By Aldo Toledo, J.D. Morris Updated July 24, 2024 9:55 p.m. (SFChronicle.com)
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi announced Wednesday she is endorsing Supervisor Dean Preston in his reelection campaign, a valuable boost ahead of the November election. Colin Peck/Special to the Chronicle
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi announced Wednesday she is endorsing Supervisor Dean Preston in his reelection campaign, a valuable boost ahead of the November election.
Preston, the sole democratic socialist on the Board of Supervisors and a longtime foe of moderates and Mayor London Breed, is running against two moderate candidates to represent the Haight, Alamo Square and Tenderloin neighborhoods. The Tenderloin has been ground zero for the city’s crackdown on the open-air drug use and drug dealing, often pitting Preston against Breed.
A spokesperson for Pelosi confirmed the endorsement — which was first reported by Politico — to the Chronicle and Preston announced it in a news release.
Preston said in a statement that Pelosi’s endorsement is “powerful.”
“I look forward to working with Speaker Emerita Pelosi in our united effort to defeat Donald Trump and address the challenges facing our city,” Preston said. “In our district, Speaker Emerita Pelosi has championed crucial federal investments in our neighborhoods. I’m very grateful for her support in this race.”
Since being elected to represent District 5 in 2019, Preston has been a firebrand supervisor advocating for police reform and affordable housing over market-rate developments. He has pushed for drug policies that focus on harm reduction rather than relying on law enforcement.
Preston has been a frequent bogeyman for moderates in San Francisco, and he often sparred with political opponents on Twitter before he announced he’d leave the site last year.
For three years in a row, Preston voted against the city budget because he said Breed is spending too much money on the police instead of funding alternatives and because of a disagreement with Breed over spending a specific funding source for affordable housing.
Pelosi’s endorsement came ahead of a meeting Wednesday night of the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee, which voted on local endorsements. Pelosi is a member of the DCCC, which was recently taken over by moderates, including allies of Breed. The DCCC endorsed Bilal Mahmood, one of Preston’s main opponents.
Mahmood told the Chronicle in an interview that he remains confident that “Preston is out of step with the local Democratic Party and the local Democratic voters.”
“I don’t exactly know what’s going on in this situation,” he said, referring to Pelosi’s endorsement. “What we’re hearing when knocking on doors on the campaign trails is voters want a leader who is not the incumbent. That’s our focus.”
Mahmood touted his endorsements from state Sen. Scott Wiener — who is rumored to be seeking Pelosi’s seat — and Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Autumn Looijen, who is also running for Preston’s seat, told the Chronicle that she’s not discouraged.
“Obviously, as a woman who’s running for office, I would love for the most powerful woman in politics to endorse me,” Looijen said. “In the end, the endorsement that really matters are the people in the street, and I’ve been heartened to see people are excited about our campaign.”
This is the first time Pelosi has endorsed Preston. Pelosi didn’t endorse a candidate in the 2019 race between Preston and Breed ally Vallie Brown.
Political strategist Jim Stearns, who consulted on Preston’s previous campaigns, said Pelosi’s endorsement “changes the narrative of the race.”
“This is an extremely influential endorsement for Preston,” Stearns said. “You’ve got arguably the most popular Democrat in the city … endorsing Dean. That will make a lot of swing voters in that district take a second look at why she did that.”
Jason McDaniel, a professor at San Francisco State University, said Pelosi’s backing of Preston is likely a reflection of her tendency to support Democratic officeholders seeking reelection. Pelosi has endorsed Supervisors Myrna Melgar and Connie Chan in their own reelection bids.
“It’s not uncommon for people like Pelosi to endorse other Democratic incumbent politicians,” McDaniel said. “It’s about being a team player, lifting up the team, recognizing that members of the team can have differences of opinion, but you still support the team because you’re all better off together.”
Still, McDaniel said Pelosi’s blessing was “still a big deal” and “absolutely is going to help (Preston’s) campaign.”
Preston also has been a frequent detractor of the YIMBY movement, advocating for policies that protect renters and pushing for funding to build public housing. Jane Natoli, an activist for YIMBY Action, said she doesn’t believe Pelosi’s endorsement of Preston says anything about her position on housing.
“I’m not too worried,” Natoli said. “It was a strange alert to pop on my phone, but I think there’s lots of reasons that this played out the way it did. From the YIMBY perspective, not much has appreciably changed.”
Shira Stein contributed to this report.
Reach Aldo Toledo: aldo.toledo@sfchronicle.com
July 24, 2024|Updated July 24, 2024 9:55 p.m.
CITY HALL REPORTER
Adalberto “Aldo” Toledo is a city hall reporter with The San Francisco Chronicle covering the mayor and Board of Supervisors. He is a Venezuelan American from a family of longtime journalists.Before joining the Chronicle in 2023, he reported on Peninsula governments and breaking news for the San Jose Mercury News. He also has bylines in the Dallas Morning News, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Champaign, Illinois News-Gazette.Raised in Texas, he studied journalism with a print news focus at the University of North Texas Mayborn School of Journalism, where he worked as News Editor for the North Texas Daily student newspaper.
CITY HALL REPORTER
J.D. Morris covers San Francisco City Hall, focused on Mayor London Breed. He joined the Chronicle in 2018 to cover energy and spent three years writing mostly about PG&E and California wildfires.Before coming to The Chronicle, he reported on local government for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, where he was among the journalists awarded a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the 2017 North Bay wildfires.He was previously the casino industry reporter for the Las Vegas Sun. Raised in Monterey County and Bakersfield, he has a bachelor’s degree in rhetoric from UC Berkeley.
