In 2009, Wan ran for the open city council seat in District 6 against several candidates including Bahareh Azizi, Steve Brodie, Tad Christian, Liz Coyle, and Miguel Gallegos. Wan and second-place finisher Liz Coyle entered a run off. Wan was endorsed by fourth-place finisher Steve Brodie, a gay man who campaigned for the seat in 2005 against then-incumbent and also openly gay Anne Fauver, as well as the Victory Fund, Georgia Equality, Buckhead Coalition and gay educator Charles Stadtlander. Of the six initial contestants in the race for the council seat, Wan was the only recipient of an "Excellent" grade by Committee for a Better Atlanta.[9]
In 2013, the councilman championed legislation supported by neighborhood associations and NPUF[10] to remove existing adult businesses from Cheshire Bridge Road by 2018, but the Atlanta City Council voted it down. It was also opposed by a mix of gays, strippers and Atlanta's real estate interests – including Scott Selig.[11] Some in the gay community wondered if Cheshire Bridge were "sanitized", "where would people go for sexual expression"?[12] Matthew Cardinale, the editor and publisher of Atlanta Progressive News, and resident of the Road, decried "the ongoing project of gentrification, homogenization, sterilization and capitalization of a historic neighborhood," Atlanta's "red-light district".[13]
In January 2017, Wan announced his candidacy for Atlanta City Council President. Wan lost in a runoff election in December 2017 to Felicia Moore.
