By John Ferrannini

District 4 Supervisor Alan Wong, who was appointed by San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie to fill the term of ousted supervisor Joel Engardio, was decisively elected by his own right June 2.

Speaking with the Sunset Beacon and Richmond Review shortly after the first election returns were announced, Wong said, “when there were outside pundits that were giving their predictions, we just kept doing the work, and we didn’t show off. We didn’t advertise what we were doing. We just kept our operations going.”

Wong got 72% in the final round of ranked-choice voting, according to the most-recently released preliminary election returns from the San Francisco Department of Elections. Natalie Gee, chief of staff to District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton, got 28%.

Gee stated on election night, “while it does not look like we will be victorious today, I know that the movement we built is only getting started, and I look forward to continuing to be a champion for this neighborhood, and for working people across our incredible City.

“I would like to thank the hundreds of people in D-4 and across San Francisco who dedicated their early mornings, late nights, weekends and holidays to knocking on doors, making phone calls and doing whatever it took to reach the community here in the Sunset,” Gee continued. “I’m proud of the race we ran. I’m proud to have been able to stand up for working families in my neighborhood. To fight for safer streets, to protect our most vulnerable communities, and to advocate for the services like buses and playgrounds and libraries that our residents depend on.”

Wong said he “knocked on the majority of doors in the entire district.”

“I personally gathered 800 signatures to put myself on the ballot,” he added. “And my team, we covered this district. Seven times.”

Wong, a former City College trustee, was appointed last December to fill the seat encompassing the Outer Sunset neighborhood until this election could be held for the term ending in January 2027. Another election will be held in November for the four-year term beginning next year. Wong said he’s “focused on the basic things.”

“I want to be able to ensure that the voices of this neighborhood are heard at City Hall,” he said, and “ensure that the Sunset is getting its fair share.”

“I’m focused on getting a protracted left-turn signal at Lincoln Way and Chain of Lakes (Drive), getting rid of the no left-turn side at 34th Avenue and Sloat Boulevard,” Wong said. “That didn’t make sense to neighbors. Those are the things that impact everyday people, that is affecting their quality of life, affecting their commutes each and every single day.”

In a round-about way, it was commuting that got Wong into office. Engardio was recalled after boosting Prop. K, which closed the upper Great Highway entirely to vehicle traffic. While Prop. K passed citywide, it was very unpopular in the Sunset.

District 4 has been a hotbed of political activism in San Francisco since a COVID-era voter revolt that led to the recalls of three progressive school board members and District Attorney Chesa Boudin. That led Engardio into office in the first place, who himself was the first person to beat an incumbent elected supervisor since the reintroduction of district elections almost a quarter-century earlier.

Wong wasn’t the first person to have replaced Engardio. Last November, Lurie appointed political novice Isabella “Beya” Alcaraz. The 29-year-old resigned after one week amid allegations related to her management of a Sunset district pet store. Then Lurie appointed Wong, a Sunset native and child of immigrants from British Hong Kong. In an interview late last year, Wong said he spent much of his initial time in office responding to power outages in his district, and that he’d support a ballot measure to reopen the highway to cars on weekdays.

A number of candidates put their hats in the ring for the seat. Coming in behind Wong and Gee was Albert Chow, a hardware store owner who was a leader in the movement to reopen the highway and recall Engardio. Chow declined to comment shortly after the first returns came in around 9 p.m., and didn’t return a message later June 2. 

Jeremy Greco, the current producer of Sunset Solos at Sealevel, a monthly solo theater performance series, and David Lee, an educator and the 20-year executive director of the Chinese American Voters Education Committee, also didn’t return requests to comment by press time for this report.