{"id":48016,"date":"2026-05-03T21:22:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T04:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=48016"},"modified":"2026-05-03T21:22:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T04:22:37","slug":"is-s-f-congressional-candidate-saikat-chakrabarti-a-progressive-champion-or-a-total-impostor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/05\/03\/is-s-f-congressional-candidate-saikat-chakrabarti-a-progressive-champion-or-a-total-impostor\/","title":{"rendered":"Is S.F. congressional candidate Saikat Chakrabarti a progressive champion or a \u2018total impostor\u2019?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By\u00a0J.D. Morris<\/a>, Staff Writer May 2, 2026 (SFChronicle.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gift Article<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Saikat Chakrabarti, who is running to replace Rep. Nancy Pelosi in Congress, poses for a photo between supporters in San Francisco\u2019s Castro neighborhood during the opening of his second campaign office.Lizzy Montana Myers\/For the S.F. Chronicle<\/em><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Francisco congressional candidate Saikat Chakrabarti was largely unknown on the city\u2019s political scene when he launched his campaign<\/a> for the House seat held by Rep. Nancy Pelosi for decades. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While he spent seven months in Congress as chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Chakrabarti has barely waded into San Francisco politics in the 17 years since he first moved to the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To Chakrabarti and his supporters, his scant experience in local governance isn\u2019t a weakness\u00a0\u2014 it\u2019s an asset in his campaign as an outsider who wants to push the Democratic Party in a bolder, more progressive direction. But as the race to succeed Pelosi intensifies ahead of the June 2 primary, Chakrabarti\u2019s critics have repeatedly cast him as unqualified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donors supporting state Sen. Scott Wiener, the presumed front-runner, paid for mailers that describe Chakrabarti as barely connected to San Francisco. One Wiener supporter was even linked to a mysterious van that made a similar argument in a more provocative fashion<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s not just Wiener\u2019s fans who are making that argument. Some local progressives and labor union leaders who support another major candidate, Supervisor Connie Chan, are also deeply skeptical about Chakrabarti, a wealthy former tech engineer who has little history of backing the local candidates and causes they support.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chakrabarti is largely self-funding his campaign, but his fundraising reflects that he is getting a lot of support from outside San Francisco:\u00a0\u00a066% of his donors through March were from outside California<\/a>. Additionally, Politico previously\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0that Chakrabarti voted once in San Francisco in 2010\u00a0\u2014 and did not cast a ballot in the city again for a decade. He spent several of those years living in other places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a total imposter,\u201d said Aaron Peskin, a Chan backer who was a longtime member of the Board of Supervisors. \u201cHe\u2019s very interested in being an elected official, but he has \u2026 no track record in \u2026 San Francisco that I\u2019m aware of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allies of Chakrabarti have a far different view. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Chakrabarti, supporters see a fighter who is willing to take strong stances on issues such as Israel\u2019s war in Gaza, healthcare and wealth inequality. Chakrabarti has promised to support an arms embargo on Israel, push to make Medicare available to all Americans, and back tax increases on the country\u2019s richest residents \u2014 including himself. He has also said he will challenge party leadership when necessary to advance his goals, including by voting to oust Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. as the House Democrats\u2019 leader. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe system is broken. The establishment has been failing us,\u201d former San Francisco Democratic Party Chair Honey Mahogany said at a recent Chakrabarti campaign event. \u201cWe need new blood. We need a new generation of leaders \u2026 who are not in the pockets of the special interests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chakrabarti has blasted the influence of deep-pocketed tech donors who have lined up behind Wiener, his main opponent. But Chakrabarti\u2019s campaign has been bankrolled heavily by his own wealth, which he accumulated by \u201cwinning the startup lottery\u201d in his early years in San Francisco. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He moved to the city in 2009, when he was 23. A few years later, he became one of the earliest employees at Stripe, the payment processing company now valued at $159 billion. Stripe\u2019s success made Chakrabarti a centimillionaire for earnings above $100 million, and he has spent about $5 million of his own money on the race so far. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told the Chronicle that his time at Stripe also fueled a political awakening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was seeing the cost-of-living crisis going crazy around me,\u201d Chakrabarti said of his early years in San Francisco. \u201cI started to realize I wasn\u2019t working on the actual problems that were facing people in tech. So I quit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After leaving the tech industry, Chakrabarti got involved in federal politics, starting with the 2016 presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders. He subsequently co-founded two political groups, helmed Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s successful 2018 House campaign and became her first chief of staff once she was elected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

