Manny Yekutiel drops out of SF supervisor race amid sexual assault allegations

LATEST Oct. 1, 3:30 p.m.Manny Yekutiel, a candidate for supervisor in San Francisco’s District 8, dropped out of the race Thursday amid sexual assault allegations, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

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In a statement shared with the Chronicle, Yekutiel called the move a “difficult decision.” Yekutiel said he is not admitting to assaulting anyone and called some of the allegations “fundamentally untrue.”

“But I am deeply sorry for any boundaries that I crossed. I’m going to take this time to work on myself,” the statement said. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.)

Yekutiel’s campaign did not respond to SFGATE’s multiple requests for comment in time for publication.

Oct. 1, 2:18 p.m. District 8 Board of Supervisors candidate Manny Yekutiel lost a wave of high-profile endorsements Thursday after the prominent local figure faced new sexual assault allegations.

Mayor Daniel Lurie and supervisors Bilal Mahmood, Stephen Sherrill and Danny Sauter withdrew their endorsements just hours after the San Francisco Standard reported that two more men said Yekutiel had assaulted them, in 2023. That came after the outlet’s earlier report in June that a man said Yekutiel had sexually assaulted him in 2020.

Lurie, who endorsed Yekutiel after the Standard’s initial story, said he was withdrawing his endorsement “in light of the additional accounts reported.”

Yekutiel, who has not been charged with a crime, did not immediately respond to an SFGATE request for comment.

Four candidates are running for the District 8 seat currently held by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who is term-limited: Gary McCoy, a former campaign manager for Rep. Nancy Pelosi; Michael Nguyen, an attorney and drag activist; Darshini Patel, a community advocate; and Yekutiel, who owns a Mission District cafe and community space called Manny’s. 

The San Francisco Standard reported Thursday that Ryan Clark and his unnamed partner said they were groped by Yekutiel at a Pride event in 2023 and that Yekutiel refused to stop until Clark pushed him away. Yekutiel told the outlet that he remembered the Pride event, which occurred at the Midway, but did not remember assaulting anyone. 

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“If I crossed someone’s boundary, then I’m deeply sorry,” Yekutiel told the outlet in a statement.

The allegations follow a June report by the Standard that a man named Brad Joseph Chapin said Yekutiel sexually assaulted him at a house party in 2020. Chapin said that Yekutiel reached into his pants and grabbed his genitalia, according to previous reporting by SFGATE. “Every time I tried to get away, he yanked and pulled and it was horrible,” Chapin told SFGATE.

Yekutiel denied those allegations, saying in a statement previously shared with SFGATE that police declined to investigate the 2020 incident further and that, “There’s nothing here. I did not do this.”

Clark and his partner told the Standard they decided to come forward in part because Lurie endorsed Yekutiel after Chapin went public with his story. Lurie told the paper at the time that he made the endorsement because Yekutiel had assured him “the allegation simply was not true.” 

The San Francisco Democratic Party plans to hold a special meeting on Oct. 11 to reconsider its endorsement of Yekutiel.

“We owe it to our members and to voters to have thoughtful discussion and deliberation, especially in light of these additional allegations,” Chair Nancy Tung said in a statement posted Thursday.

Mandelman told the Bay Area Reporter that he is not removing his endorsement. But Supervisor Connie Chan and state Sen. Scott Wiener, who are currently running against each other for Congress, on Thursday both called for Yekutiel to drop out of the race. Chan called the allegations “appalling” in a statement posted to X. 

“Enough is enough,” Chan said. “Manny must immediately end his campaign for District 8 Supervisor.”