“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
2018 was a historic blowout for the Dems. This year, primary turnout is much higher.
It was a mixed bag for the left in Tuesday’s primary elections. In Wisconsin, DSA candidate Francesca Hong, who was far ahead in the polls and expected to win easily, instead lost in a squeaker to David Crowley. But in Minnesota, the state’s lefty lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan easily whipped the moderate Rep. Angie Craig in the primary for that state’s U.S. Senate seat, by a nearly 20-point margin. While the Wisconsin result was disappointing, if progressives had to pick, it was likely more important for Flanagan to win than Hong. In Wisconsin, what state Democrats can do will depend more on whether they can take control of the state legislature in the upcoming election and win total control of state government for the first time since 2010. Moreover, by all accounts Crowley is a fairly standard-issue liberal who would probably sign most progressive legislation; he has already announced plans to campaign alongside Hong. Craig, by contrast, is a loud centrist who voted for the Laken Riley Act, which granted sweeping powers to ICE—which would, of course, go on to mercilessly gun down two Minnesota residents—as well as for a resolution thanking the agency. Whatever these races say about the state of the left—I would call it a story of gradual building success over time, with some unsurprising setbacks—the polls and turnout numbers have some more reliable lessons. They show that the Democratic base is boiling with energy and champing at the bit to vote against Republicans. The polls for the Wisconsin race were off by roughly 20 points—about the same amount they were off in Minnesota (though in that case, they underestimated the progressive Flanagan), and in the Michigan race last week. Clearly, something is rotten in the state of cellphone autodialers. Polling primaries was tough business even 30 years ago when everyone had a landline and calls from strangers were not 95 percent spam, because one has to gather data and then estimate how many people are actually going to turn out. That can vary wildly depending on the state, the party, whether it is a competitive race, the national environment, and so on.
Incidentally, the vaunted prediction markets also completely flubbed this one. They couldn’t even sort out who was likely to win when votes started coming in and the political pros could guess with increasing accuracy who was likely to win based on where the remaining votes were located. They were quite obviously just swinging wildly back and forth with the headlines. It turns out markets are not some infallible distillers of Truth from the celestial ether. I’d guess that the pollsters are not getting good samples for these races, but they almost certainly missed the turnout. Let’s compare this year to 2018, the last time there was a contested Democratic primary in Wisconsin and an uncontested Republican one, to make it a fairly apples-to-apples comparison. Six years ago, about 539,000 people cast Democratic ballots, as compared to 455,000 Republicans. This year, with a few thousand votes still to count, it was more like 825,000 Democrats and 490,000 Republicans. It’s a similar story in other recent primaries, where 2018 is once again the most recent similar year. In Minnesota in 2018, about 584,000 Democrats and 320,000 Republicans turned out; this year, the numbers were 700,000 and 405,000, respectively. In Michigan in 2018, about 1.1 million Democrats and 990,000 Republicans turned out; this year, the numbers were 1.5 million and 931,000, respectively. The 2018 elections were nearly a clean Democratic sweep in these states. They won the U.S. Senate seats and the governorships in all three, and missed control of the Minnesota Senate by one vote. They would have won the Wisconsin State Assembly too if Republicans hadn’t rigged the district boundaries so egregiously that an eight-point defeat in the popular vote became a nearly two-thirds majority in seats. (Luckily, thanks to Democrats flipping the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the state legislative maps are now reasonably fair.) Primary turnouts are a decent, albeit imperfect, historical proxy for general-election performances. And if there is any major difference between today and 2018, it’s that Donald Trump, with his lunatic tariff obsession and unwinnable war in Iran, is substantially less popular than he was back then. Unless something big changes, Republicans are liable to be looking at a generational wipeout in November.
The media is propping up “centrist” analysts warning voters that the progressive and democratic socialist candidates winning elections are “unelectable.” But they’re not disclosing that those analysts are funded by billionaires and mega-corporations.
Matt Bennett, Jonathan Cowan, and Jim Kessler, three of the five co-founders of Third Way. Photo By Chris Maddaloni/Roll Call/Getty Images.
As progressive, DSA, and DSA-adjacent candidates win primaries throughout the US, corporate media is rushing to prop up their favorite “centrist” and “moderate” critics—who, ostensibly, are just looking out for the wellbeing of the Democratic Party—to explain why these candidates people are voting for are actually dangerous and “unelectable.” What the media is refusing to do, on an institutional level, is disclose the glaring conflicts of interests these groups—backed by billionaires, health insurance giants, pro-Israel lobbying firms, and massive corporations —would have in attacking candidates who undermine their sponsors’ bottom lines and ideological agendas.