His time on the East Coast has been a major source of scrutiny in his House campaign. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, he purchased a $1.6 million home in Gaithersburg, Md. \u2014 and signed a deed in which he listed that house as his primary residence, according to a November report<\/a> from the San Francisco Standard. He has said he bought that house for his parents and described the primary residence declaration as a mistake that he has since corrected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless, the Maryland house became a launching pad for criticism from Wiener, who referenced the Standard story in a March video attacking Chakrabarti. Abundant Future, a super PAC that supports Wiener, has gone even further, sending multiple mailers that cast Chakrabarti as a carpetbagger.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chakrabarti has fired back, accusing Wiener of misrepresenting the details of the Maryland home purchase and calling the attacks on his San Francisco residency as \u201cnativist in a way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While he made a name for himself as a progressive on the national level, Chakrabarti\u2019s limited track record with local candidates has been more politically diverse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Chakrabarti supported Supervisor Bilal Mahmood\u2019s successful 2024 bid to unseat Dean Preston, a democratic socialist who had been the most left-leaning member of the Board of Supervisors. He also backed another moderate supervisor candidate in a different district and voted for moderate Mayor Daniel Lurie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chakrabarti told the Chronicle that his electoral preferences haven\u2019t always aligned neatly with the city\u2019s political camps. He said he previously supported Preston but felt \u201clined up a bit more\u201d on housing policy with Mahmood, who favored more aggressive measures to build housing for all income levels. He said he voted for Lurie because he believes that \u201cthe tribal politics in this city is one of the reasons for its dysfunction\u201d and he thought Lurie could change that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chakrabarti also noted that he has supported some local progressive candidates, including Chesa Boudin\u2019s successful bid for San Francisco district attorney in 2019 before his recall in 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, no sitting elected official in San Francisco has endorsed Chakrabarti\u2019s campaign. None of the city\u2019s labor unions has endorsed him, either \u2014 which is rare for a leading progressive candidate. Many labor groups have rallied around Chan\u2019s bid, though some have backed Wiener.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Mike Casey, a Chan supporter and president of the San Francisco Labor Council, said the supervisor had consistently backed union causes throughout her time in public office, but he couldn\u2019t say the same about Chakrabarti.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t know our issues. He hasn\u2019t been there when we\u2019ve been fighting to raise the minimum wage or make sure that low-wage workers get healthcare,\u201d Casey said. \u201cHow can you claim the mantle of being a progressive if you don\u2019t even have a strong alliance with the traditional progressive organizations and institutions like organized labor?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eric Jaye, a political consultant who estimated he has been involved with more than 100 local campaigns, said Chakrabarti\u2019s thin list of local endorsements could hurt him with voters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think his money erases all of that,\u201d Jaye said. \u201cSan Francisco politics tends to be highly reliant on validation from trusted sources. \u2026 It\u2019s still a place where voters would like to know that somebody that they know and trust has vetted you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chakrabarti isn\u2019t worried. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m running as the outsider to the political establishment \u2014 that means it\u2019s going to be hard for me, in a primary like this, to get local endorsements,\u201d he told the Chronicle. \u201cThat\u2019s not going to stop me from being a pro-labor candidate. \u2026 Going into November, I do hope to earn the endorsement of local progressive and union groups.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the local progressive establishment has largely shied away from backing Chakbarti during the primary, so has his former boss, Ocasio-Cortez, a national progressive superstar. Chakrabarti told the Chronicle he has \u201ca good relationship\u201d with Ocasio-Cortez and hopes to earn her backing in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet Chakrabarti has had little difficulty spreading the word about his candidacy, especially online. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

One of his advertisements, in which he touts his national political experience while walking through Dolores Park, has more than 1 million views on YouTube. He is a prolific poster on social media sites: On Instagram, he has more followers than Wiener and Chan combined. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chakrabarti has also paid handsomely to amass an army of paid field organizers<\/a> who his campaign says have knocked on hundreds of thousands of doors \u2014 a task other campaigns typically rely on volunteers to complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel like his presence is really strong,\u201d said San Francisco resident Risa Takenaka, 28, who attended a recent Chakrabarti campaign event and said she was inclined to support his campaign. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Takenaka was among a large crowd of people who recently packed into a Castro storefront that Chakrabarti has turned into his second campaign office in the city. She said she was unmoved by the attacks she has seen against Chakrabarti.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But some other attendees told the Chronicle they were thinking about Chakrabarti\u2019s local track record as they contemplated whether to back him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don Bliss, a 66-year old San Francisco resident, called Chakrabarti\u2019s decision to support some moderate local candidates in the 2024 election cycle as \u201crather disturbing for a progressive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve questioned his local bona fides,\u201d Bliss said. \u201cI don\u2019t think that the argument is strong enough to not vote for him, because he does have significant local connections \u2026 but I am weighing that as part of my decision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Hafeth \u201cOmar\u201d Mansouri, the manager of Key Food Market<\/a> on Fillmore Street \u2014 around the corner from the first San Francisco home Chakrabarti bought 13 years ago \u2014 said he\u2019s known the candidate for years and runs into him on the street regularly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mansouri, 45, has grown into a strong supporter of Chakrabarti\u2019s political efforts, recently appearing in a social media video<\/a> with the candidate and Hasan Piker, a popular leftist streamer with a history of controversial comments<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat he says and what he does \u2014 it resonates with me,\u201d Mansouri told the Chronicle, citing Chakrabarti\u2019s stances on several issues, including the war in Gaza. \u201cHe\u2019s progressive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his interview with the Chronicle, Chakrabarti stressed that he has considered San Francisco home for much of his adult life. He also made it clear that he thinks the national focus of his past political work can help him deliver for local residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really believe that the issues San Francisco is facing \u2014 whether it\u2019s the cost of living crisis or  the homelessness crisis \u2014 these are the issues that we\u2019re facing hardest, but they are national issues,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to do these big, structural changes nationally to fix these (problems) for our communities right here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May 2, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

J.D. Morris<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

City Hall Reporter<\/p>\n\n\n\n

J.D. Morris covers San Francisco City Hall, focused on Mayor Daniel Lurie. He joined the Chronicle in 2018 to cover energy and spent three years writing mostly about PG&E and California wildfires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before coming to the Chronicle, he reported on local government for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, where he was among the journalists awarded a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the 2017 North Bay wildfires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was previously the casino industry reporter for the Las Vegas Sun. Raised in Monterey County and Bakersfield, he has a bachelor\u2019s degree in rhetoric from UC Berkeley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0J.D. Morris, Staff Writer May 2, 2026 (SFChronicle.com) Gift Article Saikat Chakrabarti, who is running to replace Rep. Nancy Pelosi in Congress, poses for a photo between supporters in San Francisco\u2019s Castro neighborhood during the opening of his second campaign office.Lizzy Montana Myers\/For the S.F. Chronicle San Francisco congressional candidate… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48016"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48016"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48018,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48016\/revisions\/48018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}