideration to find the right fit. When brainstorming your suggestions, please check out our tech requirements list here: https://www.sfmt.org/requirements. Other parks/cities we’re trying to book & establish more connections with include:Ukiah: Our location in Ukiah is still pending. We had a great time at Ukiah High School last year, but bookings with the high school are often not available until it’s too late for us to plan out our full schedule. Therefore, we are taking any other suggestions for Ukiah you may have! We are specifically eager for any recommendations for indoor venues in Ukiah.San Jose: We’re also looking for indoor venues in San Jose. If you have suggestions and contacts at a venue that you think would be a perfect fit for the Troupe, let us know!Palo Alto, Mitchell ParkSan Mateo, Central Park THE COST OF FREE 2026: Please consider underwriting a park!So far, we are in the process of booking the following parks and we need your help paying for the park/venue fees. If you are able, please consider making a donation to help us cover the following costs… cause free theater in the parks ain’t free for us! The following does not include separate costs for security or porta potties in parks. Dolores Park: $882.50 per performance Yerba Buena: $0 (bless!!) Panhandle: $1,169 La Plaza Park, Cotati: $695 Lakeside Park, Oakland: $664.40 per performance Davis: $858.44 Precita Park: $1,931 Mill Valley, Lawn/Triangle: $936 London Nelson Community Center, Santa Cruz: $267 per performance Z Space: $3,300 (pending booking) IF ANYONE HAS INSIDE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT HOW WE COULD GET THESE FEES DISCOUNTED OR EVEN WAIVED, PLEASE LET US KNOW! WE’RE ALL EARS! We’re in the home stretch, and are getting closer to making a full tour happen, that is if we can book Berkeley and establish yet more park connections. Please join us in the community effort to make free performances in the parks a reality and to keep the San Francisco Mime Troupe in a park near you this summer.
We also accept checks made out to SFMT.(And we get your full donation, no third party charges when you send a check!)Mail to: 855 Treat Ave, San Francisco, CA 94110
District 11 Supervisor Chyanne Chen is leading the push to create a public bank.
Chen requested that a charter amendment be drafted to create a municipal financial corporation and public bank, she announced on Tuesday. The amendment is intended to go before voters in November.
“San Franciscans need and deserve bold solutions to address housing affordability, small business vibrancy and climate sustainability, and this is the right time to advance solutions that lead towards a just economic recovery for all San Franciscans,” Chen said in a statement.
A public bank would allow San Francisco to “develop financing tools and lending products that will benefit three of San Francisco’s most consistent priorities: affordable housing, small business, and climate sustainability,” according to a news release.
Public banks are not a new concept. The Bank of North Dakota has been in operation for over a century. And San Francisco has made a number of moves, many of which were enabled by a new state law, to advance the idea.
The San Francisco Public Bank Coalition began advocating for a public bank many years ago. Jackie Fielder, the District 9 supervisor, was among its leaders.
Ingleside native Della Duncan, host of the Upstream Podcast and Co-lead of the San Francisco Doughnut Economics initiative, was involved with the project in its early days.
“Right now, most cities bank with large corporations, which means public money leaves the community as shareholder dividends and often makes loans misaligned with public values,” Duncan said. “A San Francisco public bank would keep that money local — transparent, accountable to the people and invested in the well-being of our communities and ecosystems.”
Alex Mullaney founded The Ingleside Light in 2008 during the peak of San Francisco’s great tradition of neighborhood newspapers. He is the publisher and editor.All articles
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When you volunteer for Saikat, it’s on us to give you a great experience and a genuine chance to make a difference. We don’t want to waste a second of your time. That’s why we’re always optimizing. And I’m excited to report that this Saturday we talked with 300% more... Continue reading →
Trump Regime Takedown: Every Saturday Saturday, March 7, 2026 12:00 PM 2:00 PM Tesla San Francisco999 Van Ness AvenueSan Francisco, CA, 94109United States (map) Google Calendar ICS Keep democracy alive every Saturday by showing up, taking a stand, and sticking together for the long haul. Standing together is better than standing alone. Let’s get together... Continue reading →
This Sunday’s Town Hall: Announcing This Week’s Progressive Town Hall: Every Sunday at 4pm ET/1pm PT RSVP HERE Join PDA activists online from across the country to discuss the importance of progressives reclaiming the American story from the MAGA right, an issue of heightened importance as we’re now within one... Continue reading →
Community Coffee – Outer Sunset Sunday, April 19 | 1–3 PM Location: Java Beach Cafe, 1396 La Playa St Sign-up The San Francisco Democratic Party has been hosting community coffee events to connect with residents of our many different neighborhoods in SF every month. No speeches, just conversations and hearing... Continue reading →
We protest Heritage Foundation EVERY MONDAY (Join us!!!!) By admin | September 2, 2025 | Uncategorized Cliff Cash Comedy Premiered Jul 26, 2025 Every Monday at The Heritage Foundation 214 Massachusetts Ave. Washington D.C. 4pm protest 6pm pizza Every Friday at Fox News D.C. 400 N. Capitol St. Washington D.C. 4pm protest 6pm pizza We are... Continue reading →
Milk Club April General Membership Meeting Date: Tuesday, April 21 Time: 7-9 PM Location: SF LGBT Center, 1800 Market Street, San Francisco Zoom Link: Click here
One Million Rising: Strategic Non-Cooperation to Fight Authoritarianism Virtual Event · Hosted by No Kings Time Wednesdays 8 – 9:30pm EDT Location Virtual event Join from anywhere About this event Across the country, authoritarian forces are getting bolder and more dangerous. Trump and his allies are not hiding their agenda: mass deportations,... Continue reading →
Meeting Agenda April 22, 2026 The San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee will meet on Wednesday, April 22, 2026 at 6:30 pm at Milton Marks Auditorium, 455 Golden Gate Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102. A security screening will be required to enter the building. Members of the public can live... Continue reading →
SF Green Party Showing events after 3/27. Look for earlier events Wednesday, April 20 7:30pm SF Green Party Council Meeting WhenWed, April 20, 7:30pm – 9:00pm WhereEl CafeTazo, 3087 16th St, San Francisco, CA 94103 (map) Description: This elected group is the equivalent to other political parties Central Committee. The San Franciso... Continue reading →
THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 2023 AT 2 AM – 4 AM PDT How to create trust in a group? Details Event by Extinction Rebellion Empathy Circles online EMPATHY CAFE Duration: 2 hr Public · Anyone on or off Facebook How to create trust in a group? This is the question that arose in our... Continue reading →
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