Top San Francisco Lawmaker Expected to Challenge Nancy Pelosi in Primary

Politics|Top San Francisco Lawmaker Expected to Challenge Nancy Pelosi in Primary

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to face the most serious primary challenge of her career if she runs for re-election, as a fellow San Francisco Democrat, State Senator Scott Wiener, is preparing to enter the race later this month, according to two people briefed on his plans.

Ms. Pelosi, 85, has not yet said whether she will seek another term in 2026 in the San Francisco seat she has occupied in Congress since 1987. Mr. Wiener, 55, has been waiting for Ms. Pelosi to step aside, opening a congressional committee two years ago and raising more than $1 million for it. As recently as March, he had said he would wait to run until after Ms. Pelosi retired and it would “be an honor” to succeed her.

But the political dynamics appear to have changed as Ms. Pelosi, who stepped down as the Democratic leader after the 2022 midterm elections, has continued to hold her congressional seat and has declined to announce her plans for the future.

Mr. Wiener declined to comment. His plans were first reported by the San Francisco Standard.

Mr. Wiener, who is openly gay, has been a prolific legislator in Sacramento, known for pushing to spur more housing development and pass laws that expand rights for L.G.B.T.Q. people. He wrote a law making California a “state of refuge” for transgender people from states that banned access to gender medical care to get treatment without facing criminal prosecution. For years, he worked to change California’s landmark environmental law to make it easier to build more homes, an effort that was finally successful this year.

He has also repeatedly battled Gov. Gavin Newsom for more money for public transit, and tried, unsuccessfully, to pass legislation allowing San Francisco bars to stay open past 2 a.m.

Ms. Pelosi already faces another primary challenger next year: Saikat Chakrabarti, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York’s former chief of staff who has plunged more than $700,000 of his own money into the race. His campaign held a kickoff event this month with more than 700 attendees.

The challengers come as the Democratic Party is facing a generational rift between an old guard that has led the party during the rise of President Trump and a younger generation demanding not just a new approach but new faces for the future.

Ian Krager, a spokesman for Ms. Pelosi, did not directly respond to reports of Mr. Wiener’s entry or her future plans.

“Speaker Pelosi is fully focused on her mission to win the Yes on 50 special election in California on November 4th,” said Mr. Krager, referring to Proposition 50, the measure to redraw California’s congressional map to carve out five more seats for Democrats. “She urges all Californians to join in that mission on the path to Democrats taking back the House.”

Christine Pelosi, a member of the Democratic National Committee and Ms. Pelosi’s daughter, is widely seen as a potential candidate to replace her. She did not respond to a request for comment.

California does not hold a traditional Democratic primary but instead has a so-called top-two system. The top two vote-getters advance to the general election, regardless of party. Ms. Pelosi has coasted to re-election for decades, regularly winning 80 percent of the vote, including 81 percent of the vote in November 2024.

Ms. Pelosi, the first woman to serve as speaker of the House, is seen as one of her party’s sharpest and most accomplished tacticians, helping usher through the major legislative achievements of the two most recent Democratic presidents, Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Barack Obama.

One of the two people briefed on Mr. Wiener’s deliberations said that Mr. Wiener was concerned that waiting for Ms. Pelosi to make a final decision could open the door for Mr. Chakrabarti, who made millions of dollars as an early employee at Stripe, to make inroads among voters in the city seeking a change.

In June, Mr. Wiener had said in a statement accompanying the paperwork he filed to run for Congress that, “I’ve been clear that I intend to run for this seat whenever the race opens up, whether in 2026 or 2028.” He alluded to Mr. Chakrabarti’s run at the time. “In a potential race against extremely wealthy candidates who can self-fund, I’ll have to work very hard to prepare to go toe to toe,” he said then.