JTA — California state Senator Scott Wiener handily won his primary race to replace retiring former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi in Congress on Tuesday, in a race that saw his relationships with the local Jewish community tested.

He will face San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, who placed second with Pelosi’s endorsement, in November’s general election, which under state law will be held between the top two vote-getters regardless of party.

Saikat Chakrabarti, a progressive former aide to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who ran to Wiener’s left on Israel and who campaigned with the anti-Israel influencer Hasan Piker, failed to make the ballot.

With 50% of votes tallied as of Wednesday morning, the Associated Press called the race for Wiener and Chan. Wiener took 41% of the vote, with Chan at 28% and Chakrabarti a distant third at 15%.

“Tonight, the voters sent a clear message: they’re ready for a new vision on housing affordability, ICE accountability, smart guardrails on AI, single payer healthcare, and affordable clean energy,” Wiener wrote on X in a victory statement that did not mention Israel. The senator said he would tackle “rising authoritarianism” and “defend immigrants and trans people” if elected to Congress. In his victory speech, Wiener decried US President Donald Trump’s “disastrous wars.”

Over the course of the campaign, Wiener, like his two top rivals, concluded that he believed Israel had committed........

© The Times of Israel