State Sen. Scott Wiener and Supervisor Connie Chan are competing on Nov. 3 to succeed Nancy Pelosi in California's 11th Congressional District. Members of Congress do not make local zoning decisions. But Mission Local reports that supporters and critics both see the candidates' housing and transit records as a guide to how they would govern.

Transit

Chan pushed in 2023 to delay the Geary rapid bus lane between Stanyan Street and 34th Avenue after small-business owners objected to losing 31 parking spaces. SFMTA went ahead, and an agency report later found bus trips were 6% to 11% faster, Mission Local reported. Chan also backed an alternative that would have partly reopened JFK Drive to cars, and she opposed Prop. K in 2024, which turned part of the Great Highway into a park. She supports this year's Prop. G to bring back weekday cars. Wiener wrote the official argument against it.

On transit taxes, Chan supported Prop. L in 2024, a tax on ride-hailing companies to fund Muni. She opposed the 2020 Caltrain sales tax, Measure RR, and the 2023 bridge toll increase. She says she will “hold my nose” and vote for this year's regional transit sales tax, Measure RTM, because sales taxes fall hardest on lower-income people. Wiener negotiated that measure. He argued that more progressive taxes would likely have failed or been vetoed.

Housing

Wiener, one of the original YIMBYs, carried SB 827, a transit-area upzoning bill that died in committee, and later SB 79, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed. He has also passed laws speeding permits for projects that follow city rules. Chan says that streamlining removes neighborhood input. She argues the main barrier to building is financing, not red tape. She has called market-rate housing “luxury” housing and opposed some large market-rate projects, including the 22-story Marina Safeway plan.

Their federal platforms

KQED's voter guide says Wiener wants to build 8 million homes at all income levels, paid for in part by reversing federal tax cuts. Chan wants to repeal the Faircloth Amendment, which bans net increases in public housing, and to expand housing tax credits, Section 8 vouchers and renter tax deductions. Both back Medicare for All and higher taxes on the very wealthy.

A late endorsement

Mission Local also reported that former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, the first Chinese American governor and a former U.S. ambassador to China, endorsed Chan in the campaign's final days.

More on CA-11: money in the race, the final days and Measure RTM explained.

How to vote

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Polls and vote centers close at 8 p.m., and mailed ballots must be postmarked by Election Day and arrive within seven days. You can check your registration and ballot status at sos.ca.gov/elections. California lets you register and vote the same day at a vote center.