Allegation against Manny Yekutiel jolts San Francisco supervisor race
Brad Joseph Chapin’s assault allegation against Manny Yekutiel triggered an SFPD probe and endorsement pullbacks in the District 8 race.
Allegations that Manny Yekutiel sexually assaulted political organizer Brad Joseph Chapin in 2020 have shaken San Francisco’s District 8 supervisor race, triggering a San Francisco Police Department investigation and immediate political fallout. Attorney General Rob Bonta and other officials pulled endorsements after the accusation became public.
The stakes are unusually high because Yekutiel is not just a candidate. He is the owner and public face of Manny’s, the Mission District restaurant, bar and bookstore that has become one of the city’s premier civic gathering spaces, a place for book talks, conferences, concerts and galas. Over time, the venue has hosted Mayor London Breed, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Gov. Gavin Newsom, first lady Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, making any scandal around its founder hard to contain inside a single campaign.
That political and cultural reach is why the fallout has spread beyond one name on the ballot. Manny’s has already been a flashpoint in San Francisco politics, with a boycott beginning in 2019 over accusations of gentrification and Zionism. In June 2025, the business was vandalized during an anti-deportation protest, with smashed windows and graffiti directed at Yekutiel, underscoring how deeply polarized the space had become before the latest allegation surfaced.
The race itself covers one of the city’s most closely watched districts. District 8 includes the Castro, Glen Park, Noe Valley, Diamond Heights, Mission Dolores and Cole Valley. Rafael Mandelman has represented the district since July 2018 and is termed out, leaving an open seat for the November 3, 2026, general election. The San Francisco Department of Elections set the nomination period for Board of Supervisors candidates from May 15 through June 9.
Yekutiel announced his District 8 candidacy in September 2025, casting himself through his campaign as a small business owner, community builder and former city commissioner. Now the question for voters is whether that long-built public profile can withstand a criminal complaint, a police investigation and the rapid withdrawal of support from people who had helped anchor his rise in San Francisco civic life.
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