AIDS activist Sheehy to succeed Wiener as SF supervisor

Jeff Sheehy, a longtime HIV/AIDS activist with the UCSF AIDS Research Institute, is seen in a file photo. Jeff Sheehy, a longtime HIV/AIDS activist with the UCSF AIDS Research Institute, is seen in a file photo. Photo: Eric Luse Photo: Eric Luse Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close AIDS activist Sheehy to succeed Wiener as SF supervisor 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

Mayor Ed Lee plans to name HIV/AIDS activist Jeff Sheehy to the District Eight supervisor seat, ending weeks of speculation about who he would appoint to fill the vacancy left by Scott Wiener.

The mayor will make the announcement Friday at 11 a.m. at Noe Valley Town Square, according to sources with knowledge of the appointment.

Sheehy will be the first HIV-positive person to serve on the Board of Supervisors, representing District Eight, which includes the Castro, Noe Valley and Glen Park. He will succeed Wiener, who was elected to the state Senate to replace the termed-out Mark Leno.

Politically, the choice of Sheehy is a bold one for the mayor, who as of Thursday morning was still deciding between Sheehy and Alex Randolph and had meetings with both candidates.

Randolph is a member of the City College of San Francisco’s Board of Trustees — Lee initially appointed him to fill a vacancy on the board — and political insiders considered him more ideologically aligned with Lee.

While Randolph has a reputation for being collaborative and well-liked, Sheehy is known for his strong and sometimes combative personality.

“If you want someone who is a combination of policy smart, fearless and street fighter — that’s Jeff Sheehy,” said former Supervisor Bevan Dufty. “Plus he’s got instant cred as a public school parent. As a gay man who is a dad of a public school child, he is instantly relatable to 50 percent of the district that’s not LGBT.”

Sheehy was not in the initial mix of names floated as possible contenders for the seat. He is the longtime director of communications for UCSF AIDS Research Institute.

While Lee is a moderate, Sheehy has historically positioned himself as a progressive. He served as a past president on the progressive-minded Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club and positioned himself as a progressive while on the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee.

That history could give Sheehy credibility among both progressives and moderates on the Board of Supervisors. It likely also played into Lee’s decision to choose him instead of Randolph.

One of the major factors the mayor had to consider was who could survive an electoral challenge from Rafael Mandelman, a member of the CCSF Board of Trustees who has strong roots in the progressive community and is widely expected to run for the seat.

Lee did not want to risk another of his appointees to the Board of Supervisors losing an election. Two of his past three appointees have lost their elections — Christina Olague in 2012 and Julie Christensen in 2015.

The mayor may hope that Sheehy’s history and story could appeal to residents across District Eight. He lives in Glen Park and has an 11-year-old daughter who attends public school.

His advocacy for HIV/AIDS issues is also deep. He was HIV/AIDS adviser to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. He serves on the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

In the late 1990s, he was an influential proponent of former Supervisor Tom Ammiano’s “equal benefits ordinance.” The watershed legislation required companies doing business with San Francisco to provide the same benefits to domestic partners as they did to married couples.

“Going back to the equal benefits ordinance, he has been there for the LGBT community,” said Matt Dorsey, a former spokesman for the city attorney now with Lighthouse Public Affairs.

“It’s enormously significant that San Francisco finally has an HIV-positive member of the Board of Supervisors, especially at a time when we have a getting-to-zero initiative that is a model for cities worldwide.”

Despite Sheehy’s history, it’s unknown how he will position himself on the most contentious political battles in San Francisco: housing and homelessness.

Lee and the moderates have been more supportive of market-rate housing — alongside affordable housing — as a way to alleviate the housing crunch and bring down rental prices. Progressives have aggressively pushed developers to set aside more below-market housing in new developments.

One of the earliest legislative battles Sheehy will have to weigh in on is whether to require developers to rent or sell 25 percent of units in new projects at below-market prices — a proposal Lee and the moderates are wary of.

Emily Green is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: egreen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @emilytgreen