SF Democratic Party takes no position on Engardio recall

Gay District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio, facing a recall effort next month, won’t be able to count on the San Francisco Democratic Party for support in the fight of his political life. The San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee could not come to a decision one way or another.

When the vote was taken, 11 voted to oppose the recall and 11 voted the party should make no endorsement. Six DCCC members abstained, and four were absent without proxies. A majority was needed for the party to take a position. The DCCC held its monthly meeting August 27 at the Ruth Williams Opera House in the city’s Bayview neighborhood. It was part of the local party’s efforts to be more visible to the city’s neighborhoods following the 2024 election.

The hourslong meeting included some 27 public comments from people saying Engardio should be kicked out of office come September 16, the recall election date. Six public commenters defended him.

“It is a deeply divisive issue, and I think that was reflected in the party’s vote tonight,” DCCC Chair Nancy Tung, a straight ally, stated to the Bay Area Reporter. 

As the B.A.R. previously reported, in 2022 Engardio became the first candidate to unseat a sitting elected incumbent supervisor since district elections were re-introduced in 2000 and the first LGBTQ board member to win a district centered on San Francisco's western neighborhoods.

He rose to prominence amid the 2022 voter revolt, centered in his district, that helped recall San Francisco district attorney Chesa Boudin and three members of the city’s school board. Now Engardio is facing a recall due to his role in Proposition K reaching San Francisco voters’ ballots last year. 

Prop K, which closed a portion of the Upper Great Highway to vehicles and established a park now known as Sunset Dunes, passed citywide. But it lost overwhelmingly in Engardio’s District 4, coterminous with the Outer Sunset neighborhood.

The highway had first been closed to cars during COVID, in order to allow for physically-distanced outdoor activities. Before Prop K, a compromise brokered by then-District 4 supervisor Gordon Mar kept the highway open to cars on weekdays.

The recall is on the ballot as Proposition A. A yes vote would remove Engardio from office; a no vote would retain him. Should he be removed from office, it would be up to Mayor Daniel Lurie to name someone to serve until the next election in June 2026. The winner of that race will serve the remainder of Engardio’s term through early January 2027. A regularly-scheduled election for the next four-year term will be held in November 2026.

Engardio was not at the meeting. He stated to the B.A.R. afterward, “Recalls should be reserved for corruption or impropriety — not policy disagreements on a single issue. Voters just elected me three years ago, and they’ll have their chance to weigh in again next year in the regular election.” (Engardio would be up for reelection in 2026.)

Public speakers
One of those members of the public speaking for Engardio was a man named Albert, who declined to provide a last name. A UCLA graduate, he said he’s from a working class, Chinese American family in the Sunset district and recently moved back home till he can afford a place of his own.

“The Chinese community is not a monolith. We don’t all feel the same and we don’t all vote the same,” he said. “We like Sunset Dunes – well, I like it more than them [his parents] – but to be fair, the park is a safe place to walk and exercise outdoors and in the future. … Hopefully, my parents will become grandparents and will teach my kids to ride a bike. The Sunset belongs to everyone and not just a few and loud angry voices.”

Albert said that Engardio spoke to his family in their living room for an hour and explained his rationale for putting Prop K on the ballot and supporting the Sunset Dunes Park, persuading Albert’s father to take down his sign expressing support for the recall.

“He has a ‘No on A’ sign on his window now,” Albert said. “Joel’s a good person, and the Sunset needs his leadership because he’s forward-focused on helping young people like me stay in San Francisco.”

One of those speaking against Engardio was Albert Chow, a leader in the recall effort whose name has been floated as a possible replacement supervisor choice.

“[Engardio] doesn’t walk the streets of District 4 anymore because he’s afraid of being shamed,” Chow intoned. “Our neighborhood has been changed. Our neighborhood has been factionalized. Why would you vote for someone like this?”

Mar breaks his silence
After public comment, DCCC member Lily Ho said that the committee’s Issues and Resolutions committee had interviewed Engardio earlier in the month and recommended the committee make no endorsement in the race.

Then, just before the vote, as the meeting came to a crescendo, the room hushed as Mar – whom Engardio defeated in 2022 but who is an elected member of the DCCC – spoke on the matter of the recall, and his successor.

“This is the first time I’m speaking publicly on my perspectives on the recall election,” Mar said. “This is a decision for District 4 voters alone. Our community deserves to weigh this extremely divisive issue without further outside influence, especially when tech and crypto billionaires have already poured more than $784,000 into the [Engardio] campaign to influence and really buy the votes in District 4.”

(Indeed, the majority of the funding for Engardio’s campaign to stay in office came from five individuals, as the Richmond Review reported earlier this month, including cryptocurrency tech-philanthropist Chris Larsen, venture capitalist Ron Conway, and Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppleman.)

