Michael T. Nguyen
Candidate for San Francisco County Supervisorial District 8
Michael Trung Nguyen came to San Francisco alone in 2006. He came for law school. He had no money or connections. He spent time in an SRO hotel. He later found his first apartment in Noe Valley. He is a patent attorney. He has specialized in artificial intelligence and software cases since 2008. He wrote about AI and jury decision-making. That writing won a national competition. It came from the American Intellectual Property Law Association. He also performs as drag queen Juicy Liu. He is a longtime community organizer too. He founded the Asian American and Pacific Islander Caucus. It is part of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club. He chaired the GLBTQ+ Asian Pacific Alliance. He served as past president of the National Conference of Vietnamese American Attorneys. He also served as past president of Livable City. He sits on the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee. He won his seat there in 2024. He ran on the Labor and Working Families slate. He also sits on the LGBTQI+ Advisory Committee. It advises the SF Human Rights Commission. He is a renter. He has lived in the district for more than 15 years.
Positions in brief
Nguyen's platform centers on affordability for working families. He wants to write a new law for social housing. He also wants the Board of Supervisors to check the mayor's power. He does not want the Board to simply defer to City Hall.
Nguyen wants to create a commercial rent control ordinance. He wants to expand free Muni for people under 26. He wants to raise the minimum wage too. He calls it a real living wage with real enforcement. He would introduce social housing legislation. It would target underused city-owned parcels. He wants to repeal local rules he says inflate housing costs. These include parking minimums. They also include long discretionary-review delays. They also include entitlements that sit unused. He opposed Mayor Lurie's Family Zoning Plan as passed. He felt it did not do enough to protect renters. Still, he supports building more housing overall. He wants a co-governance model. This would include participatory budgeting. It would also include quarterly town halls. He says the Board should act as an independent check on the mayor's office. He does not want the Board to delegate oversight to it. He also wants to protect HIV/AIDS services from budget cuts. He wants to protect immigrant legal defense too. He wants to protect queer youth services as well. He opposes a state ballot-measure signature-threshold increase. He also opposes a proposal to give the mayor's office more power. That power would be to hire and fire department and commission leaders.
On the issues
- Taxes & Cost of Living
Wants a commercial rent control ordinance, a real living minimum wage with enforcement, and free Muni for people under 26.
“creating a commercial rent control ordinance, expanding free Muni for youth under 26, fighting to raise the minimum wage to a real living wage”
Source → - Housing & Homelessness
Wants to introduce social housing legislation on city-owned parcels and cut permitting delays that make housing more expensive to build.
“I was against the Family Zoning Plan because it didn't protect renters the way it needed to, and I would have voted no.”
Source → - Government, Elections & Democracy
Wants an independent Board of Supervisors that checks the mayor's office and opposes reforms he says would consolidate power in the executive branch.
“It is critical that we have an independent Board of Supervisors that checks the Mayor's office instead of deferring to it”
Source → - Taxes & Cost of Living
Wants to protect HIV/AIDS services, immigrant legal defense, and queer youth clinics from budget cuts rather than balancing the budget by cutting them.
“We're balancing the budget on the backs of vulnerable communities, and I'm over it.”
Source →
Profiles are compiled from the candidate’s own statements and public records. We never tell you how to vote.