This morning, District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener announced his candidacy for California State Senate. Wiener, who's lived in the Castro for 18 years, hopes to represent District 11 of the State Senate, which includes all of San Francisco, Daly City, Broadmoor, and Colma, plus part of South San Francisco. The district is currently represented by Senator Mark Leno.
Wiener was reelected to the city's D8 post back in November with 77 percent of the vote, which he noted was the "highest percentage ever received in District 8," and supporters for his State Senate candidacy include the incumbent Leno, plus Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Kamala Harris, Board of Equalization Member Fiona Ma, the entire San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, and more. So, he may well be a formidable adversary for opposing candidates in the 2016 race.
Wiener's track record in District 8 includes a focus on increasing the housing stock by encouraging development, an interest in improving public transit, and public health initiatives like Proposition E, the failed sugary beverage tax. He also successfully campaigned to ban nudity throughout San Francisco and to make it illegal to be in a city park after midnight (District 8 includes Buena Vista Park).
If elected, a press release for Wiener's candidacy states that he will focus on "addressing California's sustainability challenges, particularly the need to encourage more housing through smart and well-planned growth, enhanced funding for affordable housing, dramatically increased focus and investment in transit, aggressive efforts to address the water crisis and climate change, and strong access to health care, nutritious food, and great public education for all Californians." Here's more information on the issues that make up Wiener's platform.
Will he get your vote in 2016? Let us know what you think of Wiener's candidacy in the comments.