For nearly 40 years, Nancy Pelosi has towered over San Francisco politics as our member of Congress for 20 terms. She represented SF in the United States House of Representatives, serving as House Leader, Whip, Speaker, and as a colossus in passing legislation and in political fundraising for the Democratic Party.
Today, the House Speaker Emerita announced she will not run for a 21st term, it will be the first time since 1987 that we don’t have Pelosi in the US Congress.
She posted a parting video on her X account this morning, which is quite a love letter to San Francisco. (She announces she will not be seeking another term at 4:45 seconds in)
“I have truly loved serving as your voice in Congress. … I want you, my fellow San Franciscans to be the first to know, I will not be seeking re-election to Congress. With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative.”
- Nancy Pelosi
So who will fill Pelosi's Jimmy Choos?
The 2026 congressional race in California (November, 3 2026) will now be national news. Some candidates have waited a long time for the chance to fill Pelosi’s seat.
Saikat Chakrabarti, former campaign manager and former chief of staff for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, already announced in June that he is running. Chakrabarti moved to the Bay Area in 2009 and made himself a multi-multi millionaire through the start-up payments platform ‘Stripe’.
Chakrabarti famously pulled AOC out of obscurity and into the national spotlight, he has cgame, money, and social media savvy.
His platform sounds an awful lot like Zohran Mamdani, you can watch his campaigning videos here @saikatforcongress. He’s campaigning on green initiatives, universal healthcare, banning stock trading in Congress, and stopping Trump style fascism in America.
CA State Senator and San Francisco’s own Scott Weiner has been waiting patiently to run for Pelosi’s seat, and if Wiener wins, he would be the first openly gay person to represent San Francisco in Congress. But Pelosi’s own daughter Christine Pelosi, an attorney and party activist, is rumored to be a candidate, along with San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, an Aaron Peskin disciple.
It will be very interesting to see, which machine Nancy Pelosi gets behind, for the election next fall.
