Meet Saikat Chakrabarti, Indian-Origin Political Advisor Running Against Nancy Pelosi In US Congress

Last Updated:February 06, 2025, 21:22 IST

Saikat Chakrabarti is a political adviser who previously worked as the chief of staff for Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He is competing against Pelosi in San Francisco.

Saikat Chakrabarti, an Indian-American political adviser and software engineer who served as former chief of staff to Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, has announced that he will run against House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to represent San Francisco in the US Congress.

“I’ve got some news: I’ve decided to run against Nancy Pelosi to represent San Francisco in Congress. I know some of you might be surprised that Speaker Emeritus Pelosi is running again, but she is — for her 21st term!” he said on X.

Chakrabarti said he respected Nancy Pelosi’s accomplishments in her decades-long political career, but asserted that “we are living in a totally different America than the one she knew when she entered politics 45 years ago”, and cited his frustration with the current Democratic Party leadership.

“Watching Trump and Elon freely unleash chaos in their illegal seizure of government, it’s become clear to me that the Democratic Party needs new leadership. I don’t understand how DC’s Democratic leaders are so paralyzed and unprepared for this moment after living through President Trump’s first term — and after Trump and Elon warned us exactly what they planned to do,” he said in his lengthy post.

Chakrabarti, 39, a former tech worker with deep ties to progressive politics, disagreed with Pelosi’s recent remarks in an interview with Ezra Klein after Trump’s victory, where she said Democrats don’t need to change.

Who is Saikat Chakrabarti?

Chakrabarti was born in 1986 to an Indian Bengali family in Fort Worth, Texas and graduated from the prestigious Harvard University in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in computer science. He spent years with the tech elites in Silicon Valley and co-founded a web design tool named Mockingbird. He also worked on the product team of payment processor Stripe.

In 2015, Chakrabarti left his career in tech to join US Senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign.

He worked closely with Alexandra Rojas and Corbin Trent to stage campaign events and founded Justice Democrats, a political action committee.

Chakrabarti later helped launch Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s 2018 congressional campaign, which made her the youngest woman to be elected to the US Congress. He served as her campaign manager and first chief of staff before returning to San Francisco to join New Consensus, a think tank dedicated to advocating for the Green New Deal.

In 2019, Chakrabarti was named to the Politico Playbook power list to watch. He also led the Ocasio-Cortez staff and several progressive groups in writing the Green New Deal to address economic inequality and climate change. His work also involved abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Chakrabarti’s Message To Democrats

Ahead of the 2026 congressional race, Chakrabarti said Pelosi personally intervened and blocked Ocasio-Cortez’s bid to “chair the powerful Oversight committee to hold Trump and his cronies accountable”. He wished to provide an alternative vision of change in Democrats from Trump and his MAGA campaign.

“The Democratic Party needs to stop acting like it’s competing against a normal political party that plays by the rules, and it needs a bold vision for how to raise living standards, quality of life and security for all Americans. America is stuck, and Americans want real solutions that are as big as the problems we face,” he said in his statement.

Chakrabarti highlighted that the Congress and the Democratic Party stood at record-low approval ratings. “Winning this campaign will require months of organizing — online and on the street — to connect with every single voter in San Francisco,” he said.

Location :

Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)