Democratic women rebuke Pelosi over 'fake outrage' sexism claims in San Francisco congressional race

Female allies of California state Sen. Scott Wiener are publicly dismissing former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's accusations that Wiener's AI chatbot was sexist, calling her intervention "rooted in pettiness" ahead of a rally in his defense.

The chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party, prominent women's advocates, and other female political figures lined up behind Wiener after Pelosi accused his campaign of deploying a chatbot that amounted to what she called a "gross misuse of technology" that "reflects a disturbing willingness to erase women's agency." Rather than rallying Democrats behind her chosen successor, Pelosi's move has split her own party's women against her, a remarkable turn for a figure who spent nearly four decades as San Francisco's dominant political force.

Nancy Tung, who chairs the San Francisco Democratic Party, told the San Francisco Chronicle she saw manufactured controversy, not genuine concern.

"It feels like there's a lot of fake outrage about this chatbot."

Tung added that the accusations fit a familiar pattern of campaign gamesmanship rather than a sincere defense of women.

"I suppose you know that's part of the political game, to put as favorable a slant as you want to for your own purposes for each campaign."

Wiener's chatbot mocked his opponent, then Pelosi turned it into a gender fight

The dispute traces back to earlier in August, when Wiener's campaign launched an AI chatbot that took aim at San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan. The chatbot billed itself as "the world's first AI trained to say no to anything you ask", a knock on Chan's reputation among critics as a progressive who has opposed numerous housing proposals in the city.

The chatbot reportedly generated responses that were described as racist and sexist. Pelosi seized on the episode, publicly condemning Wiener and recruiting other women in politics to join her criticism. Wiener pulled the chatbot down, calling the sexism accusations "a classic deflection" but acknowledging the tool had become a distraction from his campaign.

Pelosi endorsed Chan in the race to succeed her in Congress. At a Politico event on August 11, the former speaker dodged questions about her intervention but said she backed Chan because she wanted to see more women in Congress. Wiener responded with public grace, saying he had "tremendous respect for Speaker Emerita Pelosi and deep gratitude for everything she has done for our city and our country."

That restraint did not stop Pelosi's allies from pressing the sexism charge, or Wiener's allies from pushing back hard.

Susie Tompkins Buell calls Pelosi's accusations 'careless' and 'not true'

Susie Tompkins Buell, described as a famed women's advocate, offered the sharpest rebuke. She vouched for Wiener's character in blunt terms.

"He is the most non-sexist, non-racist person. I don't know who would even say that."

Buell did not stop there. She pointed the finger directly at Pelosi, saying the former speaker's accusations were baseless and beneath her.

"But if it was (Pelosi), it was careless and not appropriate and not true."

The deepening fractures inside the Democratic Party have made episodes like this one more common, as legacy power brokers clash with newer factions over the direction of the party. Buell's comments suggest Pelosi's grip on San Francisco politics is not what it once was.

Buell questioned Pelosi's motives outright, saying no one around the former speaker could explain why she was waging this fight.

"Nobody can give a good answer of why she's doing this. It's just a mystery to so many people. Whatever it is, it is rooted in pettiness."

Wiener led the primary by double digits, but Pelosi's endorsement tightened the race

The race to replace Pelosi in Congress has real stakes. Wiener led the June primary with 40.7% of the vote compared to Chan's 29.7%, but polls show the race has tightened significantly heading into the November runoff. Pelosi's endorsement gave Chan institutional weight and signaled that the former speaker intended to handpick her own successor rather than let voters sort it out on the merits.

One Democratic strategist framed the dynamic plainly: "Nancy Pelosi is one of the Democratic Party's most influential powerbrokers, so seeing her handpicked successor's success is a heavy indication of institutional politics' staying power." The question now is whether that power extends to labeling a political opponent sexist when the women closest to the fight say the charge does not hold up.

Pelosi's willingness to insert herself into political fights is nothing new. But turning the sexism card against a fellow Democrat, and having Democratic women publicly reject the premise, marks a different kind of miscalculation.

'Women for Scott' rally organized as Chan's campaign fires back

Wiener's supporters announced a "Women for Scott" rally scheduled for Saturday in San Francisco, a direct answer to Pelosi's attempt to frame the race around gender. The rally's organizers appear intent on demonstrating that women in the city's political establishment do not share Pelosi's reading of the chatbot controversy.

Chan's campaign responded with a statement to the Chronicle, calling the rally an attack on Pelosi rather than a defense of Wiener. A campaign spokesperson said it was "sad that Scott Wiener's best answer to broad grassroots criticism of his campaign's AI chatbot from women and people across San Francisco is to convene a rally to attack Speaker Pelosi."

That framing, casting Wiener's female supporters as merely proxies attacking Pelosi, is precisely the kind of dismissal that Tung and Buell were pushing back against. When the chair of your own city's Democratic Party and a well-known women's advocate both say the sexism charge is manufactured, calling their rally an "attack" only reinforces the impression that the accusation was political rather than principled.

The broader pattern of progressive factions challenging establishment Democratic leaders has played out in races from New York to California. San Francisco's contest is another front in that fight, with the added wrinkle that Pelosi's chosen weapon, the accusation of sexism, has been turned back against her by the very constituency she claimed to be defending.

Pelosi built a career on disciplined messaging and ironclad party loyalty. The Pelosi family has remained in the headlines for reasons both political and personal, but the former speaker's influence in her home district now faces a test she did not anticipate: prominent Democratic women saying, on the record, that her accusations are baseless.

Open questions the voters deserve answered

Several facts remain unclear. No verbatim examples of the chatbot's allegedly racist or sexist responses have been made public. Pelosi has not specified who she recruited to condemn Wiener beyond herself, or in what format she issued her "gross misuse of technology" statement. The exact dates the chatbot launched and came down have not been reported. And Buell's specific relationship to Wiener's campaign, whether she is a donor, endorser, or simply a supporter, has not been spelled out.

Those gaps matter. If the chatbot's responses were genuinely offensive, the public should see them. If the sexism charge rests on Pelosi's characterization alone, voters deserve to know that too. Transparency cuts both ways, and so far, neither side has provided enough of it.

When the women in your own party call your sexism accusation "fake outrage" and "rooted in pettiness," the charge says more about the accuser's motives than the accused's character.