Nancy Pelosi’s exit opens way for tough fight to replace her in San Francisco

Los Angeles: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to step aside after nearly four decades in Congress kicks off a wide-open contest to replace her at a time when her home city of San Francisco is roiled in debate about the cost of living and what its future should look like. Pelosi announced Thursday that she will not seek reelection next year, bookending a career that saw her become the first woman in the speaker’s chair and one of the most powerful Democrats of her era in Washington.

The race to replace her is unfolding at a time when her deeply Democratic and famously liberal district — which encompasses virtually all of San Francisco — is contending with soaring housing costs and conflict over whether denser development is the answer to them. Republicans account for a mere 7% of voters.

Not surprisingly, the website for Democratic candidate and former tech executive Saikat Chakrabarti is headlined, “We can fix this.”

“The median home in our city now costs $1.4 million — far more than any middle-class family can afford,” he says. San Francisco-based Democratic consultant Eric Jaye says that for voters, “Affordability is at the top of the list” in the city of 830,000 people. There’s an ongoing debate for older residents and new alike — and a lot of anxiety — over “what are we going to be in the future?” Jaye says. With an influx of artificial intelligence and other tech workers and streams of global capital flowing in, “Who is going to get to stay?”

Her announcement came after two leading candidates didn’t

wait and entered the contest: Chakrabarti, a former chief of staff for Democratic Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Democratic state Sen Scott Wiener, who is known for his advocacy for denser development.agencies