GrowSF is not making an endorsement in District 8.

McCoy did not answer our questionnaire, so his positions above come from his campaign platform and press coverage.

Patel declined our questionnaire and Nguyen did not respond to it, so their positions come from Patel's platform, Nguyen's priorities, and Mission Local's coverage of the candidates on Family Zoning, housing, conservatorship, and harm reduction. Patel says the police department should be staffed properly instead of run on overtime, but within its current budget.

Some details about each candidate's platform

Manny Yekutiel

Yekutiel owns Manny's, a cafe and event space at 16th and Valencia, and has led the Valencia Corridor Merchants Association. He co-founded the Civic Joy Fund with Daniel Lurie before Lurie became Mayor; the fund pays for 17 trash pickups a week, night markets, and public art across the city. He has served on the Small Business Commission and spent nearly three years on the SFMTA Board of Directors.

He has the most ambitious housing agenda in this race: 10,000 new homes in District 8 within eight years, mostly through a "housing priority district" on Market Street from Castro to Octavia. The district built 1,212 new homes from 2015 through 2024. He also supports full SFPD staffing, prosecuting fentanyl dealers, expanding sober housing and treatment, and making a willing landlord the only approval most new small businesses need. His full answers are in his questionnaire.

Gary McCoy

McCoy is a former aide to Scott Wiener and London Breed during their time as Supervisors, and to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and was vice president of policy and public affairs at HealthRIGHT 360, a nonprofit that has run safe consumption sites in San Francisco. He has led the Alice B. Toklas and Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Clubs.

His platform supports Mayor Lurie's Family Zoning Plan and faster approvals for new homes, with prevailing wages on construction. He wants more mental health crisis response teams and speed cameras on District 8 corridors, and he opposes police use of Flock license-plate cameras. McCoy and Patel are asking their supporters to rank each other second.

Darshini Patel

Patel worked in the Obama White House's Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, on presidential campaigns, and on operations at DoorDash. She owns a home in District 8.

Her platform would audit SFPD overtime and cap the overtime any one officer can work, expand the Street Crisis Response Team, and measure 311 by whether problems come back rather than by how fast cases close. She would enforce the empty storefront tax against District 8 owners who have not filed, and change restaurant permitting from "no, unless" to "yes, if." She also opposes Flock cameras.

Michael T. Nguyen

Nguyen is a patent attorney and drag performer who serves on the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee and sits on the executive board of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club.

His signature proposal is "social housing," which he describes as permanently affordable, mixed-income, city-owned housing. He opposes reducing inclusionary housing requirements and has opposed upzoning, citing displacement. He would extend the City's Vacant to Vibrant storefront program to two years and pair it with commercial rent stabilization, extend free Muni to riders up to age 25, and opposes Flock cameras. He says he will not be "a rubber stamp for the Mayor."

District 8 uses ranked-choice voting, so you can rank up to 10 candidates in order of preference.