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by\u00a0Yujie Zhou<\/a><\/strong> June 17, 2026 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_6536-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C585&ssl=1\")
Saikat Chakrabarti, who failed to score a place on the November ballot for California\u2019s 11th congressional district, said Wednesday that he will support Connie Chan\u2019s race through the November election. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Already, his newly formed SF Solidarity PAC<\/a> has spent $425,000<\/a> for Chan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m gonna do what I can to help her win,\u201d said Chakrabarti.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier, Chakrabarti offered<\/a> his campaign staff of some 250, mostly paid canvassers, the option of working on his new independent expenditure committee to back Chan through July 10. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, his support of Chan will be through the general election on Nov. 3. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The field team plans to return to residents who were Chakrabarti supporters in the primary and persuade them to vote for Chan in November. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s unclear what the campaign will do after that outreach is finished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to look at where we are at the end of the month [July 10] to see how much more work is left to do, and to see what we need to do to actually make sure she wins,\u201d said Chakrabarti.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nate Allbee, Chakrabarti\u2019s campaign consultant, who now works on the SF Solidarity PAC, oversaw the Chakrabarti campaign\u2019s field operation, one of the largest<\/a> paid-canvasser operations in San Francisco history, with canvassers paid top dollars<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So far, Albee said on Tuesday, they have talked to 500 Chakrabarti supporters in Wiener\u2019s old supervisorial District 8. Some 80 percent of them said at the end of the conversation that, yes, they\u2019d vote for Chan, according to Allbee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI mean, that\u2019s really high,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Chakrabarti won 17 percent<\/a> of the vote in District 8 compared to 26 percent<\/a> for Chan and 51 percent for Wiener<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chakrabarti, who self-funded his own campaign with $10 million<\/a>, is also committed to spending whatever it takes to help Chan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe haven\u2019t made a decision on how much funding the campaign will need, but the goal is absolutely to make sure Connie wins,\u201d said Allbee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chakrabarti said, \u201cthis is about trying to help the progressive movement at large in Washington.\u201d He added he\u2019s also putting \u201csignificant financial support\u201d towards helping close to 20 other progressive candidates across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He\u2019s still trying to decide how much money to put into each race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Locally, Chakrabarti sees himself playing whatever role necessary to help the progressive movement and fix issues in the city. He\u2019s been a generous donor to nonprofits, and he\u2019s willing to contribute more right now when many are facing budget cuts<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He\u2019s also open to being a supporter \u2014 and possibly a sponsor \u2014 for ballot measures that represent causes he supports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s no calculus of which faction or which tribe or whatever,\u201d he said. If he agrees with the idea, he said, \u201cI\u2019m going to support them,\u201d giving as an example Wiener\u2019s November measure to fund public transit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Map by Kelly Waldron.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Chakrabarti\u2019s endorsement of Chan doesn\u2019t mean his votes will automatically transfer to the 47-year-old supervisor of District 1. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Before the primary, the general perception was that whichever candidate, Chan or Chakrabarti, advanced would need almost all of the other\u2019s votes<\/a> to have a chance of defeating Wiener in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Until the last few weeks of the campaign, Chan and Chakrabarti were careful to avoid upsetting each other\u2019s supporters and instead directed most attacks at Wiener. That now makes it easier for Chan to convert Chakrabarti\u2019s voters, his campaign said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe never said, \u2018Don\u2019t vote for Connie,\u2019\u201d when knocking on doors, Allbee said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, with Chakrabarti clearly antagonistic to Representative Nancy Pelosi\u2019s way of doing business, it\u2019s unclear if his supporters will embrace Chan, the candidate with Pelosi\u2019s endorsement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it\u2019s unclear how much Chakrabarti\u2019s quick backing of Chan means. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Joe Arellano, Wiener\u2019s campaign spokesperson and advisor, said many of Chakrabarti\u2019s supporters who are urbanists will transition to Wiener, who has branded himself as the pro-housing candidate in the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And some may just disengage entirely from the process, \u201cbecause they were in it for the cult of Saikat and his personality. It doesn\u2019t simply transition over to Connie as soon as he\u2019s gone,\u201d said Arellano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSome of Saikat voters who were really motivated by his outsider and anti-establishment messaging might not feel excited about either candidate\u201d and may sit out the general election, added Mike Chen, a Wiener supporter and a member of the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to win some votes for yourself, it\u2019s much harder to use your own profile to sway an election where you are not on the ballot,\u201d said political consultant Derek Jansen. Chakrabarti \u201cis just not a real factor in San Francisco.