A savvy political operative and fervent supporter of Bernie Sanders, also credited with the success of candidates like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, has the political landscape somewhat cleared with former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement she would not seek re-election. He now faces off against several other aspiring Democrats who want to fill the San Francisco vacancy.
The Indian American candidate, Saikat Chakrabarti, who was born in Texas, and moved to San Francisco in 2009, hopes to get the Democratic Party endorsement in perhaps the most high-profile race in the country, aspiring to represent California’s 11th Congressional District in the November 3, 2026 election. The primary date is yet to be announced.
Many Democratic contenders have the same ambition as Chakrabarti. Ballotpedia shows at least 5 Democrats are battling for the primary win, as Pelosi declared she was not running for re-election. So far, Chakrabarti has received the endorsement of Track AIPAC, which tracks the powerful American Israel Political Action Committee. Track AIPAC has endorsed other Indian Americans like Chris Ahuja, candidate for the US House of Representatives from California’s 32nd District, and Kshama Sawant, candidate for the US House from Washington’s 9th District, as well as Junaid Ahmed of Pakistani heritage running from Illinois’ 8th District, and scientist Karishma Manzur running for the US Senate from New Hampshire.
By September 30, 2025, according to Federal Election Commission data, Chakrabarti had Total Receipts of nearly $1 million ($949,096.89). Total Contributions to his campaign amounted to $229,096.89, almost all of it from individual contributions. Of the total, Chakrabarti received loans of $720,000.
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The FEC data which covers the period January 1 to September 30, shows the candidate had disbursed $853,712.50. His Cash On Hand equalled $95,384.39.
In the background Chakrabarti provides on his campaign site, he started his own company in San Francisco, then joined the financial services multinational Stripe, quitting to join Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign, honing his skills while traveling around the country to help build grassroots support for his Independent candidate.
Chakrabarti ran Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ 2018 campaign before going into Congress as her Chief of Staff, where I was in charge of writing and launching the Green New Deal.
He currently leads the policy think-tank New Consensus whose mission is to define “how the government can deliver prosperity and economic security for all Americans through an economic mobilization to build a clean economy for the U.S. and the world.” He is also involved in several non-profit organizations, he notes in his biography on the campaign website Saikat for Congress.
Chakrabarti promises to “change the Democratic Party” if elected, so that it fights “for Medicare for All, building millions of units of affordable housing, ending big money in politics, taxing the billionaires and corporations, and other overwhelmingly popular policies.”
On his Facebook page, Saikat For Congress, Chakrabarti describes himself as, “Engineer, organizer, policy wonk. Democrat running for Congress to represent San Francisco (CA-11). We need solutions as big as the problems we face.”