As progressive, DSA, and DSA-adjacent candidates win primaries throughout the US, corporate media is rushing to prop up their favorite “centrist” and “moderate” critics—who, ostensibly, are just looking out for the wellbeing of the Democratic Party—to explain why these candidates people are voting for are actually dangerous and “unelectable.”
As I noted in TRNN in June, certain personalities and parties with blatant conflicts of interest are being boosted by US media—presented as mere neutral observers who are Deeply Concerned About Electability—to dump on insurgent candidates such as Claire Valdez, Darializa Avila-Chevalier, Melat Kiro and, most recently, Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed. El-Sayed’s primary victory in Michigan signaled serious upward momentum for the latest progressive insurgency within the Democratic Party—and triggered a PR crisis for the Democratic establishment. That momentum was stemmed this week, if only for now, as DSA-endorsed candidate for Wisconsin Governor Francesca Hong was narrowly defeated—a defeat that was reportedly due, in part, to voter concerns over “electability.”
But who shapes “electability” perceptions in our media?
Let’s examine a recent article in The New York Times, which broke the news on August 6, in the wake of El-Sayed’s primary victory, about a $15-million effort by “moderate” group Third Way to attack the DSA specifically and socialism more broadly (despite El-Sayed explicitly being neither a socialist nor a DSA member, but he still champions Medicare for All and cutting US support for Israel, so the distinction to these groups is purely academic). In response to socialist and progressive primary wins, Third Way President Jonathan Cowan told the Times he is “preparing for war” against candidates he views as insufficiently “moderate.” Central to Third Way’s argument are supposed concerns over the “electability” of Democratic candidates facing MAGA Republicans in the November midterms—a motive taken at face value by The New York Times.
Third Way does not publish their donors and refuses to answer media inquiries about who keeps their operation financially afloat.
Not once did Times reporter Shane Goldmacher inquire about or address—much less investigate and unearth—who is funding this operation. The money is simply said to come from Third Way. But Third Way does not generate revenue. They are backed by specific interests. “Who are these interests?” seems like a fairly obvious question that a reporter should ask. Alas, it’s not one Shane Goldmacher seems the least bit interested in.
So who is backing Third Way?
Third Way does not publish their donors and refuses to answer media inquiries about who keeps their operation financially afloat. But reporting in The Nation in 2013 revealed the group was being backed then by the US Chamber of Commerce, Deutsche Bank, Intel, the Business Roundtable, and the Pharma lobbying giant PhRMA (Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America). More recent digging by The Sludge revealed major donors now include the Republican-run insurance industry front group Better Solutions for Healthcare, PhRMA, CVS Health, pharma giant Johnson & Johnson, and the Business Roundtable. Other major corporate backers include Entergy, Yum! Brands, Amazon, and Meta––all corporations with much to lose in the event Congress passes measures to impose higher taxes on corporations and the rich, or to provide single-payer healthcare for all.
Additionally, Goldmacher quotes two other “centrist” groups in his Times article—the Center for New Liberalism and Welcome PAC—without noting the patronage they receive from billionaire and corporate interests. The Center for New Liberalism, as I documented in 2023, is a front group for Third Way Foundation (which also goes by the name Progressive Policy Institute) and is funded by ExxonMobil, Big Pharma, Big Tobacco, Walmart, and Amazon. (The Third Way Foundation used to be related to the aforementioned Third Way, but is now its own independent corporate front group.)
WelcomePAC, for its part, is funded directly by mega-billionaires: LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman; six different relatives and heirs of Walmart founder Sam Walton (the richest family in America); Bain Capital co-chairman Joshua Bekenstein; Rupert Murdoch’s son James Murdoch; and Mark Heising, the founder of private equity firm Medley Partners, among others.
Shouldn’t these obvious conflicts of interest at least be mentioned? Noted in passing, maybe? Especially in an article specifically about one of these groups spending $15 million to attack “the left,” shouldn’t a reporter be asking where exactly the $15 million came from?
Shouldn’t these obvious conflicts of interest at least be mentioned? Noted in passing, maybe? Especially in an article specifically about one of these groups spending $15 million to attack “the left,” shouldn’t a reporter be asking where exactly the $15 million came from? Or where the money behind these other Deeply Worried Centrist Groups comes from? Isn’t it relevant to note Third Way’s long history of being funded by Wall Street and the health insurance lobby? For a high school reporter, this would obviously be the first line of questions to ask. Presumably, Third Way didn’t just manifest the money out of thin air… So who is footing the bill? And shouldn’t potential voters know who is paying for this campaign, and others like it, to bombard them with falsely “objective” arguments about who is and isn’t “electable” in America?
