Rafael Mandelman – A San Francisco Kind of Democrat
- Public law and affordable housing attorney
- Former Commissioner, San Francisco Board of Appeals
and Building Inspection Commission - Vice-Chair, Democratic County Central Committee
- Past president, Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club
- Past president, Noe Valley Democratic Club
- Board Member, San Francisco LGBT Community Center
San Francisco Roots
Rafael grew up in San Francisco, attending Brandeis-Hillel Day School and Lick-Wilmerding High School on financial aid. Like other San Francisco kids, Rafael relied on Muni to get around, did his homework at the neighborhood library, played in the City’s parks, and saw his doctors at UCSF and SF General. As a teenager, he learned first-hand the possibility and challenges of local government while interning for the Board of Supervisors.
After graduating from Yale College, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law, Rafael returned to the City where he grew up and set about giving back to the community that had given so much to him.
Serving the Public Interest
As a public law attorney, Rafael has worked for more than a decade with Northern California cities on important issues like affordable housing, municipal budgeting, land use, environmental protection, and development. As a commissioner on San Francisco’s Building Inspection Commission and Board of Appeals, he worked to ensure laws were applied fairly and that neighborhood concerns received the attention they deserve.
A Record of Progressive Leadership
As a Democratic Party leader - serving two terms as president of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, three terms as president of the Noe Valley Democratic Club, and three terms on the Democratic County Central Committee, where he currently serves as a Vice-Chair - Rafael has consistently worked to build coalitions among neighborhood activists, affordable housing advocates, environmentalists, working people and all others who believe the purpose of politics is to build a better world.
San Francisco Values
Rafael is proud of San Francisco’s history as a hotbed of labor and civil rights activism, a testing ground for progressive laws that time and again have served as national models, a place that liberally-minded communities around the nation and around the world look to for inspiration. As a leader of our local Democratic Party, Rafael remains committed to building a Party that stays true to that legacy – one that champions social and economic justice at home, opposes military adventuring abroad, elevates long-term environmental sustainability over short-term economic gain, and privileges the needs and aspirations of all our communities over the financial imperatives of the wealthiest among us. That’s our City; that’s our Party.
