In the final stretch of a heated political battle, Otto Pippenger, 31, wakes up early and dives straight into work: coordinating volunteers, fundraising, and gathering election data before wrapping up late at night.

“We’ve got a 10-hour day, seven days a week,” said Pippenger, an organizer of the recall campaign targeting Supervisor Joel Engardio. The lawmaker is facing backlash in the Sunset after championing Proposition K,  which closed the Great Highway to make way for a 2-mile-long park.

A week before the special Sept. 16 election, Pippenger and other volunteers are devoting much of their free time to the recall, channeling their anger into what seems to be an obsession with ousting their elected representative.

To supporters of Engardio, who have been flooding the district with “Stand with Joel” messaging, the efforts of the recallers appear rife with conservative (opens in new tab) and progressive (opens in new tab) meddling. Accusations of bullying, nativism, and harassment by Engardio “haters” have heightened the tensions.

But the recall campaign says their fiercest volunteers don’t neatly fall into any political camp. “There are progressives, there are moderates, and there are Republicans,” organizer Jamie Hughes said. “But the bulk of supporters are people who just feel betrayed by Joel.”

The recall effort had been brewing quietly since July (opens in new tab) 2024, when Engardio introduced Prop. K and opponents threatened to recall him if he moved forward with the measure.

Engardio went ahead anyway, and  Prop. K was put to voters. The measure passed in the November election with 55% citywide support, but 64% of Sunset voters opposed it, citing fears of worsening traffic and frustration that Engardio had ignored the concerns of the local community.

Tech worker Vin Budhai and retired police captain Richard Corriea launched the recall campaign in December. They soon brought on Hughes and Pippenger and were later joined by Forrest Cameron; all three had worked on the 2024 mayoral campaign of Aaron Peskin, a progressive leader and former Board of Supervisors president.

Just before the May deadline to submit petition signatures, Budhai stepped down from the recall campaign, citing disagreements over strategy, leaving Hughes and Pippenger in charge. The abrupt change fueled suspicions that Peskin was surreptitiously running the recall effort (opens in new tab) and plotting a progressive comeback in the Sunset.

Peskin denied that he’s behind the recall effort.

“Absolutely 100% completely untrue. Whoever is peddling this is an absolute liar,” he said in a text message.

Hughes also insisted that there was no involvement from Peskin, although he admitted to having a tight relationship with the longtime lawmaker. “I've known Aaron Peskin since I was 15 years old,” Hughes, 26, told The Standard. “I've gotten a horde of advice from him on all sorts of things.”

Getting the recall question onto the ballot was seen as the most challenging part, especially without big-money donors or institutional backing. Pippenger said the campaign relies on 50 to 60 core volunteers and roughly 1,200 others to gather signatures and knock on doors. 

“There’s no cheat code to that kind of popularity,” he said, referring to the 11,000 signatures submitted to the Department of Elections. “The impetus for this recall is the people of District Four.”

Biotech scientist Lisa Arjes has been the largest donor, contributing about $45,000 to the recall campaign. A Sunset resident and avid cyclist, Arjes said she isn’t wealthy but wanted to amplify the voice of the west-side neighborhood. She was particularly upset by how Engardio handled Prop. K.

“For too long, Sunset residents have not been heard,” she said. “This is an example of a pattern.”

Though Engardio’s backers have whispered rumors of a progressive-led takeover of the Sunset, in truth the recall has drawn on a broader coalition that spans the San Francisco political spectrum.

Indeed, Hughes and Pippenger, professional campaign operatives and loyal soldiers for Peskin, are considered progressives.

Pippenger is known for left-wing activism; a decade ago, as a student, he was charged with misdemeanor resisting arrest and battery on a peace officer (opens in new tab) after a violent confrontation on the City College campus. He then sued the police (opens in new tab) for excessive force. He also worked for former Supervisor Dean Preston (opens in new tab), a far-left Democratic Socialist.

But support for the recall also comes from the middle and right. The Chinese American Democratic Club, a longtime moderate voice in local politics and an outspoken critic of Prop. K, has endorsed the recall, as has the San Francisco Republican Party. Voters in the Sunset are generally considered to be moderately liberal.

Arjes, the top donor, is a former Republican who is now registered as a Democrat. She said she grew up in a conservative Midwestern household but has long leaned liberal and donated to Democrats for years.

Both Arjes and Hughes said the recall campaign has no coordination with the SFGOP. Bill Jackson, chair of the SFGOP, said his party has voted to endorse the recall and has sent a few volunteers to support the campaign.

“It’s not about screwing the Democratic leadership,” Jackson said. “It’s the consensus of Sunset Republicans that Joel didn’t represent them well.”

Selena Chu, a social worker and vice chair of the Chinese American Democratic Club, is a leading figure among Chinese-speaking volunteers and one of the recallers most obsessed with driving Engardio out of office.

An aggressive “superspreader” on WeChat, Chu is known for posting recall propaganda across dozens of group chats, leading to at least one public clash with Engardio’s staff (opens in new tab). She has changed all her social media profile photos to the recall logos and signs.

“Aside from working, eating, sleeping, and taking care of my kids, all my time goes to the recall,” Chu said.

Chu said she once supported Engardio and now feels betrayed, pointing to a 2022 supervisorial debate, (opens in new tab) hosted by The Standard, in which Engardio clearly said, “I support the compromise” — a reference to keeping the Great Highway closed on weekends but open on weekdays. (Engardio counters that he only supported a compromise because the alternative at the time, Prop I, would have fully reopened the Great Highway to traffic and “eliminated any possibility of a permanent park.”)

“As much time as I spend on the recall now, I once spent helping him get elected,” Chu said.

As the election nears, the fight between pro- and anti-recallers has turned increasingly contentious, with Engardio accusing the recall campaign of bad behavior.

He called some recall supporters “bullies” and “haters” on social media after the popular Sunset Night Market was canceled this year, in large part because of the bitter political climate.

“These people are poisoning the well of local politics,” Engardio said in a social media post (opens in new tab). “They are trashing my name all over the Sunset.”

In one campaign email, Engardio’s team singled out Albert Chow, a Sunset merchant and recall supporter, for calling Engardio’s desire to bring new people into the district “dangerous,” characterizing Chow’s remarks as anti-immigrant and homophobic.

“The recall Joel campaign is straight-up nativist,” Yelp cofounder Jeremy Stoppelman, a staunch Engardio supporter, blasted on X (opens in new tab).

Chow, who has lived in the Sunset for 50 years, rejected those claims. “In fact, I am all about inclusion,” Chow said. “Because we are not included by Joel Engardio.”

Engardio posted a video (opens in new tab) of a young volunteer from his camp who said he had been attacked online by recall supporters. “I’ve been intimidated,” said the volunteer. “There has been an attempt to try and silence me.”

Chu fired back, accusing Engardio of being the one silencing voters and pointing to a video the supervisor posted on X (opens in new tab) that showed the faces of more than a dozen recall volunteers (opens in new tab), as well as those of his supporters.

“He should look at himself in the mirror,” Chu said. “I want to tell him, ‘Those so-called haters? They’re your constituents.’”

This story has been updated with a comment from Engardio about his 2022 position on the Great Highway.