The Times isn’t alone. Recent softball coverage of, op-eds by, or interviews with Third Way and other “moderate groups” in mainstream media also did not disclose who is bankrolling Third Way, which has quickly emerged as a Sensible Voice opposed to the “radical left.”
Shouldn’t potential voters know who is paying for this campaign, and others like it, to bombard them with falsely “objective” arguments about who is and isn’t “electable” in America?
Last week, CBS News did a five-and-a-half-minute puff interview with Third Day’s Jon Cowan, in which Cowan was given free rein to bash the DSA and El-Sayed without mentioning that Cowan’s salary is paid by private health insurance companies and other corporate America behemoths that would all stand to lose a lot of money and power in the event Medicare For All became a mainstream Democratic position. The Washington Post, likewise, published an op-ed by Cowan and Third Way Executive Vice President Matt Bennett the next day, in which they lambast El-Sayed and other progressives’ supposed lack of “electability” without disclosing who backs their astroturf “think tank.” Earlier that same week, CNN ran an otherwise balanced segment on “The Left Insurgency” that nevertheless featured an interview with Cowan and introduced Third Way as a “Democratic centrist group” without mentioning the corporate funders paying him to go on CNN and lament about “electability concerns.”
Why is discussion of “electability” almost entirely being shaped by astroturfed corporate front groups with obvious conflicts of interest?
It’s not that US media should never report on potential “electability” dynamics—with both the center and left––but why not turn to parties with fewer obvious conflicts of interest? Why not consult independent pollsters or academics? Why not ask Left-aligned experts as well as those on the dole of the Health Insurance lobby? Why is discussion of “electability” almost entirely being shaped by astroturfed corporate front groups with obvious conflicts of interest?
Journalism is supposed to, at least in theory, be about questioning the motives of the powerful, following the money, and connecting the dots. It’s not supposed to be the practice of credulously reprinting the opinions of powerful people presenting themselves as having only the noblest of motivations.
But here’s the rub: these billionaire- and corporate-backed groups, and their media mouthpieces, can’t talk about the forces propping them up, because to do so would give the game away. They can’t openly discuss or defend their attendant ideologies of capitalism, deregulation, imperialism, and Zionism because these are increasingly unpopular among the Democratic voters whose interests they allegedly care about. So what’s left? If they can’t speak openly about their elite patrons and make arguments from first principles, all that’s left is feigned concern over the “electability” of the “other guy.” That’s why it’s all they talk about. They can’t make arguments for “centrism” or against Medicare for All, so all they have is a nonstop posture of Deep Concern Over Electability, which, over time, gets repeated into becoming conventional wisdom despite no empirical basis for the narrative that “moderate” “centrists” are more electable. It apparently doesn’t matter how many times the centrist wing of the party loses Congress or blows it to Trump, they still claim, through sheer assertion and dogma and endless media spots, that they are uniquely positioned to “defeat republicans.” And this is a posture our media pundits echo without an ounce of skepticism.
It apparently doesn’t matter how many times the centrist wing of the party loses Congress or blows it to Trump, they still claim, through sheer assertion and dogma and endless media spots, that they are uniquely positioned to “defeat republicans.”
“Moderate” groups like Third Way are fronts for corporate America and billionaire interests; they’re not just aw-shucks groups of concerned citizens with organic worries about Democrats losing in November. Those claiming to be journalists should ask deeper questions, follow the money, and provide readers essential context that the person being held up as a neutral—if vaguely ideological—expert on winning elections is sponsored by the very health insurance industry that stands to lose a great deal should the progressives they’re bashing ever ascend to positions of power.
The Real News Network
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The journalism that refuses to be bought. Funded by people like you.
All across the US communities have shut down DATA Centers – This article has info about Bay Area Communities
“Working class communities are pushing back against the rapid expansion of AI data centers, rejecting the premise that they are a necessary cost of innovation and the practice of corporations making decisions about communities, especially while they drain local resources and deliver little benefit to the people who actually live there.,,”
In Daly City/San Francisco – Cow Palace:
· In Daly City, the historic Cow Palace was eyed as a potential “edge” data center by Global Stack LLC, but community organizing led the Cow Palace Board of Directors to suspend any considerations of the concept indefinitely.
