San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan on Thursday announced she is running for Congress to replace House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi.
Chan represents the Richmond District and other neighborhoods in District 1 on the west end of the city. After first being elected as supervisor in 2020, Chan was reelected in 2024 and serves as chair of the Board of Supervisors’ budget committee.
She was born in Hong Kong and moved to San Francisco at the age of 13 with her mother and younger brother. In a video announcing her candidacy for Congress, Chan recounted her time growing up in the city as a first-generation immigrant and the challenges her family faced.
“I saw doors slam on families like mine,” Chan said. “I want to help them and keep those doors open for them.”
Pelosi, 85, earlier this month announced she would not seek reelection to her seat in Congress in 2026 after serving for nearly 40 years. She was the first woman elected by her peers to be speaker of the House of Representatives, a role she served from 2007-11 and again from 2019-2023.
State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, and Saikat Chakrabarti, former chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, are other contenders who have announced runs for Pelosi’s seat representing California’s 11th Congressional District.
Former San Francisco Mayor London Breed had considered running but on Wednesday announced she decided against it.
Chan in her announcement video Thursday touted her work to try to make San Francisco more affordable by increasing tenant protections and getting more affordable housing built in the city.
“It’s been very difficult to be able to continue to live in this city,” she said, characterizing the race for the Congress seat as an election “about local neighborhoods vs. outside money.”