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by\u00a0Yujie Zhou<\/a><\/strong> May 13, 2026 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Connie-Chan-rally-02162024-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C585&ssl=1\")
Supervisor Connie Chan has always been labor\u2019s kind of candidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She has walked picket lines as a San Francisco supervisor, and fought against cutting union jobs<\/a> at City Hall as budget chair. She\u2019s pushed to increase minimum wages<\/a> several times<\/a>, and has become known among unions as valuing labor unity instead of exploiting its division for political gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her run for Congress has earned her a broad coalition of support from city unions, as well as umbrella groups like the San Francisco Labor Council, the San Francisco Building & Construction Trades Council and the California Federation of Labor Unions. She touts 35 union seals on her campaign endorsement page<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But labor unions may be a dollar short and a day late in spending for their avowed champion, and Chan finds herself losing the money race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike her rival Saikat Chakrabarti, who has pledged<\/a> to spend as much of his own money as needed, Chan is not worth more than $100 million. And unlike her <\/a>opponent Scott Wiener, <\/a>she does not have a wide donor base or third-party support from tech executives, who have spent heavily on a pro-Wiener political action committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chan has pledged to reject corporate money, and to tax the billionaires who might otherwise fund her. Labor is the only realistic source of big money for her campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But unions have yet to shell out large sums, and have only started to spend recently. Chan is backed by at least $1.1 million, according to campaign filings and labor consultant David Ho, who said on May 11 about $650,000 of that was raised for a pro-Chan PAC<\/a>, almost all from unions. The other $459,000 comes from largely individual donors directly to Chan\u2019s campaign, and is likely an undercount \u2014 filings were current as of March 31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a lot of money, but less than others. Chakrabarti has self-funded his campaign<\/a> to the tune of at least $4.8 million as of March 31, and had fundraised another $360,000 then. Both numbers are likely up since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chakrabarti has used his millions to run a 200-person paid canvassing operation<\/a> and plaster his face across San Francisco \u2014 on Chinese-language newspapers<\/a>, ubiquitous online ads<\/a>, and even a billboard.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sen. Scott Wiener is benefitting from $3.5 million in direct fundraising as of March 31, and two<\/a> PACs<\/a> have collectively spent at least $600,000<\/a> on advertising for the state senator. Wiener is also bolstered by another half-million in an anti-Chakrabarti PAC<\/a> funded by his allies<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Labor\u2019s contributions were slow to come. Unions had contributed just a bit over $200,000 as of the end of March, when Chan\u2019s rivals had millions each and Chakrabarti, whom Chan must contend with to secure a No. 2 spot in June and advance to November, was advertising widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps as a result of the lackluster spending, Chan tanked<\/a> in the polls<\/a> for the month before voters started to receive ballots in early May, though according to recent polling<\/a> she\u2019s currently tied<\/a> for second place<\/a> with Chakrabarti. For a while, city politicos even began to whisper that Chan\u2019s campaign was \u201cinactive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Labor consultants defended Chan\u2019s fundraising. \u201cYou can\u2019t compare unions to corporations and AI. We represent cooks, dishwashers and room cleaners,\u201d said Mike Casey, president of the San Francisco Labor Council, who is also working on the pro-Chan independent expenditure<\/a> committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chan also began preparing for and officially entered the race later than her major competitors \u2014 both Wiener and Chakrabarti had put in years of effort. It takes time for labor money to come in. \u201cContributing to congressional campaigns involves a significantly more complex legal and compliance process than local or state races,\u201d said former supervisor Gordon Mar, who has a long history of working with labor unions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chan, it seems, has been hampered by a confluence of factors: campaign finance rules that prohibit local unions from easily donating to federal candidates, a loaded ballot stretching labor\u2019s political budget thin and, perhaps most significantly, the fact that local unions benefit<\/a> by having Chan in local government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chan\u2019s longtime labor funders may be worse off with her leaving local government, even if she gains a national perch, and may be donating accordingly, according to political insiders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t know to what extent labor in San Francisco sees Connie as more useful for them \u2014 in the Board of Supervisors or the U.S. Congress,\u201d said political consultant James Stearns. It could be \u201cjust out of loyalty,\u201d he said, that the unions contribute, \u201cbut you know, these are tough times for everybody, money-wise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A four-year chair of San Francisco\u2019s budget committee, Chan has been a reliable ally to labor<\/a>. Her departure from the board would have a tangible and direct impact on city unions and their members\u2019 jobs: City unions feel they need Chan at City Hall more than ever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mayor Daniel Lurie recently proposed to eliminate 500 City Hall jobs<\/a> and is pursuing a ballot measure to quadruple<\/a> the number of signatures required for ballot measures, which would make union ballot-box policymaking harder and more expensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAre you going to have somebody on the Board of Supervisors who is going to embrace the Lurie anti-worker agenda, which results in 500 layoffs and nonunion contracting?\u201d asked a longtime Chan ally. \u201cI think [unions] also see more draconian anti-labor moves coming from Lurie that they are saving their resources for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If Chan were elected to Congress, Mayor Lurie would also fill her seat, likely with a moderate appointee. That would reduce the number of progressive, pro-labor votes on the board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDaniel Lurie should endorse her,\u201d quipped Rudy Gonzalez, secretary-treasurer of the San Francisco Building & Construction Trades Council, who is assisting with Chan\u2019s campaign. \u201cHe gets to appoint a replacement!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Labor\u2019s contributions to Chan\u2019s congressional race are even lower, at least so far, than their backing of her for a city position: In 2024, labor spent more than $1 million<\/a> to help Chan win re-election to the Board of Supervisors and retain her position as budget chair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Local labor leaders told Mission Local<\/em> they see in Chan someone they want to follow for the next two decades. Many hold out hope that Chan will grow into their next Nancy Pelosi, who has been a strong ally of organized labor in D.