In several weeks gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman will know if he will wield the gavel at Board of Supervisors meetings during his remaining two years representing the city's LGBTQ Castro district and adjacent neighborhoods at City Hall. He is set to seek the powerful position when the supervisors hold their inaugural 2025 meeting on January 8, with District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar also expected to pursue the board presidency.
Behind the scenes speculation is heating up on who will enter the 2026 fall race to succeed Mandelman on the board. So far, no one has filed paperwork with the city's ethics commission to begin raising money for the supervisorial campaign.
(As of the Bay Area Reporter's print deadline Wednesday, the only race for one of the board's even-numbered seats that will be up in two years to draw a candidate to date is for the District 2 seat, with former supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier pulling papers with the ethics commission. She has been one of the people mentioned as a possible pick for Mayor London Breed to fill the vacant Marina-based seat vacated by Assemblymember Catherine Stefani, D-San Francisco, earlier this month.)
Nonetheless, a number of names of local leaders who are thought to be interested in the District 8 seat have been thrown around for months by political watchers. Due to the historical importance of the Castro to the LGBTQ community, and the seat held by a string of gay men since the city in 2000 reverted back to district-based elections for the 11 supervisors, the suspected field is largely made up of gay men.
At the top of the list is Mandelman's former legislative aide and de facto chief of staff at City Hall, Tom Temprano. He left Mandelman's office in February 2022 due to being hired by the statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization Equality California to be its political director.
A year later promoted to EQCA's managing director of external affairs, Temprano has built up a sizeable Rolodex of elected leaders and community officials, both LGBTQ individuals and straight allies, from across the state whom he could tap for endorsements and campaign contributions should he seek to succeed his former boss. A onetime elected member of the city's community college board, Temprano has long been thought to want to run for supervisor ever since being tapped by Mandelman to join his staff after he first won the District 8 seat in a special election in 2022.
When Temprano then moved into the Castro, it only fueled expectations of seeing him mount a supervisorial bid. Despite his EQCA job requiring him to travel throughout the state, Temprano has remained closely tied to the city and district.
He is also keeping his electoral intentions close to his chest for the time being. In recent months, when asked by the B.A.R. about running for the supervisor seat, Temprano has repeatedly demurred from answering.
"You can ask, but I will not have an answer for you," Temprano said in mid-November a few weeks after the November 5 election. He again said this week that he would "have no comment at this time."
Another person widely speculated as being interested in the seat is Gary McCoy, who stepped in as interim president of the progressive Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club in September amid a scandal over the club's botched endorsements in several city races on the fall ballot that prompted Jeffrey Kwong to step down from the presidency position. As it happens, Temprano is a former president of the Milk club, while McCoy was a former co-chair of the more moderate Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club.
McCoy, who resides in Twin Peaks with his husband, Kory Powell-McCoy, has long worked for Congressmember Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), serving as the political director for her campaigns and as a former district office staffer. He also spent stints as a legislative aide to several supervisors, including former District 8 supervisor Scott Wiener, now a Democratic state senator who represents the Castro in Sacramento.
For nearly four years now McCoy has worked as the vice president of policy and public affairs for the nonprofit medical and substance use services provider HealthRIGHT 360. A former board member for the Castro Country Club sober gathering place in the neighborhood, McCoy has been outspoken about his own substance use struggles and is a vocal advocate for harm reduction strategies.
"As a longtime District 8 resident, it's important to me that we have a strong representative on the Board of Supervisors. I'm always looking for how I can best be of service, and am interested in exploring this role, but I'm still having conversations with the community to learn what is most needed right now and haven't come to a final decision yet," McCoy told the B.A.R. this month.
Another person long thought to want the District 8 seat is Emanuel "Manny" Yekutiel, the owner of the eponymously named cafe and event space on Valencia Street a few blocks outside the boundaries of the supervisorial district. The Jewish business leader has been a magnet for protesters upset with his support of Israel, even prior to its war in Gaza in response to the terrorist group Hamas' attack on the country in October 2023.
Stuck in Tel Aviv at the time for several days until international flights resumed, Yekutiel resigned from his seat on the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors when he returned home. He again made headlines last December when he floated possibly running in the 2024 mayoral race against Breed, who had appointed him to the transit oversight body.
Yet Yekutiel opted against doing so and remained neutral in the contest. He co-moderated the first mayoral debate with Breed and her top four challengers held in June.
Asked by the B.A.R. this week if he was interested in seeking the supervisor seat, as Yekutiel is also a Castro resident, he said his priorities are currently running his business and a philanthropic effort that has helped put on various events around the city to draw customers back to downtown and neighborhood businesses, such as night markets and music performances.
"I've got no plans to run for supervisor at this time. I'm fully focused on running Manny's and the Civic Joy Fund," Yekutiel told the B.A.R., adding he is "excited to work with" the incoming administration of Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie "to help with the city's economic recovery any way I can."
Others mentioned as possible District 8 candidates include Scotty Jacobs, a gay branding consultant who lost his bid on the November 5 ballot to be the District 5 supervisor. A resident since 2022 near the Panhandle and Divisadero commercial corridor, where he rents an apartment with his younger brother, Jacobs has been the subject of rumors that he could be looking to move into Cole Valley, which was added to District 8 during the last redistricting process, or another area of the district in order to seek the seat.
Jacobs didn't respond to a request for comment by press time.
The lone straight candidate often mentioned as possibly getting into the race is Carrie Barnes, who just stepped down as president of the Noe Valley Democratic Club. She won election last March to a seat on the committee that runs the San Francisco Democratic Party, on which she serves as its second vice chair.
A married mom, Barnes has an uncle who is gay and has long had an interest in politics. She worked on Hillary Clinton's unsuccessful presidential bid in 2016 then earned a master's degree in public affairs from UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy.
When asked by her neighborhood newspaper the Noe Valley Voice about her political aspirations for a profile in its February issue, Barnes acknowledged being interested in seeking public office one day. But she didn't think she would run for supervisor.
Barnes didn't return the B.A.R.'s request for comment this week.
Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check http://www.ebar.com Monday mornings for Political Notes, the notebook's online companion. This week's column reported on the ongoing search for a new leader of the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund.
Keep abreast of the latest LGBTQ political news by following the Political Notebook on Threads @ https://www.threads.net/@matthewbajko and on Bluesky @ https://bsky.app/profile/politicalnotes.bsky.social.
Got a tip on LGBTQ politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 829-8836 or email [email protected]
Never miss a story! Keep up to date on the latest news, arts, politics, entertainment, and nightlife.
Sign up for the Bay Area Reporter's free weekday email newsletter. You'll receive our newsletters and special offers from our community partners.
Support California's largest LGBTQ newsroom. Your one-time, monthly, or annual contribution advocates for LGBTQ communities. Amplify a trusted voice providing news, information, and cultural coverage to all members of our community, regardless of their ability to pay -- Donate today!
