SF Daily Brief for November 5, 2026

Welcome to SF Daily Brief, a daily podcast briefing on the news in San Francisco. It's Thursday, November 5, 2026. Here is what happened across San Francisco. In the congressional race, Scott Wiener won his bid to become San Francisco's next member of Congress, and Supervisor Connie Chan conceded on Wednesday.

Wiener will fill the seat held by Nancy Pelosi. In SoMa, city planners have recommended approval of Sanctum Baths, a two-story bathhouse planned at 40 12th Street in SoMa, according to the Bay Area Reporter. The Planning Commission is expected to vote on the proposal Thursday. Owner Kevin Born, a co-owner of The Midway nightclub, would open the first new gay bathhouse in the neighborhood since the AIDS crisis closed the city's bathhouses.

The proposal would be the first gay bathhouse in SoMa in 40 years. In the school board race, San Francisco's teachers union is at risk of a shutout loss. All three open seats are on the line. Incumbent Phil Kim and first-time candidates Tim Tung and Autumn Brown Garibay, all backed by the moderate group GrowSF, lead the race.

Union-endorsed candidates trail in fourth, fifth, and sixth place. If results hold, it would be a major setback for the union's longstanding influence over school board elections. Downtown, the historic flatiron Phelan Building on Market Street has defaulted on its mortgage after its owners stopped paying a $215 million loan. AIG is seeking foreclosure on the $192 million remaining balance.

The building was purchased for $374 million in 2016 and has struggled with vacant retail space since the pandemic. It could be sold at auction. In election results, Proposition B, the first-ever public-bank measure in San Francisco, was in a tight race and trending up in the count. The measure would create the city's first public bank.

A municipal bank has been official city policy for several years and has been a goal of the city's progressives. Along the waterfront, thousands of fans lined the Embarcadero on Wednesday to celebrate the Golden State Valkyries' WNBA championship. The team beat the Atlanta Dream by a score of 68-63 to win the title in its second season, the fastest an expansion team has done it. Players rode violet buses during the parade, danced, and threw merchandise to the crowd.

In fire news, more than 100 San Francisco firefighters responded to and subdued a two-alarm fire at an apartment building at 10 Argent Alley near Market Street on Tuesday morning. The blaze was in a building in the Twin Peaks neighborhood. In ballot returns, San Francisco has more billionaires than any city in California. Out of 198,536 ballots counted in San Francisco so far, 53% of city voters backed Proposition 40, the one-time 5% tax on California billionaires, while the measure trailed statewide.

A precinct map showed support on the east side of the city, including the Mission, Bayview-Hunters Point, and the Tenderloin, and opposition in the Marina, Pacific Heights, and other wealthy neighborhoods. Thirty-three of the 166 billionaires registered to vote in California live in San Francisco, according to Politico. On the campaign trail, Scott Wiener's campaign saw his landslide victory coming before Election Day. In other city business, Mayor Daniel Lurie opposes a historic designation and has a new mayoral budget team.

The city has held conversations with Howard University. In transit, Bay Area transit taxes RTM and Proposition H declared victory. Measure RTM, a 14-year regional sales tax, was passing with 62% of the vote across five Bay Area counties, and San Francisco's Proposition H was passing with 73%, according to early results. RTM imposes a 0.5% sales tax in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties.

Transit supporters said the money heads off drastic cuts to bus and train service. That's today's SF Daily Brief. Thank you for listening. For the full written brief, go to sfdailybrief.com.