Scott Wiener's persistence pays off in District 8

Unlike some elected members of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors, Scott Wiener doesn't start the job as a political novice who won his seat with a dash of luck and chance.

Rather, his friends say, he had election day 2010 circled on his metaphorical calendar for eight years. That was the date an open field of challengers would run to replace termed-out Supervisor Bevan Dufty in District Eight - the heavily gay district including the Castro - and Wiener trained his eye on grabbing the open seat with laserlike focus.

The 40-year-old deputy city attorney officially began his campaign early - two years before the election.

"I knocked on 15,000 doors," he said.

He went on to claim the highest percentage of votes of any winner in the competitive supervisors' races - both in first-place votes and when ranked-choice voting was calculated.

It's the kind of conscientiousness and drive Wiener is known for; every person interviewed for this story used the adjective "hardworking" to describe the next supervisor. His diligence may be his most notable characteristic other than his 6-foot-7 stature.

"I think he's a very sincere and genuine and hardworking guy," said former Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who won a heated fight against Wiener two years ago over the chairmanship of the Democratic County Central Committee.

Drawn to politics

Wiener said he's been interested in politics for as long as he can remember.

"I was just really passionate about the issues - I was always just drawn to that," he said.

As a junior in high school, he served on a committee to examine the appropriateness of the public school holding a religious Christian invocation as part of its graduation ceremony. Wiener, who is Jewish, spoke out about the separation of church and state.

"It became this huge culture war," he said. "We got a threat that there would be a cross burned on our lawn. It was a hollow threat, fortunately."

Born in Philadelphia and raised in southern New Jersey, Wiener said his first vivid political memory is his Democratic family going into mourning when Ronald Reagan was elected president.

His father, Richard, worked as an optometrist, and his mother, Elaine, ran the administrative side of the office before they sold the practice. His younger sister, Melissa, is a doctor. "A Jewish father's dream - a lawyer and a doctor," Wiener said with a laugh.