KQED to host March 31 District 11 debate with Chan, Chakrabarti, Wiener

San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, former advisor and software engineer Saikat Chakrabarti, and State Senator Scott Wiener will meet live onstage March 31 at the Sydney Goldstein Theater for what KQED called a "high-stakes debate," KQED announced March 3, 2026. The station framed the matchup as particularly consequential because, with the retirement of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, San Francisco’s District 11 "will have its first new Congressional representative since 1987."

KQED said the onstage event will be "Jointly hosted by City Arts & Lectures, Commonwealth Club World Affairs, KQED, and Manny’s." The announcement quoted KQED verbatim: "KQED Reporters Scott Shafer and Sydney Johnson will Moderate a Wide‑ranging Debate Between the Top Three Frontrunners to Replace Nancy Pelosi’s House Seat." The moderators are identified as KQED reporters Scott Shafer and Sydney Johnson.

The station emphasized timing and stakes as voters turn toward the June primary, saying the forum "will explore issues facing the city." KQED listed the three candidates as "the three leading candidates for California’s new District 11 congressional seat, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, former advisor and software engineer Saikat Chakrabarti, and State Senator Scott Wiener."

KQED said the debate "will be broadcast on KQED 9 Public Television and KQED Public Radio in the days following" the live March 31 event at the Sydney Goldstein Theater. The announcement did not include specific broadcast dates or times, and KQED did not provide a scheduled start time for the onstage event in the captured announcement.

KQED posted the announcement to its LinkedIn organization page, which showed 32,325 followers on the account at the time of the post. The LinkedIn image caption as displayed named "From left to right: Saikat Chakrabarti, and Scott Wiener, candidates for California's District 11 congressional seat," an incomplete caption that omitted Connie Chan; the post page also carried the note "No alternative text description for this image." The LinkedIn header text read "San Francisco’s Leading Congressional Candidates Set to Make Their Cases to Voters on March 31 at the Sydney Goldstein Theater."

The KQED materials captured for this report did not include ticketing or attendance instructions for the Sydney Goldstein Theater event, did not specify whether other candidates would participate beyond the "top three frontrunners," and did not list the debate format or exact broadcast airings. KQED’s announcement contains ellipses and omissions in the excerpted copy, indicating additional information may be available from the station.

The March 31 onstage debate, hosted by City Arts & Lectures, Commonwealth Club World Affairs, KQED and Manny’s and moderated by Shafer and Johnson, is positioned by KQED as a pivotal moment in the race to replace Pelosi and as an early policy test as San Francisco voters concentrate on the June primary.