See Petition #3
D. Trump-linked oil firm to begin drilling in Greenland without official permission: Report– August 11, 2026
Speak at the August 13 Voting Meeting: Call in by 11 a.m. Each speaker gets 1 minute. English: 1-800-857-1917, Passcode: 9899501# Spanish: 1-800-857-1917, Passcode: 3799627# Press *1 when prompted to be added to the speaker queue
In spite of the sky high rates we are already paying, PG&E is asking the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to jack them up even more! They’re even trying to pass the cost of new data center infrastructure on to us
On August 13th, 2026, the CPUC will vote on Charter Communications (Spectrum) acquiring Cox. We need your voice before that happens!
The Problem:
Research submitted by TURN found that Charter charges some low-income communities $20 more per month for the same broadband service as wealthy neighborhoods. Promotional pricing traps can add up to $45/month in surprise bill increases once the promo period ends.
Two Decisions. One Right Choice.
The Commission has issued two proposed decisions that have major differences.
SUPPORT: ALJ Ormond PD — Ends pricing discrimination. Requires equal pricing for all customers regardless of neighborhood. Protects LifeLine affordable internet access for up to 15 years.
DECLINE: Baker Alternate PD — Relies on flawed settlements that allow most of Charter’s discriminatory pricing practices to continue.
See Petition # 4
Info from Oil& Gas Network
2. Thursday, 4:00pm – 6:00pm, Tell Target to Stand Up To ICE!
Metreon Target 789 Mission Street. Meet on the sidewalk by the Mission Street entrance. SF
Tell Target: We will boycott until they Stand Up To ICE!
Join us to say: Until Target acts to protect its workers and guests from ICE, we will not shop at Target! We will hold signs, hand out flyers, and explain why we must all boycott Target until they Stand Up To ICE. Bring a sign if you have one.
Northwest corner of 14th & Broadway Oakland (Nr. 12th Street BART)
Legalization For All Network Call To Action! Stop Trump’s Attacks on Haitian Immigrants! Defend TPS. Legalization NOT Deportation! Protest For Immigrant Rights.
Wynd Kaufmyn, was sentenced in San Francisco to a 14-day jail sentence (equaling 7 actual days served with time credits) and 128 hours of community service, alongside a stay-away order. Her charges followed a conviction for blockading OpenAI’s headquarters in SF
5. Friday, 7:00pm – 9:00pm, Join Us for a Discussion on: What Should We Do Now to Work for Revolution?
Revolution Books – Berkeley 2444 Durant Ave. Berkeley
We’ll discuss this excerpt from the talk by Bob Avakian: “Something terrible something truly emancipating, Profound Crisis, Deepening Divisions, The Looming Possibility Of Civil War—And The Revolution That Is Urgently Needed A Necessary Foundation, A Basic Roadmap For This Revolution” from 2021.
“The basic way to do this is laid out in the “Declaration and Call.” First of all:
“We need to urgently change the situation where not nearly enough people know about this revolution and are with it. We need to get this revolution, and its leadership, known everywhere. We need to challenge and seriously struggle with people right around us, and all over the country, to do something that, yes, requires real heart and will make a positive difference for real—become part of this revolution, and follow this revolutionary leadership. We need to organize more and more people into the ranks of the revolution.
“So what does it mean to go to work now to organize people into this revolution? As the “Declaration and Call” explains:
“Organizing people into this revolution means reaching out to all sorts of people—not just where there are protests and rebellions against oppression and injustice, but everywhere throughout society—spreading the word about revolution and getting people together (in real life and online) to grapple with why an actual revolution is necessary, what such a revolution involves, and what kind of society this is aiming for. This will enable people who are new to the revolution to themselves become organizers for this revolution and to recruit more and more people to do the same. On this basis, and through the growing ranks of the revolution acting together as an increasingly powerful force, it will be possible to attract and organize the necessary numbers, and build up the necessary strength, to be in the position to do what needs to be done.
“We need to struggle hard with people to take up the orientation and strategy, the values and goals, for this revolution, and dedicate themselves to working for this revolution, while we unite growing numbers to fight the abuse, brutality and destruction perpetrated by this system, and through all this get thousands and then millions of people prepared and steeled to do away with this system that brings so much hell to people. We need to wield this growing revolutionary force to stand up to this system and its murderous enforcers and to change the whole “terrain” (the political, social and cultural situation and “atmosphere”) throughout society, in order to weaken the hold of this system over people, win people away from acting to strengthen and enforce this system, and create the best possible conditions for this revolution to succeed.”
