Scott Wiener advances in House race to succeed Nancy Pelosi

SAN FRANCISCO — Scott Wiener will advance in the race to succeed Nancy Pelosi as San Francisco’s representative in Congress, putting him within reach of a coveted House seat that hasn’t been open for nearly 40 years.

Wiener, a prominent Democratic state senator, emerged Tuesday as the front-runner in the top-two primary election. But it was not immediately clear which Democrat he will face in the November election: Connie Chan, a city supervisor, or Saikat Chakrabarti, a former tech engineer running as an anti-establishment candidate.

Pelosi, the former speaker, announced late last fall that she would retire from Congress after nearly four decades. She endorsed Chan, a progressive candidate with deep ties to labor, in the final weeks of the contest.

Wiener, a moderate Democrat by San Francisco standards, ran on his efforts to address the city’s housing shortage and touted his work on legislation to resist President Donald Trump’s policies.

Meanwhile, Chan and Chakrabarti battled for the support of more progressive voters, while Chan cast herself as the candidate capable of carrying on Pelosi’s legacy.

Chakrabarti, who poured nearly $10 million of his wealth into the contest, sought to tap into populist energy on the left by casting himself as a political outsider and highlighting his ties to progressive heavyweights like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. But he faced a major setback after Ocasio-Cortez, his former boss, refused to endorse him.