Race for Pelosi Seat Heats Up With Moderate Candidate

With just over three months to go until the June primary, another candidate has entered the race to fill Nancy Pelosi’s congressional seat.

Marie Hurabiell, director of the political advocacy group ConnectedSF, has announced her candidacy for California’s 11th congressional district, the San Francisco Standard reported.

In a race led by State Sen. Scott Wiener, tech founder Saikat Chakrabarti and San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, Hurabiell, a self-described “actual moderate,” aims to carve a lane in the center of the political spectrum.

“I looked around and realized that there was no other viable moderate getting into the race,” Hurabiell told The Standard on Tuesday. “I have decided that it’s the right thing to do.”

While locals view Wiener as a moderate compared to Chan and Chakrabarti, Hurabiell is looking to position herself as the candidate squarely in the middle.

“The three current candidates in the race are essentially fighting for the same group of voters, and the rest of San Franciscans feel left out,” Hurabiell said. “People are begging for an actual moderate, an actual adult in the room to come forward.”

Hurabiell was appointed to the Presidio Trust board of directors by President Donald Trump in 2018. ConnectedSF endorsed Daniel Lurie for mayor early on in that campaign when his poll numbers were sagging, leading now-Mayor Lurie to appear at Hurabiell’s events following his victory.

In 2022, she switched her party affiliation from Republican to Democrat, though she has drawn criticism for expressing conservative views on social media such as denying transgender people’s identities and likening critical race theory to a Nazi Germany tactic, according to the Standard. Hurabiell brushed off scrutiny around her party change.

“I switched four years ago, so I don’t know why we’re even still talking about this,” she said. “You know who else switched? Hillary Clinton was a Republican and then became a Democrat.”

Hurabiell’s opponents had mixed responses to her entry into the race. Wiener told the Standard she is a “MAGA Republican” masquerading as a Democrat, while Chakrabarti, a former chief of staff and campaign manager for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, was open to her presence. “We welcome everyone into the race. Marie is known as someone who speaks her mind and always keeps things interesting,” Chakrabarti spokesperson Tiffaney Bradley said. “While our campaign will probably disagree on almost everything, what we have in common is that we know this city and this whole country needs change.”

The two candidates with the most votes in the June primary will advance to the general election in November.

— Chris Malone Méndez