Location: Post and Fillmore (RSVP for exact location) Doors open 10:30AM Program 11AM-3PM
As the AI boom drives up rents and evictions, tenants across San Francisco are coming together to stop displacement. Connect with neighbors from across San Francisco to learn about why the rent is so high, hear from tenants who have successfully organized, and fight for a city we all have a future in!
Modern warfare has come to rely more and more on killer drones, making war increasingly insulated from direct human contact. The technology, while flawed, has made it easier to engage in our forever wars without causing citizen outrage as was seen during the time of the war with Vietnam.
But there has been organized resistance to the use of these killing machines, primarily aimed at the pilots and support personnel who operate them. Protests have centered on the call to refuse to fly killer drones. The deeper goal of protestors goes beyond ending the use of these weapons, to demilitarizing our society from the ground up.
This webinar will focus on drone technology and current concerns about its use in Iran, Ukraine, and elsewhere. In addition, presenters, with many years of experience in protest, education and outreach to the U.S. military and the communities where they live, will share strategies and lessons learned, and the benefits of nonviolent direct action.
Presenters
Nick Mottern is co-coordinator, with Kathy Kelly, of BanKillerDrones.org, which has, since 2011, assisted with education and non-violent direct action at killer drone control centers inside the U.S., particularly at Creech AFB in Nevada, Hancock Air Guard base in Syracuse, NY, and Holloman AFB in Alamogordo, NM.
Toby Blomé has been organizing ongoing and weeklong protests at US drone bases since 2009, that have included Creech AFB in Nevada, Beale AFB in California, and, since 2023, Holloman AFB, in New Mexico, the largest drone training base in the US. She is co-founder and coordinator of ShutDownDroneWarfare.org., and is also a member of BanKillerDrones.org. In 2024, she co-founded the PeoplesArmsEmbargo.org, helping to organize protests at Travis AFB in Fairfield, CA, due to it’s complicity in aiding the genocidal campaign in Gaza.
Mary Anne Grady Flores is a longtime internationalist, a Catholic Worker, a grandmother, and justice and peace activist. Her organizing with Upstate Drone Action has focused on ending MQ-9 Reapers – killer drones -murdering Black and Brown people from the Global South specifically from Hancock Drone Airbase that shares its campus with Syracuse’s civilian international airport. She is keen on connecting issues of environmental destruction propelled by racist industrial-scale, never-ending wars, profiting only the weapons manufacturers. Mary Anne says, “The tension lies in how we hold ourselves to account and those in power. How much are we willing to sacrifice?”
8. Saturday, 1:00pm, SF Rally At Federal Building Stop Trump’s War Mongering In Pacific
SF Federal Building 7th Street & Mission SF
thousands across the US and South Korea will march together to demand an end to Trump’s war mongering in the Pacific. Will you join us?
We’re mobilizing in these cities this Saturday, August 15:
New York: Times Square, 4:00 PM
Bay Area: San Francisco Federal Building, 1:00 PM
Los Angeles: Wilshire/Western, 1:00 PM
Seattle: Fisher Pavilion, 1:00 PM
Minneapolis: Mayday Plaza, 1:00 PM
August 15th marks National Liberation Day in Korea, celebrating the liberation of Korea from Japan 81 years ago. But in those decades, the US has built one of its largest military occupations in the world, hosting over 28,000 soldiers on the peninsula.
This month, the US will flood South Korea with more soldiers and more military funding for Ulchi Freedom Shield, a series of military exercises practicing for war with North Korea, and, as Trump’s administration has recently admitted, war with China.
As people here at home struggle to put food on their table and gas in their cars thanks to the US’s war mongering in West Asia, people in the Pacific are also facing the fallout of the war economy every single day. In April, the US-backed Armed Forces of the Philippines killed 19 peace activists, including two Americans. Last year, 31 Koreans were injured when the US dropped eight 500-lb bombs on the village of Nogok-ri near the DMZ in a war exercise.
Now, Trump wants to weaponize his massive war industry in the Pacific to fight the US’s forever wars for them. But so long as we are in the belly of the beast, we refuse to let our communities be exploited for US imperialist gain.
Will you march with us on August 15 to say no to the US’s relentless war economy? For billions living in the Asia Pacific, the Pacific War is already here. Join us in demanding an end to the war games and an end to the Pacific War!
