Joel Engardio
2023 - Present
2027
2
Joel Engardio is a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in California, representing District 4. Engardio assumed office on January 8, 2023. Engardio's current term ends on January 8, 2027.
Engardio lost the position in the recall election on September 16, 2025.
Engardio ran for election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to represent District 7 in California. He lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Engardio was a candidate for the District 7 seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in California. Engardio was defeated in the general election on November 8, 2016.
Although elections for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors are officially nonpartisan, Engardio is known to be affiliated with the Democratic Party.[1] He was appointed to the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee in July 2015 and ran unsuccessfully for election to the committee on June 7, 2016. He won 3% of the vote in the June 2016 race, placing 19th of 21 candidates.[2][3]
Biography
Joel Engardio earned a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University and a graduate degree from Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2011.[4][5]
Engardio's career experience includes working as a senior manager of content marketing for the telemedicine firm Doctor on Demand and a columnist for the San Francisco Examiner. His professional experience also includes work as the associate director of communications for the anti-discrimination group Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, a consultant for Fenton Communications, the campaign manager for a municipal campaign, a communication strategist and multimedia producer for the American Civil Liberties Union, and a director and producer for PBS Independent Lens.[5]
Engardio has served on the board of SF Moderates, the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club, and the Golden Gate Heights Neighborhood Association. He and his husband, Lionel Hsu, have lived near Lake Merced.[6]
Elections
2025
Joel Engardio recall, 2025
Joel Engardio lost the San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 4 recall election on September 16, 2025.
Recall Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✖ | Yes |
64.6
|
10,625 | ||
No |
35.4
|
5,812 | |||
Total Votes |
16,437 | ||||
|
|
2022
See also: City elections in San Francisco, California (2022)
General election
General election for San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 4
The ranked-choice voting election was won by Joel Engardio in round 1 .
|
Total votes: 26,826 |
|||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Leanna Louie (Nonpartisan)
Endorsements
To view Engardio's endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.
2020
See also: City elections in San Francisco, California (2020)
General election
General election for San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 7
The ranked-choice voting election was won by Myrna Melgar in round 6 . The results of Round are displayed below. To see the results of other rounds, use the dropdown menu above to select a round and the table will update.
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Total votes: 39,332 |
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
2016
This is the final round of voting. To view previous rounds, click the [show] button next to that round.
| San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 7, General Election, 2016, Final Round | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Transfer |
| Joel Engardio - Eliminated | 42.6% | 10,034 | 0 |
| John Farrell | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Young | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| Norman Yee - Winner | 57.4% | 13,534 | 0 |
| Ben Matranga | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| Write-In | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| Exhausted | 3,897 | 0 | |
| Total Votes | 27,465 | 0 | |
| Note: Negative numbers in the transfer total are due to exhaustion by overvotes. | |||
| San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 7, General Election, 2016, Round 4 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Transfer |
| Joel Engardio | 28.3% | 7,465 | 2,569 |
| John Farrell | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Young | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| Norman Yee - Most votes | 45.7% | 12,064 | 1,470 |
| Ben Matranga - Eliminated | 26% | 6,844 | −6,844 |
| Write-In | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| Exhausted | 1,092 | 2,805 | |
| Total Votes | 27,465 | 0 | |
| Note: Negative numbers in the transfer total are due to exhaustion by overvotes. | |||
| San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 7, General Election, 2016, Round 3 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Transfer |
| Joel Engardio | 22.7% | 6,181 | 1,284 |
| John Farrell - Eliminated | 16.1% | 4,383 | −4,383 |
| Mike Young | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| Norman Yee - Most votes | 41.3% | 11,221 | 843 |
| Ben Matranga | 19.9% | 5,401 | 1,443 |
| Write-In | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| Exhausted | 279 | 813 | |
| Total Votes | 27,465 | 0 | |
| Note: Negative numbers in the transfer total are due to exhaustion by overvotes. | |||
| San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 7, General Election, 2016, Round 2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Transfer |
| Joel Engardio | 21.6% | 5,926 | 255 |
| John Farrell | 14.3% | 3,924 | 459 |
| Mike Young - Eliminated | 5.6% | 1,522 | −1,522 |
| Norman Yee - Most votes | 39.6% | 10,857 | 364 |
| Ben Matranga | 18.8% | 5,154 | 247 |
| Write-In | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| Exhausted | 82 | 197 | |
| Total Votes | 27,465 | 0 | |
| Note: Negative numbers in the transfer total are due to exhaustion by overvotes. | |||
This is the first round of voting. To view subsequent rounds, click the [show] button next to that round.
