By Josh Koehn, Hannah Wiley, Gabe Greschler & Han Li

You don’t have to squint to spot similarities between Zohran Mamdani, the winner of the Democratic primary for New York mayor, and Saikat Chakrabarti, who is running for Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s seat in Congress. Both are progressives. Both are Indian American. Both are running against the Democratic establishment.

But is Mamdani’s victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the primary a prelude of things to come next year in San Francisco?

In a call with Power Play, Chakrabarti acknowledged the parallels between his campaign and Mamdani’s — though he took caution to note that “no one actually likes” Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations, while Pelosi is respected.

“But we need a new politics for this era — a new vision and new ideas,” Chakrabarti said. “I feel like there's always this knee-jerk reaction against anyone going for something new.”

Pelosi has yet to say whether she will follow through in seeking another term next year. In the meantime, Chakrabarti said, Mamdani will have an opportunity to show the country that a progressive can run New York, assuming he wins the runoff election in November.

There is a question of how the Democratic Party will rally around Mamdani, whose policies are further to the left than many party insiders would prefer. But if he wins and proves effective, Chakrabarti said, the party will have its answer.

“Democrats are spending millions trying to figure out how to win back young men — then a guy like Zohran comes along polling great with them,” Chakrabarti said. “Why try to destroy that?”

In the pipeline

Photo of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who will likely sign CARE Courts into law.

CEQA LATER? Gov. Gavin Newsom gave state lawmakers an ultimatum this week, ahead of a June 30 deadline to finalize the $321 billion budget. His message? Either include major reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act, or I’m not signing anything.

The decades-old law was designed to safeguard Californians from environmental harms caused by development. But critics of CEQA, including Newsom, have increasingly lamented it as a NIMBY tool to block projects in the name of environmentalism.

Two measures were introduced this year that would make it far easier to build in California by largely bypassing CEQA. Assembly Bill 609 would allow for more multi-family infill housing in urban areas, while Senate Bill 607 applies more broadly to infrastructure projects.

That second bill, authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener, was paused earlier this year amid pushback from environmental groups and labor organizations, among others. But Newsom is now saying he wants the Legislature to send him a version of the measure — or else he’ll rescind his support for the final budget deal. (AB 609 was already included in the negotiated budget.)

“The governor’s signature is contingent on finalizing legislation to cut red tape and unleash housing and infrastructure development across the state — to build more, faster,” Newsom spokesperson Tara Gallegos said in a statement.

It’s a win for YIMBYs who for years have wanted more action at the state level to curb CEQA’s impact on development. But in typical budget drama, it’s a huge TBD as to whether it will actually happen.

Newsom and legislative leaders have until Monday to hash out a deal and get a spending plan signed before the fiscal year starts July 1, and there are still major concerns with including the CEQA language in the final budget.

Newsom has forced the Legislature into a corner on a contentious issue that lawmakers have avoided touching for years. Who will win?

GET THOSE COTS OUT: At 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, the coffee is flowing, stress vaping is in full swing, and dreams of a martini sustain the weary.

It’s budget deliberation day at City Hall, with supervisors on Wednesday wrangling with departments over funding. While some departments are already facing big cuts because of the historic deficit, the Budget and Legislative Analyst took its own pass at the agencies to try and find more coins between the seat cushions.

The idea is for those funds to prevent some of the 100 or so layoffs Mayor Daniel Lurie has proposed, along with restoring core services like housing and food security programs. If there’s anything left over after that, it could be used to bolster the $400 million emergency account Lurie wants to set aside if (or when) President Donald Trump comes knocking.

As of this writing, members of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, chaired by Supervisor Connie Chan, were still negotiating over the pot of money. An answer on the department’s new budgets could come in mere hours — or the early morning. Dust off those sleeping bags, board aides!

SOUND OF SILENCE: Summer is often a calm time in local politics, but maybe not this year. With the election to recall Supervisor Joel Engardio just three months away, the Sunset lawmaker’s allies are pressuring Lurie to take a stand.

On Monday, Yelp cofounder Jeremy Stoppelman, a major donor to Proposition K and Engardio’s campaign, tweeted a public appeal for Lurie to back the supervisor, a message that was retweeted by Y Combinator’s Garry Tan and other tech figures. Engardio’s newly refreshed anti-recall website prominently features a photo of him with Lurie, along with a quote highlighting their close working relationship — an apparent effort to associate himself with the mayor.

Representatives of Engardio and Lurie declined to comment. The mayor, who opposed Prop. K and won strong support on the city’s west side, is expected to stay out of the fight.

Meanwhile, the recall campaign is hosting an event Saturday morning at McCoppin Square — its first major action since submitting signatures. The campaign also launched a new website and plans to open a headquarters in the coming days, Power Play has learned.

POLITICAL PEDIGREE: A strong résumé may help land you a job in Lurie’s office, but being the descendant of a mid-19th-century mayor doesn’t hurt.

Following the departure of Deputy Chief of Staff Matthew Goudeau, Lurie has promoted his policy adviser, Aly Bonde, who also helped with his campaign, to take over the role.

Bonde previously worked at Planned Parenthood Northern California and several Oakland-based organizations. Notably, she is the (deep breath!) great-great-great-granddaughter of San Francisco’s first mayor, John Geary, who took office in 1850. Geary Boulevard is named after him.

“We are thrilled [Bonde] will continue to be a leader in our work advancing Mayor Lurie’s vision for a safer, cleaner, more vibrant city,” Staci Slaughter, Lurie’s chief of staff, told Power Play.