President Donald Trumpraised eyebrows on Tuesday when he didn’t rule out declaring a “national security emergency for elections” ahead of the 2026 midterms that would let him restrict the use of mail-in ballots and require voters to provide proof of citizenship.
Rick Hasen, a law professor at UCLA and an expert in election law, told The New Republic in an interview published Wednesday that simply declaring a national emergency related to election security wouldn’t override states’ voting laws.
“The United States Constitution does not give the president power over elections,” Hasen explained. “We have a decentralized election system. Most of our election rules come from states, from state legislatures passing statutes.”
Even though Trump cannot legally seize control of the country’s elections systems, Hasen said, his “national emergency” declaration could be used as a tool to discredit Democratic victories in the midterms and also to more generally intimidate Democratic voters.
“He’s trying to scare people into thinking he has more power than he has,” Hasen said. “That itself makes him powerful, because people are deterred by him. And maybe it deters people from showing up to vote in elections… We should not be complacent at all, even if Trump doesn’t have the power to actually do some of the stuff he’s threatened.”
Hasen also speculated that Trump’s executive order instructing the United States Postal Service to not deliver mail-in ballots to states that have not shared their voter data with the White House was also part of an intimidation operation.
“So everybody’s confidence in the elections goes down,” Hasen said. “And it’s like, ‘Why mail back my ballot if the post office isn’t going to deliver it? Why show up at the polling place if there’s going to be armed security there?’ All of these things are, I think, scare tactics. And we shouldn’t give Trump the power—we shouldn’t give Trump room in our heads to panic over whether or not we’re going to have free and fair elections.”
In an analysis published Wednesday, progressive commentator Thom Hartmann described Trump as a “cornered rat” who will attempt any trick to maintain Republican majorities in Congress.
“It’s going to be up to us and the individual states to make sure our voices are heard and our votes are properly counted,” Hartmann wrote. “We should be thinking of this as an election continuity exercise that may not be necessary but, like wearing a seatbelt, could be essential if Trump tries to repeat 2020 in some way.”
Hartmann also listed a number of recommendations for Democrats to combat Trump’s election subversion attempts, including educating voters on the constitutional limits of the president’s powers, being prepared to arrest any federal immigration enforcement officers who appear at polling locations, and encouraging early voting.
“For over a decade now, close races immediately produce Republican claims of fraud,” Hartmann added. “Lawyers, election officials, and communications systems must be fully prepared to deal with lies and propaganda long before November.”
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Welcome back to our “Meet the Candidates” series, where the congressional candidates respond to a question in 100 words or less. Answers will be published every Monday.
CA-11, the congressional district that Connie Chan and Scott Wiener are running to represent includes most of San Francisco. Some southern neighborhoods (the Excelsior, Portola, Visitacion Valley, and Ingleside) are a part of a neighboring district.
This week’s question: Both of you have described President Donald Trump as a threat to American democracy. As a new member of Congress, what is one concrete action you would personally take to constrain his power? How would you do that if Democrats don’t have a House majority?
Mission Local marks answers where the candidate dodged the question by giving them a yellow background with question marks.
Scott Wiener
Job: San Francisco’s State Senator
Age: 56
Residency: Homeowner, moved to San Francisco in 1997
Transportation: Public transit and walking
Education: Bachelor’s degree from Duke, law degree from Harvard
Languages: English, Spanish
Democrats must use all leverage we have — whether in the majority or minority — to stop Trump’s destructive agenda. That means Democrats unifying to block bad budgets. For example, we must block DHS budgets that send unchecked money to ICE/Border Patrol or fund private prisons.
I’ll push for laws to ban private prisons, abolish ICE, make DOJ more independent of the President (no longer his personal law firm) and authorize lawsuits against ICE/Border Patrol for abuses. Even if Republicans block them, these bills will put every member on record and give Democrats a roadmap for when we retake the majority.
Endorsed by: The California Democratic Party, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Sierra Club, San Francisco YIMBY, Grow SF, San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, North Coast States Carpenters Union, Dolores Huerta … read more here.
Connie Chan
Job: San Francisco District 1 Supervisor
Age: 47
Residency: Homeowner, has lived in San Francisco since she was 13
Transportation: Driving, public transit, and walking
Education: Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Davis
Languages: English, Cantonese, Mandarin
I will work with colleagues on the House Oversight Committee and other committees of jurisdiction to investigate abuses of power, subpoena documents and testimony, and hold Donald Trump accountable to the law.
