Manny Yekutiel

Introduction

Manny Yekutiel is a San Francisco cafe owner and Democratic activist whose Mission District venue Manny’s hosted events with Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom and Jill Biden, and who was the perceived frontrunner for San Francisco’s District 8 seat on the Board of Supervisors until he dropped out of the race on October 1, 2026, hours after a second set of sexual assault allegations was published. After a prominent role in Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign in California, he opened Manny’s and built it into one of the city’s signature political spaces; his supervisor campaign raised more than $500,000 plus $255,000 in public financing, more than double his nearest opponent, and carried the endorsement of Mayor Daniel Lurie and the San Francisco Democratic Party. He says he is not admitting to having assaulted anyone and that some of what has been said about him is “fundamentally untrue,” while acknowledging he is “deeply sorry for any boundaries that I crossed.”

Background Information

After working on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign in California, Yekutiel opened Manny’s in the Mission District, a cafe and civic event space that became a fixture of San Francisco politics and hosted high-profile political and cultural events, including appearances by the former vice president, the California governor and the former first lady.

His 2026 bid for the District 8 supervisor seat — covering the Castro and Noe Valley — made him the race’s dominant fundraiser: more than $500,000 raised with $255,000 in public funding, roughly double his nearest opponent, Gary McCoy, and a supporting PAC drew $50,000 from SF Believes, a committee aligned with Mayor Lurie. In September Lurie endorsed him, saying he had asked Yekutiel directly about a sexual assault allegation published two months earlier and that Yekutiel “assured me that the allegation simply was not true.” The San Francisco Democratic Party endorsed him as well.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations. Ryan Clark and his partner say Yekutiel groped both of them without consent at a 2023 Pride party; Brad Joseph Chapin, a progressive political organizer, reported to police that Yekutiel sexually assaulted him at a 2020 house party. Yekutiel denies assaulting anyone, says he does not recall the 2023 encounter, and no criminal charges have been reported against him. The claims are unadjudicated.

The first allegation became public in June 2026, when the San Francisco Standard published Chapin’s claim that Yekutiel sexually assaulted him at a house party in 2020, reaching down his pants and grabbing his testicles; Chapin filed a formal complaint and spoke before the party’s District 8 endorsement hearing. Yekutiel denied the allegation, and both the mayor and the Democratic Party endorsed him anyway.

On October 1, 2026, the Standard published a second account. Ryan Clark and his partner, both 32, said that in the early morning of June 24, 2023, at the Electroluxx Pride party at The Midway, Yekutiel groped Clark through his pants and then forced his hand inside his partner’s pants, groping him, while the couple repeatedly told him they were monogamous and asked him to stop. Clark said he told Yekutiel, “This is my boyfriend; we’re not open,” and that Yekutiel let go only after Clark shoved him. The couple did not file a police report, but the Standard spoke to five people the couple told at the time, reviewed contemporaneous text messages, and reviewed documents showing all three men attended the event; Clark’s partner remained anonymous, citing his immigration status.

In a statement to the Standard, Yekutiel said he did not recall the 2023 encounter, acknowledged having had what he called a consensual sexual relationship with Clark before 2023 — Clark says they went on a single date — and reiterated his denial of Chapin’s allegation: “Nobody should be touched sexually without their consent. If I crossed someone’s boundary, then I’m deeply sorry.” The campaign page listing his endorsements became inaccessible and began redirecting to his homepage after the Standard sought comment.

Hours after publication, Yekutiel ended his campaign. “I am not admitting to having assaulted anyone, and some of the things that are being said about me are fundamentally untrue. But I am deeply sorry for any boundaries that I crossed. I’m going to take this time to work on myself,” he said, adding: “After a great deal of reflection I have made the difficult decision to end my campaign for District 8 Supervisor. Moving through the machinery of San Francisco’s politics has left me with very little light left in my heart.”

Public Reaction and Consequences

The endorsements collapsed within hours. Mayor Lurie withdrew his support, saying, “Coming forward is hard and these survivors deserve to be heard, and treated with dignity and respect,” and, per KQED, every city supervisor who had endorsed Yekutiel withdrew their approval as well; LGBTQ community leaders had publicly called on him to quit the race.

The party’s original endorsement became its own scandal. San Francisco Democratic Party chair Nancy Tung issued a public apology for an endorsement process that, she wrote, failed to adequately evaluate the sexual misconduct allegations and “failed the first survivor to come forward, Brad Chapin.” Supervisor Connie Chan, running for Nancy Pelosi’s congressional seat, demanded Tung’s resignation over the lapse; Tung dismissed the call, and Chan said, “Under Nancy Tung, the San Francisco Democratic Party has lost all credibility.” The city’s Democratic powerbrokers coalesced behind Gary McCoy, a former political director for Pelosi, whose campaign the withdrawal suddenly revived.

Current Status

Yekutiel has been out of the race since October 1, 2026, saying he would “take this time to work on himself,” and the District 8 contest proceeds without him, with Democratic institutions now backing McCoy. No criminal charges against Yekutiel have been reported: Clark and his partner never filed a police report, and while Chapin’s allegation was made to police, no charging decision has been announced. The allegations against him remain unadjudicated, and his statement denying that he assaulted anyone stands alongside his apology for “any boundaries that I crossed.”

The New York Post’s account of the withdrawal ran October 7, 2026, six days after the fact, marking the story’s arrival at national outlets; by then the political realignment his exit caused — powerbrokers, party chair apology and all — was already the story’s second act.

Impact on Their Career/Life

In under four months Yekutiel went from the best-funded candidate in his district, carrying a mayoral endorsement and a party endorsement, to a former candidate whose endorsers disavowed him within hours and whose party chair publicly apologized to his accuser. The venue that made him a Democratic fixture now carries the case’s name: the Standard’s own coverage asked whether performers would keep their events at Manny’s, and the campaign’s endorsement page — once a public list of the city’s who’s-who — redirects to his homepage. He has not held or announced any public role since withdrawing, and the race’s outcome in November 2026 will be decided without the man who out-raised the field by more than double.

Sources

• The San Francisco Standard, “Manny Yekutiel ‘crossed so many boundaries’: New allegation against SF candidate,” Oct. 1, 2026 — source
• Mission Local, “Manny Yekutiel drops out of S.F. supervisor race after sexual assault claim,” Oct. 1, 2026 — source
• New York Post, “Manny Yekutiel drops out of SF supervisor race amid sexual assault claims,” Oct. 7, 2026 — source
• Bay Area Reporter, “SF mayor Lurie rescinds Yekutiel endorsement as LGBTQ leaders call on him to drop out of D8 supervisor race,” Oct. 1, 2026 — source
• ABC7 News (KGO), “Manny Yekutiel drops out of San Francisco supervisor race after new allegations of sexual assault,” Oct. 2, 2026 — source
• NBC Bay Area, “Manny Yekutiel suspends San Francisco District 8 supervisor bid,” Oct. 1, 2026 — source