Scott Wiener, California’s Most Radical Legislator, to Challenge Pelosi for Congress

Pelosi, 85, hasn’t said if she plans to run for another term in 2026. Wiener’s abrupt foray into the race comes as Pelosi already faces a stronger-than-expected primary challenger in Saikat Chakrabarti, a wealthy former tech executive who previously worked as chief of staff to New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

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Wiener’s move will upend politics in a citadel of Democratic power while adding fuel to an uncomfortable generational divide between a party establishment and megadonors loyal to Pelosi and younger activists backing Wiener, 55, or Chakrabarti.

Wiener is responsible for some of the most radical — and, arguably, the worst — legislation to come out of Sacramento. His “greatest hits” include a mask ban that attempts, unconstitutionally, to make it easier to “dox” ICE agents; SB 79, which overrides local zoning laws to allow high-rise developments near transit centers; a law decriminalizing loitering, which led to an explosion of child prostitution (and was repealed); the transgender “sanctuary state” law encouraging minors to seek surgery and drug treatments in the state; a law reducing penalties for same-sex statutory rape of an underage victim where the perpetrator was close in age; and many more.

Wiener also fought bitterly online with the late conservative Charlie Kirk, and has repeatedly referred to President Donald Trump as a “facsist,” even after Kirk’s assassination (and Trump’s survival of several).

The only issue on which Wiener has differed with the far left is Israel, where he has defended the Jewish state’s right to exist, against antisemitic attacks from his own radical anti-Israel base.

Chakrabarti left AOC’s office after he irritated the Congressional Black Caucus by comparing them to segregationists, and after ethical questions arose about coordination with political action committees.

Pelosi, who only stepped down as Speaker of the House in 2022, has not said whether she will retire, but the fact that she faces two challengers, each of whom with large fundraising ability, could push her out.

On the other hand, she could hope to split the two radicals, and defend the old liberal order that has reasserted itself in San Francisco against far-left officials in several recent recall elections and in last year’s mayoral race.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.