On a recent Saturday, about 50 union carpenters canvassed for Wiener after gathering at his Inner Richmond office. Soon afterward, roughly 30 volunteers supporting Chan — including nurses and electricians — headed out from Fulton Playground Park. The competing canvasses reflect a broader fight for west-side voters in the race to succeed Nancy Pelosi in Congress.

Wiener opened his Westside headquarters in July and has held Cantonese-language phone banks there twice a week. His campaign has also canvassed at neighborhood events and spent $20,000 on billboards promoting an AI chatbot that criticized Chan’s record. The campaign took the chatbot and billboards down after criticism.

Wiener’s campaign says it has found support among residents concerned about housing, safe streets, public safety and homelessness. The senator narrowly placed first in District 1 in the June 2 primary, winning by 66 votes. But the three-way contest also included Saikat Chakrabarti, who received 17% of the vote; Chan’s supporters expect many of those voters to back her in the general election.

Chan came in first in precincts across the city’s west side, with particularly strong results in the outer avenues. She has represented District 1 for nearly six years and won re-election in 2024 after a close race in 2020. She said she trusts that residents recognize her work and pointed to her relationships with working people and small-business owners.

The contest is also playing out against longstanding disagreements over local policy. Chan’s support for Proposition G, which would return Sunset Dunes to a weekday road, may appeal to some west-side voters. She and Wiener have also differed over closing Golden Gate Park’s main thoroughfare to cars, a dispute that has resurfaced in the congressional campaign.

Some observers see Wiener’s organizing as a genuine effort to win over moderate voters, while others say it is meant to suggest that Chan is losing support at home. Richmond resident and political consultant Nadia Rahman, who supports Chan, said videos produced by Wiener’s campaign featuring residents critical of the supervisor do not represent the district as a whole. A Wiener campaign organizer, meanwhile, said the team has spoken with thousands of west-side voters and received a strong response.

Political consultant Michael Terris said a strong showing for Chan in the Richmond could matter in the general election, but added that Wiener has an opportunity to draw support from moderate voters. Local Democratic Party executive director Bobak Esfandiari, who has volunteered with Wiener’s campaign, described the senator’s presence in the neighborhood as politically smart, saying it puts pressure on Chan to keep earning the support of constituents who know her best.

Chan, for her part, says she is confident in her local support. She recently recalled a neighbor asking who would look after the Richmond if she went to Washington. The question captures the central argument each campaign is making: Wiener is pitching a bid for new leadership, while Chan is emphasizing the value of a representative rooted in the neighborhood.