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The two assets he could bring to Team Connie are funding and, potentially, an endorsement from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. However, his campaign fell short of earning the latter, and Chan could earn that on her own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t think [Chakrabarti\u2019s endorsement] is gonna have a huge impact. But it is not nothing,\u201d San Francisco State University political science professor Jason McDaniel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To an extent, \u201cshe doesn\u2019t need him to get progressive voters. She got more of them than he did,\u201d he added. For the remaining ones, \u201cI don\u2019t think they liked him and hated her,\u201d meaning they would go to Chan, the sole progressive candidate in November, even without Chakrabarti\u2019s support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A plus for Chan is that she has few political enemies. In a two-person race, where the competition to claim support and allegiance in San Francisco\u2019s political circle has been fierce,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chan has created an environment where \u201cshe\u2019s made it easy to come over and help her. And I really appreciate that,\u201d said Allbee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This may have something to do with Chan\u2019s philosophy as a politician.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI believe in direct communication and building intellectually honest and respectful relationships,\u201d she said in response to a Mission Local<\/em> Q&A<\/a> in May. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Allbee agreed. \u201cConnie doesn\u2019t have a lot of enemies for a reason. It\u2019s just how she acts in politics and how she treats people. It\u2019s not surprising to me that she has such a broad coalition at all \u2026 When you disagree with Connie on something, there\u2019s a basic level of respect.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOver the years,\u201d he added, \u201cI\u2019ve always felt like Connie was somebody that I could disagree with in a friendly way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When a San Francisco neighborhood has a Mission Local<\/em> reporter, it means someone is there<\/strong>. We’re following new housing projects proposed on your block, keeping tabs on what your district supervisor is up to at City Hall, and letting you know when longtime businesses close (and new ones open). When big news breaks, we already know the context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most neighborhoods don’t have that. Yours could. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s what Mission Local<\/em> is building. <\/strong>Our reporters don’t parachute in — they write consistently on San Francisco, so you’re never reading about your neighborhood from someone who just looked it up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So far we are in five of San Francisco’s neighborhoods. But we know all San Franciscans deserve our kind of coverage. Will you join us?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Put a reporter on your block!<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n yujie@missionlocal.com<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yujie is a staff reporter covering city hall with a focus on the Asian community. She came on as an intern after graduating from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and became a full-time staff reporter as a Report for America corps member and has stayed on. Before falling in love with San Francisco, Yujie covered New York City, studied politics through the \u201cstreet clashes\u201d in Hong Kong, and earned a wine-tasting certificate in two days. She’s proud to be a bilingual journalist. Find her on Signal @Yujie_ZZ.01More by Yujie Zhou<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018I\u2019m gonna do what I can to help her win\u2019 by\u00a0Yujie Zhou June 17, 2026 (MissionLocal.org) Saikat Chakrabarti, who failed to score a place on the November ballot for California\u2019s 11th congressional district, said Wednesday that he will support Connie Chan\u2019s race through the November election. Already, his newly formed… Continue reading ![\"Artspan](\"https:\/\/cdn.broadstreetads.com\/assets\/9f2d4505-da8d-49e9-963d-6b486a074e75.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-51-1024x718.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nHow significant are Chakrabarti\u2019s money and endorsement for Chan?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Chan may be her own best advocate<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWe won’t ignore your neighborhood<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Latest election coverage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nDolores Huerta\u2019s endorsement of Scott Wiener surprises Connie Chan\u2019s allies<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAnti-AIPAC group that denounced Connie Chan now endorsing Chan<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAfter tough primary loss, some Silicon Valley donors regroup to back Becerra for governor<\/a><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Yujie ZhouStaff reporter<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n