Scott Wiener campaign initially bars Mission Local from election party, then reverses

Scott Wiener's campaign initially barred a Mission Local reporter from attending its election night party due to perceived unfair coverage of Wiener's stance on Israel and Palestine, Mission Local reported.

The campaign also excluded another local outlet, the Gazetteer, according to the Gazetteer's editor-in-chief, Matt Haber, as reported by the San Francisco Standard.

Mission Local's managing editor Joe Eskenazi said the campaign accused the outlet of acting as a "mouthpiece" for Wiener's opponent, Supervisor Connie Chan, particularly regarding coverage of Wiener's positions on the Israel-Gaza conflict and a complaint filed by a former opponent.

After Mission Local and the San Francisco Standard published stories on the exclusion, Wiener's campaign reversed its decision within an hour and allowed Mission Local's reporter into the event, according to Mission Local.

Mission Local's executive editor Joe Rivano Barros called the initial barring "unbecoming of a political official" and expressed relief that the campaign recognized its mistake and rectified it.

The incident occurred on the eve of the election in which Wiener is the front-runner to succeed Representative Nancy Pelosi, as noted by the San Francisco Standard.