The Most Shouted-At Politician in America

Scott Wiener has an unusual distinction in American politics: He upsets almost everybody. In the months before I met the California state senator—who is now running for Nancy Pelosi’s congressional seat—he had been harangued at one public meeting after another. In October, pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted his campaign’s pumpkin-carving event to shout: “Wiener, Wiener, you can’t hide; we charge you with genocide.” (This was not an isolated incident.) His usual response in these situations is to wait calmly and then carry on as normal.

At another event a few days later, the singer Tish Hyman, who identified herself as “the only Black lesbian here,” confronted Wiener about his far-reaching support for transgender inclusion. “What would you say to women who are seeking assurance that their safety will be protected from men who by California law can self-ID as women in women-only spaces?” asked Hyman. Wiener replied that he was committed to the safety of all women—trans women included. Video of the confrontation went viral.

In an era when many politicians try to make only the most cautious public statements, or the ones most palatable to their side of the political spectrum, Wiener is an outlier. As a gay, Jewish politician, he defends Israel in ways that get him in trouble with the left. His LGBTQ advocacy not only has made him a target of the right but also goes too far for people such as Hyman, who voted for Kamala Harris. And as a YIMBY—an acronym that stands for “Yes in My Backyard”—he’s faced down San Francisco’s powerful homeowner class, who wrap their aversion to new housing in the language of environmentalism and social justice. His successful housing legislation has attracted national attention—to get homes built in San Francisco, you have to be something close to a magician. He “works on thorny issues of policy and politics with a wonk’s focus and a jock’s tenacity,” a recent Mother Jones article declared. The New York Times’ Ezra Klein credited him for being, “for a very long time, this lonely voice trying to radically expand housing