For years, California state Sen. Scott Wiener looked like an obvious candidate to eventually inherit Nancy Pelosi’s congressional seat. But with Pelosi finally retiring after nearly four decades in Congress, the succession battle has turned into something far more personal — and Pelosi is apparently determined to make sure Wiener doesn’t get the job.
According to Politico, Pelosi and her formidable San Francisco political network have been working behind the scenes to boost San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan and derail Wiener, a fellow Democrat who once appeared positioned to cruise into the seat.
Now the fight is out in the open.
Wiener entered the congressional race last year, before Pelosi announced that she would retire. He has long been one of California’s most prominent progressive lawmakers, particularly on housing, LGBTQ issues and criminal justice. In most congressional districts, that résumé might make him an unusual fit. In Pelosi’s overwhelmingly Democratic San Francisco-based 11th District, it made him an early favorite.
The June primary appeared to confirm that advantage. Under California’s top-two primary system, Wiener finished first with 40.7 percent of the vote, while Chan received 29.7 percent. Both advanced to November.
But Pelosi’s political operation is now lining up behind Chan.
There are substantive policy differences involved. Wiener is closely associated with the “YIMBY” housing movement, which advocates building significantly more housing and reducing zoning barriers. Pelosi has longstanding relationships with organized labor, including building-trades unions concerned about developers weakening union protections.
Women have spent generations fighting to have our own voices heard in the halls of power.
We should not have to now fight against artificial intelligence putting words in our mouths. pic.twitter.com/B6Vlu1ww3V
— Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) August 6, 2026
Wiener has also clashed with teachers’ unions, another important part of Pelosi’s political coalition. Chan, who has taken a more cautious approach toward development on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, has maintained stronger relationships with those unions.
Yet people involved in San Francisco politics say policy only explains part of what is happening.
“Pelosi is the vintage powerbroker here,” an anonymous pro-Wiener labor organizer told Politico.
“Let’s be real about what this is: It’s more a personal retribution. It’s about Pelosi being able to continue to broker power in San Francisco.”
At the center of that alleged personal friction is Wiener’s decision to launch his campaign while Pelosi was still occupying the seat.
Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown certainly remembers it.
“He said he had no intentions of running against Nancy — one week later he announced against Nancy,” Brown told Politico. “And I’ll never forget that.”
Pelosi ally Kim Tavaglione, executive director of the San Francisco Labor Council, offered another explanation for why the announcement caused irritation.
It “really got underneath her skin because it was all about fighting Donald Trump, but he wants it to be all about him,” Tavaglione said.
“You’re talking about someone who was speaker of the House and her legacy.”
If the dispute had remained there, it could have stayed inside the world of San Francisco political grudges and competing union endorsements. Then Wiener’s campaign introduced an AI chatbot.
The bot was designed to criticize Chan’s record on housing and affordability, but Pelosi joined other prominent Democrats in publicly condemning the stunt.
“Women have spent generations fighting to have our own voices heard in the halls of power,” Pelosi wrote. “We should not have to fight against artificial intelligence putting words in our mouths.”
Pelosi called using AI to fabricate a woman’s voice for political attacks a “gross misuse of technology” and argued that targeting a woman of color added another racial dimension to the episode.
Chan’s campaign went further, saying the chatbot generated sexist and racist responses involving Chan’s Asian heritage. Politico reported that it could not independently reproduce those responses, although Chan’s team provided screenshots that it said documented them.
For Pelosi, the controversy offered an opportunity to attack Wiener publicly rather than merely maneuver against him behind closed doors.
For Wiener, it provided evidence for his contention that he isn’t simply running against Chan anymore.
“Nancy has basically taken over Connie’s campaign,” Wiener told Politico. “I’m running an independent campaign with enormous grassroots support, and no one has taken over my campaign.”
That may be an exaggeration, but there is little question that Pelosi’s presence has transformed the contest.
