{"id":48822,"date":"2026-06-23T12:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T19:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=48822"},"modified":"2026-06-23T12:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T19:07:10","slug":"wiener-starts-november-race-by-attacking-chan-setting-the-tone-for-what-could-be-a-nasty-five-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/06\/23\/wiener-starts-november-race-by-attacking-chan-setting-the-tone-for-what-could-be-a-nasty-five-months\/","title":{"rendered":"Wiener starts November race by attacking Chan, setting the tone for what could be a nasty five months"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chan says the magic words Wiener avoids\u2014taxes on the rich\u2014as the fall race starts to shape up<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Tim Redmond<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

June 21, 2026 (48hills.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sup. Connie Chan and state Sen. Scott Wiener both spoke to the Noe Valley Democratic Club this week, and while it was not a debate format, I got a glimpse of what we are likely to see over the next five months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two candidates were not on stage together. Wiener got an hour, then Chan got an hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wiener spent a fair amount of his time attacking Chan, although he never once said her name. He just said \u201cmy opponent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chan spent zero time attacking Wiener.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Scott Wiener answers a question for Noe Valley Democratic Club President Sam Maslin.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is exactly what we saw in 2016, when Jane Kim beat Wiener in the primary for state Senate after securing the endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders. Wiener instantly started attacking Kim, rather viciously<\/a>, and lied about his record<\/a>, and won the seat in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told the crowd, for example, that Chan had \u201ckilled the 38 Geary bus line,\u201d which seems a bit odd since the bus is running all day, every day, and lots of people ride it. When someone in the audience asked him to explain, he just said \u201cGoogle it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did. Here\u2019s what happened<\/a>: Chan opposed a version of Geary Boulevard Bus Rapid Transit that shifted the program from center-running transit lanes (like Van Ness BRT) to side-running lanes, which would wipe out parking and damage the small merchants on Geary between Stanyan and 34th, who were struggling to recover from the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Chan talked about taxing the rich. Wiener did not<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not killing a bus line. It\u2019s a lot more complicated, as transit policy in a crowded city with dense small merchant corridors often is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sponsored link<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Wiener also insisted that the \u201cprogressive policy is to build all kinds of housing.\u201d Most progressives\u2014and that word means something\u2014would say that luxury housing in vulnerable communities often causes displacement<\/a>, and it\u2019s not progressive to adopt policies that force longtime residents out of their homes to make way for richer people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wiener also said that he supported closing the Great Highway to cars, and Chan opposed it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the message from the Wiener camp is going to be: Chan is opposed to progress, she\u2019s anti-housing, she would move the city backward, and Wiener is pro-housing and wants to see a prosperous future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interesting moment,<\/strong> Wiener said that \u201cthe left has lost the support of the working class.\u201d The success of Sanders\u2019 campaign for president (he would have beat Trump in 2016) suggests that it\u2019s not the \u201cleft,\u201d but the corporate wing of the Democratic Party, that has lost the support of the working class. Wiener has been a part of the corporate wing his entire career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He never once, in the full hour, mentioned taxing the rich. Not once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He opposed Prop. D. He opposes the Billionaire Tax<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chan talked about \u201crising inequality\u201d and \u201cprogressive taxation at all levels of government.\u201d She mentioned \u201cprogressive taxation\u201d at least three times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also said that \u201czoning doesn\u2019t produce new housing,\u201d which is demonstrably true in this city today: After a massive upzoning, and massive fee cuts, few developers are building any new housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also said she opposes, at this point, all funding for military aid to Israel. Wiener says he supports some military funding<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Scott also believes the U.S. should continue to provide Israel with defensive systems, such as Iron Dome and David\u2019s Sling.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So I think we will see Chan talking about neighborhood issues on the West Side, where she won the most votes, and about taxation and the Middle East on the east side, where she and Saikat Chakrabarti beat Wiener handily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wiener will attack Chan relentlessly. That\u2019s how his campaigns roll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full disclosure: My independent adult daughter works for Connie Chan for Congress.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

48 Hills welcomes comments in the form of letters to the editor, which you can submit\u00a0here<\/a>. We also invite you to join the conversation on our\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim Redmond<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim Redmond has been a political and investigative reporter in San Francisco for more than 30 years. He spent much of that time as executive editor of the Bay Guardian. He is the founder of 48hills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chan says the magic words Wiener avoids\u2014taxes on the rich\u2014as the fall race starts to shape up By Tim Redmond June 21, 2026 (48hills.org) Sup. Connie Chan and state Sen. Scott Wiener both spoke to the Noe Valley Democratic Club this week, and while it was not a debate format,… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1879,1878],"tags":[2052,2038],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48822"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48822"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48823,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48822\/revisions\/48823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}