Nancy Pelosi endorses SF Supervisor Connie Chan in the race to replace her in Congress

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi has just endorsed a candidate in the race to replace her as the congressional representative for CA District 11. Now this week ABC 7 Eyewitness News is sitting down with each of the top three candidates hoping to win that seat.

[00:00:15]We'll be talking with State Senator Scott Wiener, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, and former tech executive and chief of staff for Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Shahid Buttar Chakrabarti. And the big news at the top of the hour is that Pelosi has announced she is endorsing San Francisco District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan. And as luck would have it the timing 20 is live right now is Supervisor Chan to talk about this. I got to start with saying welcome and how do you feel about that endorsement? What does it say? Oh, it's a tremendous honor and thank you so much for having me and being able to share this news with you Christine.

[00:00:54]Um and um and it's it's great to be here. Okay, well how do you think you got it? Why do you think you earned Congresswoman House Speaker Emerita Pelosi's endorsement? You know, I think that we have done that work in San Francisco um not just as a district supervisor and budget committee chair.

[00:01:11]We also have more than 20 years of public service on the record uh serving not just uh city and county of San Francisco, but also have been in the state legislature as a policy aid. Um and with that all that record, I think that we have proved not only our commitment serving San Francisco, but also the ability to be able to accomplish and deliver for San Franciscans.

[00:01:33]>> In short though, why do you want this job? Why would you want to go to DC when it seems like you're very immersed here locally? Yeah, I mean I think that this is really a unprecedented time that what we have seen in the last year when Trump administration has cut our health care, our education, uh food security program, even threatened to send National Guard to San Francisco. It is a very difficult time not just for San Franciscans, but definitely for Californians. And we need to really make sure we have a voice for the working people, and we see that our campaign is that voice for the working people. So, as such, what would be the first bill you would sponsor? You know, I think that there are many things that we have to work on, but absolutely first and foremost to understand the cost of living has just such a burden for so many that we see health care, the burden of health care, burden for medication, and that people have to choose between either grocery or medication. This is a moment not only that we have to reverse cuts to health care, we have to expand coverage for health care. Have you thought about how you would do that and what legislation might look like?

[00:02:37]>> You know, we're the only candidate that's being endorsed by our nurses.

[00:02:40]It's because we understand Affordable Health Care Act that Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi has carried through, has built a great foundation for us to push to a next step, and it's absolutely a coalition that we will continue in Washington, D.C. to to push for those expansion. I want to hit some key issues for San Franciscans real quickly, and I mean really quickly. I wish we had a longer show. But yes or no, should every San Francisco neighborhood build more housing? Absolutely. And key is though, we have to build housing that people can actually afford. Not just luxury condos, but absolutely housing that people can afford. What specific federal action would you pursue to help revive downtown San Francisco? Oh, we got to actually provide funding really to support our neighborhood corridors and small business. Those have been the backbone of our local economy. The way that I see downtown is not just to have conversion from some of the office space into housing, but to also actually have a diverse sectors of business, not just corporation or retails, but to also have infusion of small business being able to thrive and survive and do so much more in downtown. All right. And this is a big issue. People are going to be voting on transit. Yes or no in two parts, I guess here. Should transit be free? And okay, and should it be expanded? Oh, absolutely. And I think that for the federal government to actually come in traditionally that the federal government has been only support and fund a capital improvements. It is time for us to expand that conversation and that funding to also operation as well.

[00:04:13]Okay. Something on everyone's minds is AI. And I ask you, do you see it as more of an opportunity or threat to San Franciscans, both workers and residents?

[00:04:23]>> I see that it's opportunity for the federal government to provide a framework of regulation with two principle. One is safety. Absolutely, it's important, but to also protection of workforce. And with those two principle, that's we create a federal government framework for regulation to allow state and local government to have more specific regulations. And what specific federal legislation do you think could help close the economic divide that we're seeing more and more of so clearly in San Francisco, the haves and the have-nots?

[00:04:53]>> Oh, and that what we need to do is we see that Trump has this been dismantling our Department of Education. It is time for us not only to reverse those cuts, but to expand so that we can affordable child care, fully funded K-12 classrooms, and absolutely a program that we're so proud of in San Francisco if it's free City College San Francisco.

[00:05:11]We got to make that a national model.

[00:05:13]Okay.

[00:05:14]You opposed as supervisor the recalls of former San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin and three school board members. They ended up getting recalled and some of your critics say that showed you were out of step with your constituents. What do you say to them? Well, I would say that actually I also was opposing, you know, the recall of Governor Newsom as we may recall that that was the the case, too.

[00:05:35]And that, you know, Californian agrees that Governor Newsom should still continue to be our governor. So, I would say that, you know, recall is a tool, but it's not the end all be all results that people want to see for public safety and education and so much more that actually needs to be done. Okay. Uh you you want to enter a bitterly divided house. I think everybody can see that.

[00:05:55]Name one issue that you think you could work with Republicans on. Uh I certainly hope at healthcare and education. Both I would think that doesn't matter whether you're blue states or red states, you want healthcare for uh voters and our constituents. We want good quality education. Uh so those are the things that I look forward to seeing be able to walk uh you know, work across the aisles uh and be able to have those conversations. We see that happening. No reason that we should be spending $1.5 trillion on war. We absolutely need to fund healthcare and education. Okay. In in your final 30 seconds, name three San Francisco favorites. It could be favorite anything. Favorite anything like park and restaurants. Oh boy, that is very difficult. I cannot believe I'm stumble on this one question here. Um how about this? Ina Coolbrith is my one of my favorite parks uh and then if I have to eat a good restaurant uh is probably um Dragon Bowl as a dim sum place in the Richmond.

[00:06:51]Uh you know, and then uh uh probably Japantown. It's a good spot.

[00:06:56]Yeah. It's a good spot to just hang out with my kids.

[00:06:58]>> That could be one of my top three, too.

[00:07:00]Uh Supervisor Connie Chan and candidate for CA 11, uh the so-called Nancy Pelosi seat who got her endorsement today.

[00:07:06]Thank you so much for joining us for the conversation.

[00:07:08]>> Thank you for having me. And we'll be speaking with other candidates later this week. In the meantime, we'll take a short break.