Catherine Stefani


Catherine Michele Stefani is an American politician from San Francisco. A member of the Democratic Party, Stefani has served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors since 2018, representing District 2.

Early life

Stefani earned a bachelor's degree in government from Saint Mary's College of California. She earned a Master of Laws and a Juris Doctor from the University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law.

Career

She is the director of the local chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
Stefani worked in the Contra Costa County as a district attorney and as a political aide for Cindy Chavez when she served as vice mayor of San Jose. She also worked for Herb Wesson, a member of the California State Assembly. Stefani then worked as an aide to Michela Alioto-Pier and Mark Farrell for nine years, when they represented District 2 in the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She was appointed a county clerk for San Francisco County in 2016.

Board of Supervisors

When Farrell resigned as Supervisor to become Mayor of San Francisco in January 2018, he selected Stefani as his successor. Stefani declared her candidacy for the position in the upcoming November election. Stefani won election to a full term.
After the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting, Stefani introduced a resolution that designated the National Rifle Association a domestic terrorist organization. On September 4, 2019, the Board of Supervisors passed the resolution with a unanimous vote.
In October 2019, two weeks after the San Francisco Arts Commission announced that artist Lava Thomas' proposal had won the commission for the city’s planned monument to the author and civil rights leader Maya Angelou, the offer was rescinded by the city over concerns that the work was not a "traditional statue." Stefani led this decision, calling for the SFAC to restart the selection process with clearer criteria for a what constituted a monument. Stefani justified this decision, according to the San Francisco Examiner, stating, “As I carried the legislation across the finish line to elevate women in monuments, I wanted to do it in the same way that men have been historically elevated in this city.” At a meeting with SFAC on October 16, 2019, Thomas stated, “I can’t believe that we’re here two months later with a suggestion that this project be closed, and a conservative, traditional statue in the manner of European figurative traditional monuments that confederate and colonial monuments are based on, that we are here discussing this in this city, San Francisco, that’s known for its progressive politics.”

Personal life

Stefani lives in Cow Hollow, San Francisco. She and her husband have two children.