In a 52-2 vote, Chinese American Democratic Club endorses to recall Supervisor Engardio as a result of passage of Proposition K

SAN FRANCISCO — The Chinese American Democratic Club (CADC), with a profound history as the oldest and most powerful Chinese American democratic party organization in San Francisco, overwhelmingly endorsed a petition to recall District 4 (D4) Supervisor Joel Engardio after a second vote on the issue by its membership. 

On April 10, CADC members voted 52-2 to endorse the Recall Engardio campaign which is still in the process of collecting at least 9,400 signatures from D4 voters until May 22 to meet the requirement for a recall election.

The latest endorsement also has made CADC become the first Democratic Party organization to officially support the Recall Engardio campaign. The 66-year-old CADC was chartered in 1958 by the California State Democratic Central Committee and the California Democratic Council in response to the growing political repression during a Republican administration and violations of the Chinese American civil rights in the mid 1950’s.

CADC is the oldest and has been the most active Democratic Party organization for Chinese Americans in San Francisco for decades.

Engardio was elected to the Board of Supervisors in November 2022 as the first non-Chinese American Supervisor in 22 years representing D4 which primarily covers the Sunset District, the traditional largest Chinese American supervisorial district in San Francisco, since the district election was held in 2000. A good number of members of CADC had been supporters of Engardio's past supervisor candidacies.

Engardio introduced the controversial Proposition K in June 2024 to the Board of Supervisors for a ballot measure to be decided by voters in the November 2024 election. Prop. K proposed to permanently close the 2-mile Upper Great Highway segment between Lincoln Way and Sloat Blvd. in the Sunset District to private vehicles in order to transform it into an oceanfront park. He refused to withdraw the measure although his constituents and west side residents were angrily against it.

Prop. K was passed by 54.73% voters citywide. In the meantime, voters at the westside and all other Asian neighborhoods in the city voted against Prop. K with a majority.

"We are deeply disappointed in the Prop. K result and Supervisor Engardio's approach to remove a lifeline for the west side that will fundamentally change the chance of large working families in his district. Prop. K hurts Asian Americans who supported him. Where to go from here?" CADC commented on social media after the November 2024 election.

Following Prop. K was passed, opponents of the measure organized a campaign to recall Engardio. The process for gathering at least 9,400 signatures for a recall election began in January until May 22, 2025. While Engardio formed his "Stand with Joel to Stop the Recall" campaign to defeat the recall petition.

In its March meeting, members of CADC first placed the Stand with Joel campaign for membership vote. "The vote failed with 84%," said Josephine Zhao, President of CADC. The result of the votes in March sent a message that CADC was no longer to support Engardio.

"CADC saw No on K as its defining issue for the last November election. When Prop. K won by 55% citywide but lost the Westside by 64%, we did an internal poll in December on what to do,” said Zhao. “83% members indicated they would like a recall ASAP (60%) or after unsuccessful restorations (23%). Instead of rushing to join the recall, CADC committed to a series of restorations with Supervisor Joel Engardio, State Senator Scott Wiener as well as the democratic clubs close to Prop K.”

In the April meeting, CADC members tried for the second time for a membership vote related to the recall Engardio petition.

"CADC placed the Recall Engardio issue to vote in April. The vote won with 93%. It’s unfortunate that the recall sentiment has been trending up even with the restoration sessions," said Zhao.

"CADC has taken a careful and deliberate approach on this matter and exhausted all options before coming to the decision of joining Supervisor Engardio’s recall," Zhao added. "Supervisor Engardio has been a friend with the club for over a decade. CADC has supported his past 3 elections. We thank Supervisor Engardio for his past partnership and allyship in making our city a better place. We wished he could have maintained a trusting relationship with the club and the Sunset District."

"We wished he could have come to us before Prop K was placed on the ballot, and would have pulled the proposition when he heard the strong opposition from the club," Zhao continued. "We wished he would have kept the campaign promise he made to us and the Sunset District to preserve the 'weekday commute weekend recreation' hybrid program for the Great Highway and used the program’s remaining life to perform thorough traffic mitigation and closure testing as well as to present an emergency and evacuation plan for mass fire, earthquake and other disasters."

"We feel simply closing the Great Highway and never going to open it back up even in emergencies is irresponsible and dangerous, not to mention the traffic gridlocks that have plagued many residential areas," said Zhao. "We wished Supervisor Engardio and the city departments would have worked to ensure the safety of the Sunset and the Richmond neighborhoods."

Past CADC President Brian Quan was one of the two members who attended and voted no on the issue in the April meeting. "I support Joel because he continues to be strong on public safety and education. Politicians are not perfect and these are the issues that matter to me and it disappoints me to see others that claim to care about those issues not prioritize them in their decision," said Quan.

"Joel should not be recalled.Joel was an instrumental ally to the Chinese community in the COVID era, helping advance our two main priorities: education access for youths and public safety for seniors,” Quan said in a statement to endorse Engardio’s Stop the Recall campaign.

"We respect but disagree with CADC’s decision," said Lian Chang, manager for the Stand with Joel campaign, in response to the latest CADC's membership vote in April. "Joel has been a strong champion for the Chinese community for years, before and during his time on the Board of Supervisors."

"For years, Joel has led on issues ranging from public safety to education and even public health that the Chinese community cares about. He worked with the Asian Liver Center at Stanford University to raise awareness about the epidemic of hepatitis B that disproportionately affects Asian Americans. His group Stop Crime SF ran a campaign to stop Asian hate," aid Chang.

"As supervisor, Joel led the effort to return algebra to public middle schools, helped create the successful Sunset Night Markets, and hosted workshops to empower Chinese seniors to protect themselves from financial scams," Chang said. "He has invested in hearing the community’s concerns, with the majority of his staff speaking Cantonese and Mandarin."

"We understand that people have strong feelings about Prop. K, but a single issue is not enough of a reason to recall someone when they are aligned on so many other vital issues. Joel is proud to have the support of many Chinese residents of the Sunset who do not support this recall and who say that CADC does not speak for them," Chang further said.

"Last week, we made history," the Recall Engardio campaign wrote in an announcement on the endorsement from CADC. "This didn’t happen by chance. Our recall team worked closely with CADC leadership and membership to present our case—clearly, directly, and respectfully. And the message resonated. After hearing the facts, CADC overwhelmingly agreed that standing with the recall was the right thing to do."