Scott Wiener For Pelosi Seat Wins Backing From Five LGBTQ Groups

Scott Wiener for Pelosi seat picked up a wave of LGBTQ+ political support this week, as five major organizations lined up behind his bid for California’s 11th Congressional District. The Human Rights Campaign PAC, Equality California, Equality PAC, LGBTQ+ Victory Fund and the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus all endorsed Wiener, a gay state senator from San Francisco who is running to succeed Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. 

Pelosi, a Democrat and longtime LGBTQ+ ally, announced that she will not seek another term in the San Francisco based district, ending nearly 40 years in Congress. Her decision opened one of the safest Democratic seats in the country and set up an early test of where LGBTQ+ voters and progressive organizations want to send one of their own in the post Pelosi era. 

The endorsements were rolled out in a joint statement from the five groups, which together help drive money, volunteers and messaging in queer politics across the country. HRC is the largest national LGBTQ civil rights organization, Equality California is the state’s leading LGBTQ advocacy group, Equality PAC is the political arm of the Congressional Equality Caucus, LGBTQ+ Victory Fund recruits and backs out candidates, and the Legislative LGBTQ Caucus represents queer lawmakers in Sacramento. 

Heavyweight LGBTQ groups get behind Wiener

In the release, HRC President Kelley Robinson said the groups see Wiener as someone who will not hesitate to confront anti LGBTQ attacks from the right. She argued that at a time when “MAGA” politicians are targeting queer and trans people, having more out members of Congress willing to push back directly is a priority, and she cast Wiener as ready to “go toe to toe” with anti equality forces in Washington. 

Tony Hoang, executive director of Equality California, called Wiener one of the country’s most effective pro equality lawmakers, pointing to his work on HIV prevention and treatment, protections for LGBTQ seniors and foster youth, and California’s effort to act as a refuge state for transgender young people and their families. 

Evan Low, the former Assembly member who now leads LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, said few leaders have fought harder for LGBTQ rights in California than Wiener and noted that he and Wiener worked together on legislation tied to marriage equality and the formal repeal of Proposition 8 language that had lingered in state law. Low said sending Wiener to Congress would strengthen the LGBTQ caucus in 2026 as national fights over queer and trans rights continue. 

Assemblymember Chris Ward of San Diego, who chairs the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, framed the caucus endorsement as a nod to a long record. Ward pointed to Wiener’s bills expanding access to HIV care, strengthening protections for LGBTQ youth and older adults, and opening a path for nonbinary people to obtain IDs that match their gender. 

A long LGBTQ record in Sacramento

Wiener has spent nearly a decade in the state Senate after serving on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in the Castro district once represented by Harvey Milk. In the Legislature he has authored laws that created a nonbinary gender marker on California IDs and birth certificates, expanded access to PrEP and PEP, modernized HIV criminal laws and sought to shield families who travel to California so their trans kids can receive gender affirming health care. 

Those bills have made him a frequent target of right wing activists, but they also turned him into a national figure in LGBTQ policy debates and a reliable voice for housing, transit and criminal justice reforms. His congressional campaign has leaned heavily on that record, arguing that he can bring a “California model” on LGBTQ rights and housing policy to the House. 

In his own statement responding to the new endorsements, Wiener said support from LGBTQ organizations has been “overwhelming” and promised to keep fighting for queer and trans people who are being scapegoated. He pledged that, if elected, he would push to make sure LGBTQ people across the country have the legal protections and basic support they need to live openly and safely. 

Housing agenda that divides city halls

Wiener’s name on the ballot means housing is on the ballot too. His biggest fights in Sacramento have been over bills that push cities to allow more apartments near transit, and those efforts have sparked years of debate in West Hollywood and other built-out communities.

Back in 2017, he carried SB-35, one of a package of laws meant to speed up approvals in cities that were not meeting their state housing targets. West Hollywood was one of the few cities that got what amounted to a temporary pass, as WEHOville covered in WeHo Gets a Pass on State Law that Simplifies Real Estate Development, but even then city leaders were already watching Wiener’s next move: SB-827, a proposal to let much taller buildings rise near transit stops.

That bill, and its successor SB-50, landed in some unfriendly territory here in West Hollywood. In 2018, a contributor warned that SB-827 would mean “Wiener-buildings in your neighborhood and every neighborhood across the city” in the opinion piece For State Sen. Wiener, Nothing Exceeds Like Excess. The following year, two neighborhood groups rallied homeowners to ask the City Council to oppose SB-50, saying it “would destroy our neighborhood as we know it,” as detailed here.

Those stories captured a basic fear in West Hollywood and other dense, rent-controlled cities, that statewide upzoning would override local plans, put pressure on older rent-stabilized buildings and invite luxury projects without enough protections for existing tenants. A hot topic that continues to burn today.

Things seemed to shift this year with West Hollywood’s elected. When Wiener came back with SB-79 (and a related measure, SB-677), aimed at transit-oriented housing, the City Council voted unanimously to support both bills. Councilmembers said that even with their concerns about local control, the city needed to be part of the solution on production near transit.

That history is a big part of why Wiener is still such a polarizing figure in places like West Hollywood and other Westside and Southbay neighborhoods. To housing advocates and many renters, he is the rare lawmaker willing to force high-cost cities to make room. To many neighborhood groups and local officials, his bills read as Sacramento sledgehammer telling local communities how quickly they have to change.

Crowded field to replace Pelosi

Wiener is not alone in the race. The current candidate list includes San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, progressive activist and former Alexandria Ocasio Cortez chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti, several lesser known Democratic hopefuls such as Cole Bettles, Darren Helton and Jingchao Xiong, and Republican David Ganezer, a newspaper publisher. 

Pelosi has stayed neutral – so far, even as pieces of her old political network split between the candidates. She endorsed Connie Chan in earlier supervisor races, while statewide figures in her lane like Attorney General Rob Bonta and former Mayor London Breed are already backing Wiener. No public polling has tested the three-way primary yet, but an internal survey for Saikat Chakrabarti’s campaign suggests many voters admire Pelosi and still feel ready for “a change” in the seat. 

California uses a top two primary system, so all of those candidates will appear on the same ballot on June 2, 2026, with the two highest vote getters advancing to the November 3 general election regardless of party. In a district as blue as Pelosi’s, political observers expect two Democrats to emerge from the primary, which raises the stakes for early endorsements and national fundraising networks like the ones that just lined up behind Wiener. A prediction market (basically a betting market, not a scientific poll) currently pricing Wiener as the favorite, with Chan and Chakrabarti trailing. That tells you how political junkies are guessing the race, not how voters have actually answered a survey. 

For LGBTQ+ voters in WeHo and across California who are watching how the post Pelosi era takes shape, the message from the movement’s biggest political groups is pretty clear. They want Scott Wiener in the room when the next Congress decides whether to build on, or roll back, the gains of the last two decades.