I will also work to pass legislation that strengthens checks and balances, protects voting rights, and uses tools like the Congressional Review Act to overturn harmful executive actions and regulations.
Even in the minority, members can hold hearings, force votes, work with inspectors general, and use every opportunity to expose Administration misconduct. Sunshine is one of Congress’s strongest checks on executive power, and I will use it relentlessly.
Endorsed by: Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff, Congressman Ro Khanna, California Federation of Labor Unions, SEIU California, San Francisco Labor Council,Working Families Party,San Francisco Tenant’s Union … read more here.
Candidates are ordered alphabetically and rotated each week. Answers may be lightly edited for formatting, spelling, and grammar. If you have questions for the candidates, please let us know at io@missionlocal.com or yujie@missionlocal.com.
When a San Francisco neighborhood has a Mission Local reporter, it means someone is there. We’re following new housing projects proposed on your block, keeping tabs on what your district supervisor is up to at City Hall, and letting you know when longtime businesses close (and new ones open). When big news breaks, we already know the context.
Most neighborhoods don’t have that. Yours could.
That’s what Mission Local is building. Our reporters don’t parachute in — they write consistently on San Francisco, so you’re never reading about your neighborhood from someone who just looked it up.
So far we are in five of San Francisco’s neighborhoods. But we know all San Franciscans deserve our kind of coverage. Will you join us?
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
You’re invited to stand with people from across the country at the March on Washington: Defend the Vote on Friday, August 28, 2026, at 8 AM ET at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Hosted by Reverend Al Sharpton, the National Action Network, and the Drum Major Institute, and joined by Martin Luther King III and other civil rights leaders, this historic gathering will mark the 63rd anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
Attend in person, watch the virtual livestream, volunteer, or become a partner. We are not gathering simply to remember history—we are gathering to make it.
***Additional Bus information*** If you are interested in riding with a bus to the March on Washington, please complete the March on Washington Bus Interest Formso we can better understand where transportation is needed and help bring people power to Washington, D.C.
Time for Action!
Your Power in Action: What You Can Do Today
The movement for freedom over fascism, progress, and power to the people starts here.
A fearless and urgent chronicle of the tech-authoritarian movement from its early days in San Francisco politics to its current moment on the international stage, exploring the wild and dystopian ambition of the technocrats at its center, and offering a road map to resistance.
When Silicon Valley says it is ‘‘moving fast and breaking things,’’ the world interprets the chaos as a necessary cost of innovation. Gil Durán reveals something far more a decades-long campaign to replace elected governments with corporate rule.
Drawing on insider political experience and new investigations, Durán traces this ideology from its philosophical roots in The Sovereign Individual by James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg. He introduces its modern apostles—Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Balaji Srinivasan, and Elon Musk—and shows how the promise of technological liberation has transformed into a global movement for digital feudalism, powered by cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence, and the algorithmic propaganda of social media.
The Nerd Reich explains the origins, strategies, and ambitions of Silicon Valley’s war on democracy for the first time. From San Francisco’s weaponized elections and secret billionaire projects to the White House, Durán exposes how the world’s richest men are building a new political order.
The Nerd Reich is more than a hidden history, it’s an urgent democracy is being dismantled not by coups or tanks, but by code, capital, and the illusion of innovation. Durán insists there is still time to fight back—if we act now.
by Randy Shaw on August 10, 2026 (BeyondChron.org)
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back.
In January I wrote that 2026 was a Make or Break Year for the Tenderloin. The historic neighborhood was at a tipping point—it would either bounce back from the terrible Covid years or become a permanent drug containment zone.
Seven months later, the Tenderloin’s future remains unclear. There are solid reasons for both optimism and pessimism. Here’s what I’m talking about.
The Good News
Chris Larsen’s donation of $5 million to the Tenderloin Community Benefit District to revive Larkin Street and Little Saigon is a game-changer. It was the neighborhood’s best news this year. Larkin between Golden Gate and Turk has already improved. Plans to activate the Eddy Street entrance to Little Saigon are in place. If drug activities can be cleared on Larkin between O’Farrell and Geary, Little Saigon could finally recover its pre-Covid success.
The full impact of Larsen’s donation will be seen in the months ahead.
More good news is that the long vacant Civic Center Inn at Ellis and Polk, whose sidewalk drug use and camping hurt Little Saigon, is being transformed. Now owned by those with a long history of helping the Tenderloin, it will soon be a beautiful new hotel Its early 2027 opening will boost the area.
