With Chiu’s appointment announced on Wednesday, four candidates announced their intention to run: Supervisor Matt Haney; former supervisor David Campos, who is now chief of staff to the San Francisco district attorney; Thea Selby, administrator of City College of San Francisco; and Bilal Mahmood, scientist, entrepreneur and philanthropist.

Political observers said the open siege would spark a wrestling match between progressives Campos and Haney, who share an electoral base and fundraising support. While some had predicted that the two men would clash behind closed doors to decide who would come forward so as not to divide the field, “human nature won,” progressive political consultant Jim Stearns said this week.

The two have already started scrambling for support from powerful San Francisco Democratic clubs. Two progressive candidates could split the vote, giving another more moderate opponent a boost, said political consultant Jim Ross.

One of Haney’s advantages at the local level is that the newly elected leader of the Democratic Party of San Francisco, Honey Mahogany, is his legislative assistant, but Campos could have a state-level advantage. He was recently elected vice chairman of the California Democratic Party.

Haney has more notoriety, since he’s currently a supervisor, and perhaps more fundraising power, consultants said, but Campos has strong ties to the state, especially with the Latino and LGBTQ caucuses at Sacramento.

Campos, who is gay and immigrated undocumented from Guatemala as a teenager, said he was motivated to run because there had never been a Latino representing San Francisco in the state legislature. This is especially noticeable given the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Latinos in the city. (Alex Vassar, who works for the California State Library and wrote a book on lawmakers, corrected the fact that Assembly member AD Splivalo, originally from Chile, represented San Francisco from 1871 to 1872. Whatever either way, it’s been a long time.)

Campos was elected to the Supervisory Board in 2008 representing District 9 – which includes the Mission, Portola and Bernal Heights – and appointed in 2017. He has supported successful proposals to fund legal representation for undocumented migrants and reverse a policy of reporting undocumented youth to immigration officials upon arrest. He was also an early proponent of supervised injection sites for drug users.

“The times have shown the appeal of progressive values,” Campos said. “The pandemic has only highlighted the problems and inequalities facing the city and society, and there is a thirst for a new approach to reform and a progressive leader who can implement a vision that can make San Francisco livable and affordable for everyone. “

Campos ran for the same Assembly seat in 2014 and narrowly lost to the more moderate Chiu. Campos told The Chronicle: “You always learn from your losses,” and, after that, spent nearly four years as Deputy Director of Santa Clara County. Stearns said Campos had “an incredible amount of experience more to offer than when he was racing before.”

One of those experiences was helping to oversee a bonding measure to build supportive housing. If elected, he would push for healthcare for all Californians, creating jobs, making college affordable, and investing in dense housing while protecting neighborhoods like the Mission from gentrification.

Campos is now chief of staff to polarize district attorney Chesa Boudin, which could attract some voters and repel others.

Haney confirmed his campaign this week. He said his campaign will focus on housing near jobs. He also suggested possibly requiring cities to add more services for the homeless and more mental health treatment beds.

“It will be really important to have a strong and effective legislator who represents us,” Haney said.

In his last three years as a supervisor, Haney amassed a considerable number of social media followers as he co-wrote legislation to overhaul the city’s mental health system and strived to repair street cleaning and corruption in public works. The self-proclaimed progressive fought with London’s more moderate mayor Breed, but this year, as chair of the council’s budget committee, she compromised the city’s $ 13 billion spending plan with her.

“Our city, especially during this pandemic and this recovery, truly deserves elected officials who solve problems and find common ground whenever possible to do so,” Haney said.

If Haney were elected to the Assembly, Breed could name a more moderate ally to succeed him.

Selby, who calls herself a “practical progressive,” ran as District 5 supervisor against the current Mayor of London Breed and is one of 14 California Democratic Party delegates helping to shape politics across the board. State for Assembly District 17. The only woman and parent in the Assembly race, raising two children in town, she is also a marketing business owner and transit advocate.

Selby said she wanted to be a champion of small business, education, transportation and the environment for a “safe, prosperous and inclusive San Francisco.” She would lobby to increase funding for mental health services, streamline construction of affordable housing and open supervised injection sites. She also wants municipalities to take control of the fiber-optic internet to bridge the digital divide, denouncing the lack of local control over 5G towers in the past.

Political newcomer Mahmood has said he wants to come forward to be a voice for people of color, promoting “bold new ideas” and making sure San Francisco “remains a beacon for the middle class” as well as his family.

Mahmood was born in the Bay Area to Pakistani immigrants and completed his high school education in Lahore, where his family moved to escape Islamophobia after 9/11. He is a Stanford University graduate and a scientist by training who did research at his alma mater’s medical school, founded a nonprofit microcredit organization, served six months in the Obama administration, and created an analytics startup which was acquired in 2020.

Last year, Mahmood and a friend started a philanthropic fund that first pledged $ 100,000 to an Oakland nonprofit to provide a basic income for laid-off restaurant workers. The Oakland Workers Fund received the first two quarterly donations, totaling $ 50,000, organizers said. Two upcoming grants will target anti-Asian violence and support local journalism.

If elected, Mahmood has said he will focus on housing, homelessness and climate change. It aims to advocate for tax reform to provide a guaranteed income, speed up construction of affordable housing and close Muni’s deficit.

Mahmood has never held an elected position.

“We have seen foreigners come back from behind in many different capacities over the past year, where there has been a wave of very unhappy people from the political establishment,” he said. “Many San Franciscans are tired of tribal politics.”

Chronicle editors Heather Knight and Trisha Thadani contributed to this report.

Mallory Moench is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @mallorymoench