San Francisco’s former mayor, London Breed, is considering a run for the congressional seat soon to be vacated by Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi announced her retirement on Thursday after nearly four decades in office.
Since being ousted from City Hall, Breed has kept a low profile, working as an adviser at the nonprofit Aspen Policy Academy, a Bay Area branch of the Washington, D.C.-based Aspen Institute. However, she told KQED on Friday that she has received several calls encouraging her to run for California’s 11th Congressional District—the San Francisco-based seat Pelosi currently holds.
“I was taken aback and really humbled by the kinds of people who reached out to me and surprised me,” Breed said. “I asked them a lot of questions about why, and why me, and I’ve had those conversations nonstop since yesterday.”
The race is already shaping up to be competitive. Moderate Democrat State Senator Scott Wiener and progressive Saikat Chakrabarti—a wealthy former tech worker who served on New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s 2018 campaign—have announced their candidacies. San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, a progressive Democrat, is also rumored to be interested in running.
As of Friday, six Democratic and two Republican candidates have registered for the June 2026 primary, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Breed did not attend Wiener’s campaign kickoff party, although the two have long been allies. She has also refrained from endorsing any candidates prematurely, out of respect for Pelosi—now 85 and one of the most powerful lawmakers in recent memory.
“We need to pause and really reflect on Nancy Pelosi and her legacy and what she did for San Francisco and for our democracy,” Breed said. “She has been an extraordinary fighter, and she’s been courageous in these battles and very aggressive in trying to combat some of the most challenging times we have faced. And in addition to that, she would always make sure San Francisco is taken care of.”
Breed’s tenure as mayor ended last November when Mayor Daniel Lurie unseated her. She had steered the city through a tumultuous pandemic marked by high office and retail vacancy rates that hollowed out parts of downtown.
Born and raised in San Francisco public housing, Breed was first elected mayor after an interim appointment following former mayor Ed Lee’s death. She served as the city’s first Black woman mayor for nearly seven years.
While Breed has not yet confirmed whether she will formally enter the race, she plans to hold more conversations in the coming weeks to gauge how San Francisco voters feel.
Working in public service remains a strong calling for her. Her role at the Aspen Institute will continue through the end of the year.
“Policy has to be about people, and it’s one of the reasons why I love being in the arena for public service,” Breed said. “There is nothing in the world like it.”
https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2025/11/07/former-san-francisco-mayor-london-breed-considers-run-for-pelosi-seat/
