Despite having every reason to, San Francisco Supervisor Catherine Stefani didn’t stay out late celebrating on election night.
Far and away the top vote-getter in the race to represent a large swath of The City in the California State Assembly and in a race to serve on the Democratic County Central Committee, it was not only a successful primary for her personally — but also a resoundingly fruitful night for moderates across The City, who won on ballot issues like policing and drug screening for welfare recipients.
After a few hours of toasting the first tranche of returns with her team, Stefani turned in relatively early, falling asleep around midnight.
“I had to bring my daughter home,” she told The Examiner. “She did have to go to school.”
Her daughter Gianna, a high-school freshman, gave Stefani the final green light to run for state office. Stefani required her blessing, she said, because she wanted to make sure she would be able to perform the job while being present at home.
If she’s elected to the state legislature, as is widely expected, Stefani claims she will become the first San Francisco mother to do so.
Stefani, who currently represents a parcel of northern San Francisco, including the Marina and Pacific Heights, has routinely used her place as a mom in The City as a driving force for what has steered her political agenda.
She vowed to continue fighting for those same issues — education, housing, healthcare and public safety — should she win the seat for California’s 19th State Assembly district, which encompasses the western half of San Francisco and northwestern San Mateo County.
“I can’t wait to get up there to do what Jackie Speier described to me she was able to [in the state Assembly]: ‘Do the most good for the most people,’” Stefani said, referencing the longtime Bay Area congresswoman who represented district 19 for a decade.
Stefani has received 57.7% of the vote so far, more than twice as many votes as the second-place candidate and her likely general-election challenger, educator David Lee. Voters will decide in November whether Stefani or Lee will fill the Assembly seat of incumbent Phil Ting, who will term out at the end of the year after holding office since 2012.
“It’s just simply the best place for her,” said former San Francisco Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier, for whom Stefani worked as a legislative aide early in her political career. “I think she’s going to be a very loud voice for San Francisco at the state level.”
In a conversation with The Examiner shortly after the election, Stefani reminisced about her victory and detailed her priorities in the lead-up to November and if she’s elected to the state legislature.
“I was very pleased and excited that the way I see things is the way the voters seem to see things as well,” Stefani said. “I think [the primary results are] a continuum of what we’ve seen with the D.A. and the school-board member recalls in 2022. I think voters just want to see a San Francisco that works for them. And they want to feel safe.”
If she captures the seat, her future constituents will include a part of San Francisco with a population that is 40% Asian American, exemplified by densely populated Chinese neighborhoods such as the Sunset and Richmond districts.
Stefani would be the first non-Chinese state representative of the district since 2002, following Fiona Ma, Leland Yee and Ting. She touted endorsements from Ma and several prominent moderate Asian groups in The City, such as the Chinese American Democratic Club and the Filipino American Democratic Club.
“The AAPI community cares about the same things I do,” she said. “They care about making sure their kids are safe in schools and safe in The City where they live. Those are issues that, as a mother, I care deeply about, not just for my kids, but their kids. They want their kids to come home from college and be able to afford a place to live in San Francisco. I want that for my kids. I want it for their kids.”
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Ma, the current California treasurer, said Stefani “shares the values of the west side.”
When asked about Stefani potentially being the first non-Chinese representative for that half of San Francisco since 2002, Ma said The City’s Asian electorate cares more about policy than ethnicity.
“I think San Francisco has really advanced in terms of our understanding, especially the Asian community, that we just don’t vote by a certain name anymore,” Ma said. “We are now looking at their values, their principles, what issues are important to them, and whether they’re going to deliver on the campaign promises that they keep.”
Stefani pointed out that she marched with the community following the killing of Vicha Ratanapakdee, an 84-year-old Thai man who, in 2021, was violently shoved to the ground in Anza Vista — which would be in Stefani’s district — and renamed a street in his honor.
“I was walking in the streets for years with the ‘Stop AAPI Hate’ movement,” Stefani said. “I was there, and I certainly didn’t see my opponent.”
But Lee, who is Chinese American and the director of the Asian Pacific American Student Success Program at Laney College and executive director of the Chinese American Voters Education Committee, insisted that he’s been on the front lines of the fight against anti-Asian crime.
“Just because I wasn’t at a particular event that she happened to be at does not mean that I have not been active,” he told The Examiner. “If you talk to [Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce President] Carl Chan, you talk to other people, you know I’ve been very engaged in the community.”
Lee is backed by fellow progressives Ting — whom Lee said has done as much as anybody in the Assembly to oppose anti-Asian hate — former board president Norman Yee, the Rose Pak Democratic Club and Connie Chan. Chan is the only active Chinese American supervisor in The City, though her seat is being challenged by Marjan Philhour.
Lee, who has unsuccessfully run for San Francisco supervisor three times before, has championed his work in the Asian community over the decades, specifically in public education.
“People are realizing our representation is at stake, our voice is at stake,” he said. “And I think that’s what’s really gotten people much more interested and excited about this race.”
He also downplayed the lopsided primary results, attributing it to low voter turnout, especially in Asian neighborhoods, and a condensed campaign effort since he entered the race only 3½ months before Super Tuesday.
Lee was optimistic that with an eight-month lead-up to the November general election, he could close the gap.
“Eight months is a lifetime in politics,” he said. “A lot can happen. I’m pretty confident that we’re going to have the support we need to win the campaign.”
Stefani repeatedly emphasized to The Examiner her public safety and education priorities — two issues that have become intertwined with the Asian community, especially in the wake of the pandemic. The two concerns mobilized Asian American voters to the polls in 2022 in the recalls of former District Attorney Chesa Boudin and three members of the San Francisco Board of Education.
Stefani said she looks forward to having more influence in changing statewide laws that she thinks will curb crime — specifically retail theft — and violence in The City, such as arresting and providing “appropriate consequences” for repeat offenders, classifying domestic violence as a violent crime, and enacting more gun-violence prevention measures.
“This is the most effective place and the best place for somebody to take on the gun lobby,” Alioto-Pier said. “And if anybody’s going to do it, it’s going to be Catherine — and I think in California, it’s due time that we start taking a leadership role.”