Mar urged the party not to take a position.

“Trust in democracy here in San Francisco and in this country is extremely fragile and so the Democratic Party here in San Francisco should not add to that outside influence on such a deeply local question as Prop A,” Mar said.

Mar said he’s “always opposed the use of recalls as a political weapon,” and for that reason opposed the DA and school board recalls.

“This recall is actually more justified than those we had in 2022,” he said.

“As so many have stated tonight and have repeated over the past year, Supervisor Engardio misled voters about one of the most contentious issues in our district, in presenting one position in order to get the votes of many of the people here today, and then reversing himself once in office,” Mar said. “He then led an effort to put a citywide ballot measure on the ballot without any input from his constituents, who he misled.”

Mar said that the issue is one of “the importance of meaningful public input on divisive positions by public officials. During my tenure my staff spent more time on this issue than any other by a wide margin.”

Matthew Rothschild, a gay man who is on the committee as a proxy for ex officio member gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), attacked Mar’s reasoning, arguing the party should full-throatedly oppose the recall. Wiener has endorsed Engardio, and thus opposes Prop A.

“We are the Democratic Party,” he said. “People want to know what we stand for. To not take a position on something like this? How can we look voters in the eye and say, ‘Oh, we didn’t get involved?’ You got elected to make tough votes. If you can’t take tough votes, you shouldn’t stand for an election.”

Rothschild said that the party should guide voters to cut through outside influences.

“You said you’re concerned about outside influence,” Rothschild said. “Well, that’s all the more the reason the Democratic Party should step up. There’s always outside influences in every election … I think it’s interesting when you say the party shouldn’t take a position, yet you voted for the party to take a position when the party opposed the recall of the DA. The party opposed these other recalls. Wow. And so it’s OK to be in opposition then, but now we shouldn’t get involved? The Democratic Party should be the loudest voice there is to try to drown out outside influences because we are the Democratic Party. We should be more important than newspapers, more important than specialist PACs.”

DCCC member Jade Tu, who lives in the Sunset district, gave personal testimony.

“My grandma, who is disabled, bound to a wheelchair; I’m not going to be able to wheel her all the way down to the Great Highway,” Tu said. “He [Engardio] only thought of himself in the situation. Many of us who are working people need that Great Highway to go from one side of the city to another. 

“The reason he got elected is the district did not feel represented – sorry – and the matter of fact is now they still don’t feel represented and that’s why they’re so upset and that’s why they feel so betrayed,” Tu added, turning to Mar when she said “sorry.”

When the time came to vote, gay DCCC member Matt Dorsey, who as District 6 supervisor is a colleague of Engardio’s, voted that the party should oppose the recall. (Dorsey has endorsed Engardio.) 

“Joel has been a strong ally of mine on the Board of Supervisors for police staffing and public safety priorities, and I don’t want to lose him as a colleague. For that reason, I’m opposing the recall,” Dorsey stated to the B.A.R.

Gay DCCC member Joe Sangirardi also voted to oppose the recall. He stated to the B.A.R., “The recall will not reopen the Great Highway, but it will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars during a budget deficit, taking away critical dollars from our city’s most vulnerable residents. Recalls are meant to address dereliction of duty and misconduct, not wage opportunistic proxy wars with our tax dollars.”

Gay DCCC member Michael Nguyen abstained. Expressing a similar sentiment to Mar’s, after the meeting Nguyen told the B.A.R. that, “To me, it’s up to the District 4 residents. I’m against recalls generally, but at the same time, they did raise credible concerns.”

Engardio defends himself
In his statement to the B.A.R., whose editorial board came out against the recall this week, Engardio characterized the opposition to him as being a reactionary movement opposed to change and vibrancy in District 4. 

“The recall campaign calls me ‘dangerous’ for welcoming new people and new ideas into the Sunset,” Engardio stated. “But I believe every new immigrant, every LGBTQ neighbor, every young family, every innovator, and every senior who wants to live in San Francisco and the Sunset makes our community stronger. Welcoming people is what has always made San Francisco thrive.”

Engardio continued that the mayor’s upzoning proposals allowing for more multi-unit housing developments in the Sunset, and spaces like Sunset Dunes, will help ensure the city’s future success.

“I’m proud to stand for progress — working with Mayor Lurie to move our city forward, building housing for future generations, and preserving open spaces like Sunset Dunes, where families can come together,” Engardio stated. “Voters should reject this unnecessary recall on September 16 so I can keep focusing on what really matters: improving public safety, supporting parents and families, and helping small businesses thrive.”

Lurie has not spoken out about the recall, though Engardio, a moderate like the mayor, supports many of his proposals. If Engardio is recalled, the person Lurie names as his replacement would need to face voters in the next city election, currently the June 2, 2026 primary.

The recall campaign did not return a request for comment by press time.