Manny Yekutiel, a Jewish millennial business owner who’s cultivated local star power in San Francisco running a cafe that serves as a hub for progressive politics, announced he is running for city supervisor Monday in a message that referenced Rosh Hashanah.
Yekutiel, who has Sephardic and Ashkenazi heritage, was raised observant in Los Angeles. He will seek to replace Rafael Mandelman representing District 8 on San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors. The district includes the Castro, where Yekutiel lives, as well as Glen Park and Noe Valley neighborhoods. Mandelman, who will be termed out in January 2027, is endorsing Yekutiel.
“It’s a critical time in the city’s resurrection story,” Yekutiel said in a cleanly edited campaign announcement video released Monday, “and I know we can finish the job.”
The video shows him driving himself around San Francisco in a sea foam green scooter, meeting with locals, waving a giant American flag during a protest and donning a platinum wig, placed with help from a drag queen (“Living in San Francisco doesn’t have to be a drag,” Yekutiel says with a wink).
The video confronts San Francisco’s reputational struggles, stemming from its association with drug use on the streets, property crime and the emptying of downtown businesses post-pandemic. Headlines from local and national outlets superimposed on the screen read “How San Francisco became a failed city” and “What happened to San Francisco, really?”
“Thinking big is what we do best,” Manny says in a voiceover. “And tackling our challenges while staying weird… is the San Francisco way.” Manny’s top three priorities, the video says, are “thriving storefronts and vibrant neighborhoods,” “clean, safe, joyful streets,” and “housing for a livable city.”
Yekutiel also gestures toward his political bona fides and influence in Democratic politics. The video shows him engaged in conversation with Pete Buttigieg, the former transportation secretary and Democratic presidential candidate, and in an embrace with Kamala Harris. Before he opened his cafe, he volunteered for Barack Obama’s re-election in 2012 and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Yekutiel, 36, has developed a reputation for championing a type of pragmatic liberal politics that has at times alienated him from the city’s more far-left set. During the 2020 presidential campaign primary season, 17 Democratic presidential contenders visited the cafe, as has “just about every major officeholder in California,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Yekutiel, who came out as gay after high school, is considered by some to be insufficiently progressive. He’s been assailed as a “gentrifier” for opening what critics describe as a coffee shop hospitable to Yuppies in the Mission District. He’s also been protested for “racist, Zionist, pro-Israel ideals.”
Yekutiel’s father fled Afghanistan to Israel before coming to the U.S. Yekutiel has a number of Israeli relatives and visits the country often. He happened to be there on Oct. 7, 2023, during the Hamas-led attack and massacre that launched the current war.
Since opening in 2018, Manny’s cafe has faced repeated protests from activists urging a boycott. It has been vandalized multiple times, with messages reading “Death to Israel is a promise,” “Die Zio” and “Fuck Manny.”
“The protesters wanted me to make a public statement supporting BDS and denouncing Israel,” Yekutiel told J. in 2023. “I wouldn’t do it. My mother’s family survived the Holocaust. My father’s family escaped 1,000 years of persecution [in Afghanistan] to the State of Israel. I couldn’t turn around and denounce the existence of the State of Israel. It wasn’t true to my values.”
Yekutiel has hosted a number of events on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and on peacebuilding efforts. When he returned from Israel in October 2023, he held a vigil for Israeli and Palestinian lives lost.
Yekutiel has political ties with Mayor Daniel Lurie. The two partnered to start a charitable venture called the Civic Joy Fund in 2023, meant to enliven San Francisco streets following the pandemic downturn. It hosts popular night markets and street-cleaning days.
Yekutiel will likely run against Gary McCoy, according to local reports. McCoy is a former addict and nonprofit executive who entered politics and worked as a staffer for Democrats including state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-S.F.) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi. The election will be held in November 2026.
Yekutiel did not immediately respond to a J. request for comment. In his email announcing his campaign, he acknowledged the start of the Jewish New Year and the autumnal equinox.
“This is a day of new beginnings and of taking chances,” the email said.