| San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 7, General Election, 2016, Round 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Transfer |
| Joel Engardio | 21.6% | 5,926 | 0 |
| John Farrell | 14.3% | 3,924 | 0 |
| Mike Young | 5.6% | 1,522 | 0 |
| Norman Yee - Most votes | 39.6% | 10,857 | 0 |
| Ben Matranga | 18.8% | 5,154 | 0 |
| Write-In - Eliminated | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| Exhausted | 82 | 82 | |
| Total Votes | 27,465 | 82 | |
| Note: Negative numbers in the transfer total are due to exhaustion by overvotes. | |||
Endorsements
Engardio received endorsements from the following in 2016:[7]
- San Francisco Chronicle
- San Francisco Examiner
- Bay Area Reporter
- SF Moderates
- Asian Pacific Democratic Club
- City Democratic Club of San Francisco
- Small Property Owners of San Francisco
- San Francisco Forest Alliance
- San Francisco Dog Walkers Association
- San Francisco Police Officers Association
- San Francisco Supervisor Katy Tang
- San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener
- Bay Area Rapid Transit Director Nick Josefowitz
- City College Trustee Alex Randolph
Campaign themes
2022
Joel Engardio completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Engardio's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
- Safer Streets
- More Housing
- Vibrant Small Businesses
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2020
Joel Engardio did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
2016
Engardio's 2016 campaign website highlighted the following issues:
| “ |
CRIME AND SAFETY San Franciscans don't feel safe in their neighborhoods anymore. Crime has spiked the past five years -- including a 163 percent increase in car break-ins, according to police data. And while our city's population has surged, per capita police staffing has declined by 18 percent. Meanwhile, too many criminals go unprosecuted relative to other parts of the Bay Area. As supervisor, I'll ensure our police department has the resources it needs to keep pace with our growing city. And I'll encourage all branches of law enforcement to work together so that more people who commit crimes are brought to justice. Read Joel's essays on crime and safety... FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY At $10 billion, San Francisco's budget is out of control. It has doubled since 2004 -- and nothing is twice as good. $10 billion is larger than the budget of 13 states. Philadelphia has twice as many people as San Francisco — with similar city and county responsibilities — but its budget is $1 billion less. San Francisco has 30,000 city employees, one for every 28 residents. And our unfunded liability to provide healthcare for all those employees is in the billions of dollars. City Hall needs to spend less and save more for down times. As supervisor, I'll investigate how our money is being spent, measure programs for results and fight to only pay for what works. Your home is not City Hall’s ATM. Read Joel's essays on fiscal responsibility... HOMELESSNESS We must address homelessness with compassion and accountability. Tent encampments on our sidewalks are unsafe, unsanitary and unacceptable. We can offer assistance without allowing unruly behavior. As supervisor, I'll review the contracts with all the non-profit organizations that City Hall uses to provide homeless services and investigate where money can be saved by eliminating redundancies. One-third of the homeless population in San Francisco has a mental illness and we must treat the underlying condition. I'll support expanding the Behavioral Health Court — a program for mentally ill people that works — and strengthening Laura's Law so so the people suffering on our streets can get treatment. Read Joel's essays on homelessness... EDUCATION Our confounding school assignment system makes kids into commuters, adds cars to the streets and produces schools less diverse than a simple neighborhood system would. We must allow more families to walk their children to school. This will strengthen communities, reduce traffic congestion and allow for more family time at home. We need more public magnet schools in language, arts and sciences. These programs are attractive to parents choosing private schools or leaving San Francisco for better schools elsewhere. Public schools must compete for and retain middle and higher income families so students at all income levels can benefit from the additional PTA resources. Read Joel's essays on education... TRANSPORTATION Better public transportation service and increased infrastructure is vital to meet the needs of San Francisco's growing population. It is necessary to fully fund MUNI and BART, but the agencies must be held accountable for how the money is spent and how efficiently they operate. Now is the time to take bold action to prepare for the future by investing in the subway tunnels we regret not building decades ago. This includes MUNI tunnels from West Portal down 19th Avenue to Daly City BART, Geary Boulevard from downtown to the ocean and from Chinatown to Fisherman's Wharf. We also need a new BART tunnel across San Francisco Bay. Read Joel's essays on transportation... LGBT As a gay man, I arrived in San Francisco looking for a better life like many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people who came before me. I met my future husband in San Francisco when I didn't think we would ever be allowed to legally get married. It was a triumph to walk down the aisle with him. But in many parts of the world -- including my husband's home country of Taiwan -- the freedom to marry still does not exist for same-sex couples. Even in the United States, gay people do not have federal protections against employment or housing discrimination. There is still more work ahead to ensure that all LGBT people can live fully and equally. Read Joel's essays on LGBT issues... HOUSING As a westside homeowner, I believe neighborhoods of single family homes are a unique part of San Francisco's diverse mosaic. Yet I also know that building more housing will help middle income residents become homeowners -- and we want to keep families from leaving San Francisco. Restricting supply only drives prices higher. We