Tenderloin Museum Expansion
The Tenderloin Museum is tripling in size. This will bring even more people into the Tenderloin, improving perceptions of the neighborhood and increasing patronage to local dining spots.
The Museum’s production of the Compton Cafeteria Riot Play at 835 Larkin continues to play sold-out shows. This month marks the 60th anniversary of the actual riot. If you haven’t seen the play, use this link to get tickets.
Thanks to the Lurie Administration’ strong support, renovations necessary for the museum’s expansion were set to start soon. Unfortunately, a blocked toilet in the Cadillac Hotel in late June flooded the museum’s floors and walls. This will delay the expansion until a water redirection system is installed to prevent future leaks.
But the expansion is happening. It will feature a major exhibition on San Francisco’s boxing history, as the legendary Newman’s Gym occupied the expanded museum space from the 1930’s into the 1980’s. Muhammad Ali and George Foreman were among the legends who trained at Newman’s, as did Miles Davis when he was playing jazz in the city.
The expansion will also include an exhibition on the Indian-American hotel legacy. Why have Indian-Americans come to dominate the national hotel industry? A big part of the answer comes from the Tenderloin and SOMA.
New Businesses/ Expanded Tourism
New businesses continue to open. Check out the new bookstore/café on Golden Gate between Hyde and Larkin. Businesses backed by OEWD grants are opening on Larkin. A Mexican restaurant is even opening at the long drug-filled southwest corner of Ellis and Jones.
Tenderloin restaurants, cafes, bars and entertainment venues benefit from expanded tourism. Tourists help compensate for the government workers who no longer come to the Tenderloin five days a week since Covid. Projected rising citywide tourism helps the Tenderloin
Reduced Sidewalk Drug Activities
Overall, the Tenderloin’s sidewalk drug use has declined in 2026. Two of the three worst blocks—Hyde and Eddy (the city’s longest running open air drug market) and the 100 block of Leavenworth bordering TNDC’s Kelly Cullen Center—-have improved. The latter now bans parking, an action called for by the Tenderloin Business Coalition and supported as a pilot program by the mayor.
Jones Street between McAllister and Golden Gate has seen sharply reduced drug activities. The historic Hibernia Bank event space and Proper Hotel are booming. Unfortunately, recent shootings on Market Street near Jones have overshadowed improvements on the Jones corridor.
Finally, the new Tenderloin Police Station district boundaries finally go into effect in October. The Police Commission approved the new boundaries last November and they were projected to start by July. The new boundaries should increase police visibility in the Tenderloin and reduce sidewalk drug use.
The Bad News
Too Much Sidewalk Drug Use
The Tenderloin still has a level of sidewalk drug activity that the city does not tolerate in more affluent neighborhoods.
Two of the four corners at Jones and Ellis remain part of San Francisco’s most drug-filled intersection. The northeast corner under the Riviera Hotel operates as a mini-drug containment zone.
Larkin between O’Farrell and Jones—across from Macaulay Park—has almost constant drug activities. The city pays Glide Ambassadors to clear the area. But unlike Urban Alchemy staff, who routinely clear sidewalks of drug users, their efforts are inadequate.
I ran into two Tenderloin police officers at Jane’s on Larkin. I showed them the people crowding the sidewalk bordering the Tenderloin Housing Clinic’s Hartland Hotel at Geary and Larkin. These were not residents of the hotel.
The officers told me it was not against the law to sit against a building. I said that the combination of dogs and wheelchairs made the sidewalk virtually impassable. It certainly discouraged people from walking by. They said there was nothing they could do.
Do you think officers would allow that scene on Chestnut or Union Street? On Clement ? Or in downtown or Union Square?
No way. The police would demand the people leave for blocking the sidewalk.
That’ the policing double standard that many of us have long tried to end. Campers and drug users are routinely allowed to spend hours if not entire days interfering with passage on Tenderloin sidewalks. Without police interference.
I had hoped to see a lot fewer drug users and campers on Tenderloin sidewalks by this point in 2026. It’s a night and day difference from what San Francisco tolerates in more affluent neighborhoods.
I’ve worked fulltime in the Tenderloin for 44 years. Despite ongoing challenges, I couldn’t have chosen a greater neighborhood to spend my work life.
Randy Shaw is the Editor of Beyond Chron and the Director of San Francisco’s Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which publishes Beyond Chron. Shaw’s new book is the revised and updated, The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco. His prior books include Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America. The Activist’s Handbook: Winning Social Change in the 21st Century, and Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century.
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