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But national unions do not know Chan well, and their local chapters cannot easily contribute directly to congressional candidates \u2014 most must rely on their parent unions\u2019 federal PACs for federal races. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMost local unions don\u2019t have that,\u201d said Anand Singh, former president of UNITE HERE Local 2, the hotel workers\u2019 union and treasurer for the pro-Chan independent expenditure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In order to put money toward Chan, local chapters must convince their parent unions to spend considerable sums on a candidate who is not well known to their national counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Local 2\u2019s New York<\/a>-based international, for example, donated $200,000 to the pro-Chan independent expenditure only after the local made the case that Chan is \u201ca generational leader that would be critical to have not just in San Francisco, but really to lead for working people in Washington D.C,\u201d Singh said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But other local unions seem to have had a harder time succeeding with that pitch: Unfortunately for Chan, her victory over Wiener or Chakrabarti does not appear to be a high priority for labor nationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Longtime city political observers note that, from a Washington, D.C. perspective, any San Francisco Democrat is perceived as acceptably pro-labor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n National unions are also stretched thin by a number of competing campaigns this year that may ultimately help Democrats regain control of Congress. \u201cI mean, look at what\u2019s going on in this country right now and the campaigns and the struggles that we\u2019re up against,\u201d said Mike Casey, president of the San Francisco Labor Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even within California, there\u2019s competition for labor money among congressional candidates. \u201cMore PACs are solely focused on flipping red to blue in California,\u201d said Gonzalez. Chan\u2019s congressional district will remain blue no matter what.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And in San Francisco, unions have to prepare for two elections in six months. They must spread resources across several supervisor races, and address a top priority: June\u2019s Proposition D<\/a>, the \u201cOverpaid CEO\u201d tax<\/a>, which they argue<\/a> would \u201cprovide a lifeline for San Francisco\u201d by asking \u201cthe largest corporations to pay their fair share\u201d \u2014 and potentially reduce layoffs during budget cuts<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is a common challenge local officials face when running for state office: They must win support from those with a state-level agenda, rather than continue to rely on city-focused allies. Chan, who is attempting a huge leap from city supervisor to Congress, needs allies who are focused on the federal level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chan is better positioned than most to tackle the challenge, as she has built a broad coalition across different factions of the labor world, including those often at odds, said Casey from the Labor Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, Gonzalez said, \u201cI can see how Connie has to work twice as hard because even some of her most trusted allies and strongest, ardent supporters have not been geared toward congressional races for some time.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The pro-Chan PAC<\/a>, Working Families for San Francisco, is seeking help elsewhere. Rather than relying solely on the public sector unions, it is turning to other labor sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019re going to see more of the private sector unions \u2026 weighing in substantially,\u201d said Gonzalez. That would be a coalition of hotel workers, nurses, electrical workers, teachers and pipefitters, according to Ho, the PAC\u2019s strategist. Notably missing from that list is SEIU California, which solely endorses Chan after un-endorsing Wiener<\/a> in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, the labor allies who have opened up their wallets for Chan have a practical pitch to encourage others: Whoever replaces Pelosi may keep the seat for decades, and an early investment will pay off in spades. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some are using their general funds (which are not reflected in filings) to communicate their preferences with their members. Unions have established trust with tens of thousands of workers and their families, and are known for effectively mobilizing volunteers and getting out the vote<\/a> in the weeks before Election Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Building Trades were for Nancy in the very beginning \u2026 She never forgot it,\u201d said Gonzalez. \u201cShe was always loyal to the Building Trades unions and to all of our unions. That\u2019s the kind of commitment, loyalty that our members really value in a candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mission Local<\/em> has been growing its local coverage: We’re designating reporters to five neighborhoods<\/strong> \u2014 the Tenderloin, Richmond, Sunset, Bayview, and the Mission to provide free, first-rate neighborhood reporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having reporters on-the-ground, asking questions is what makes Mission Local<\/em> stand out \u2014 it\u2019s our biggest strength, and we intend to bring that to every neighborhood we cover. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Our goal this May is to raise $125,000 \u2014 the price of adding a reporter to one neighborhood for one year<\/strong>. If you donate to our fundraiser today, your gift is doubled<\/strong> thanks to the match.about:blank<\/p>\n\n\n\n Put a reporter on your block!<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n yujie@missionlocal.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n 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 \u201cstreet clashes\u201d 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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Unions are just starting to reach into their pockets for their favored candidate. Is it too late? by\u00a0Yujie Zhou May 13, 2026 (MissionLocal.org) Supervisor Connie Chan has always been labor\u2019s kind of candidate. She has walked picket lines as a San Francisco supervisor, and fought against cutting union jobs at City Hall… Continue reading ![\"Tenderloin](\"https:\/\/cdn.broadstreetads.com\/assets\/61021cbd-f2ab-42b9-acda-0c48132c48ea.gif\")
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Losing Chan to Congress means losing pro-labor vote at City Hall<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Unions stretched thin across country, state, and city<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Chan must \u2018work twice as hard\u2019 to convince federal unions<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThis May we have a $50K match!<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Latest election coverage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nS.F. judge candidate outraising opponent 5-to-1, boosted by tech exec, cop unions<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nMeet the District 2 candidates: Where should bike lanes go?<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nCongressional candidate Scott Wiener\u2019s tech platform would take his AI safety work federal<\/a><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Yujie ZhouStaff reporter<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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