can preserve westside neighborhoods of single-family homes by building a few stories of ownership condos with parking and retail along transit corridors -- with community input. The new homeowners will revitalize commercial districts. We'll also create housing for our kids and grandkids. Read Joel's essays on housing including The Airbnb Solution... PARKS AND RECREATION When it comes to managing our parks and open space, we must not forget that San Francisco is an urban city of 800,000 people and growing. We should not restrict recreation for people and pets in our parks to introduce extinct plants that need replanting when they don't take. It costs unnecessary millions. A big city cannot be preserved as if it were Yosemite. We should respect the environment while understanding that an urban setting requires we provide access to open space for all people and pets. San Francisco is beautiful, but not all of it is natural (Golden Gate Park and much of the westside was originally sand dunes). So we should be careful in judging which plants and trees are 'native' before spending scarce resources to tear out and replace what has been growing for a century. Above all, our parks are for family and individual recreation. Read Joel's essays on parks and recreation... DOGS I'm a dog person and know that dogs are loved as members of many families. Dogs are good for kids, seniors and our soul. They bring neighbors together and help build community. We need more shared, open space for families and responsible dog owners to safely play and relax together. We can also be good stewards of the environment without overly restricting where people and pets can go in our parks. San Francisco is an urban city of 800,000 people, which means the foremost mission of our parks should be recreation and outdoor access for everyone. Read Joel's essays on dogs... TECH The tech community is an important contributor to San Francisco's dynamic economy and culture. Tech workers are creators and artists. They are our colleagues, friends, neighbors and family members. They make San Francisco more interesting and diverse, continuing a long history of newcomers transforming the city for the better. It is important to encourage and facilitate tech workers to engage in political discourse. All of San Francisco can benefit by embracing the benefits of tech and innovation. Read Joel's essays on tech... INNOVATION The definition of progress is forward movement and continuous improvement. We won't solve San Francisco's housing crisis or transportation challenges by being stagnant, looking backward or shouting at history to stop happening. We need to embrace the future, embrace change and manage it with common sense solutions. We all want an efficiently-managed city, buses that run on time, clean parks, places for dogs to run and kids to play soccer, schools we can walk to and more places to live whether we are renters or aspiring homeowners. Getting this done will take innovation and helping people who fear change understand how it can work for them. Read Joel's essays on innovation... ECONOMIC GROWTH The best way to fund our shared social goals is through job-creation, innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit. A robust economy will pay for the parks, roads, police and fire protection, healthcare and programs for the less fortunate that we care about. While the tech industry is an important driver of San Francisco's economy, we must realize that we cannot live on apps alone. Small business is the backbone of our city and neighborhoods. We have to make it easier for small businesses to open and operate by streamlining City Hall's many confusing and unnecessary regulations. Read Joel's essays on economic growth... MENTAL ILLNESS A humane society should make caring for mentally ill people a priority. Many are homeless, but we first must address the mental illness. When someone is suffering from psychosis, housing and job services can't help him if he won't take his medication. We should allow authorities in egregious cases to require people to take the medication they need to function. It's respectful, compassionate and essential. Read Joel's essays on mental illness... POLITICS My political philosophy is individual liberty and government accountability. I served as a member of San Francisco's Democratic County Central Committee, representing the westside. I currently serve on the board of directors of the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club in San Francisco. I am guided by the following principles: (1) Encourage innovation, not status quo. (2) Follow common sense, not sacred cows. (3) Negotiate practical solutions with empathy. (4) Protect personal freedoms. (5) Practice fiscal responsibility. (6) Spend public funds only on what works. (7) Measure for results and accountability. (8) Fund social goals with economic growth. (9) Promote community service and charity. (10) Value and invest in education for all. Read Joel's essays on politics...[8][9] |
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See also
2022 Elections
External links
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Candidate San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 4 |
Officeholder San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 4 |
Footnotes
- ↑ Joel Engardio - District 7 Supervisor, "Joel on Politics," accessed November 2, 2016
- ↑ Facebook, "Progress Democratic Club of San Francisco on July 24, 2015," accessed November 2, 2016
- ↑ San Francisco Department of Elections, "June 7, 2016 Official Election Results," accessed November 2, 2016
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 5, 2022
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 LinkedIn, "Joel Engardio," accessed November 2, 2016
- ↑ Joel Engardio - District 7 Supervisor, "About Joel," accessed November 2, 2016
- ↑ Joel Engardio - District 7 Supervisor, "Endorsements," accessed November 2, 2016
- ↑ Joel Engardio - District 7 Supervisor, "Issues," accessed November 2, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Gordon Mar |
San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 4 2023-Present |
Succeeded by - |
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