“As an adjudicated insurrectionist, Trump is an illegitimate president according to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, and therefore every official act as president will be illegitimate.”
–Mike Zonta, co-editor of OccupySF.net
The 14th Amendment states: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”
Call your Congressperson and your U.S. Senators at (202) 224-3121
We’re a certified B Corp bank, putting your money to work for local communities and the planet.
The Impact of Beneficial Banking™
Did you know that banks can lend your money in harmful ways? When you bank beneficially, you choose to support people and planet.
Data based on 2024 loan originations and loan mission purpose. Historically, similar figures were based on cumulative loan data, which may affect comparability.
Bank where your values are. Open a free checking account, build interest on your savings, finance a car loan, or apply for an environmentally responsible credit card.
Saikat Chakrabarti at his campaign’s “Change the Party” rally on May 7, 2026. Photo by Kelly Waldron.
Congressional candidate Saikat Chakrabarti is an outsider to San Francisco politics who has not been welcomed by the city’s political establishment, progressives and moderates alike.
But instead of seeking their vote of confidence, he’s bringing other outsiders in.
On Thursday evening, Chakrabarti’s “Change the Party” rally drew many hundreds of attendees who packed City Nights, a nightclub in SoMa, to the brim. Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina” blasted from the speakers while attendees waved “Fight Trump” and “Lower costs” signs in the air.
Jamaal Bowman, former representative for New York’s 16th District, flew in for the event, as did Darializa Avila Chevalier, Angela Gonzales-Torres, and Melat Kiros, who are running for seats in the House of Representatives for New York City, Los Angeles and Denver, respectively.
“We have to completely change the direction of leadership of the Democratic party. We need a Democratic party that knows how to fight to stop authoritarian rule,” said Chakrabarti.
But the biggest draw, and most controversial aspect, of the night was ostensibly not Chakrabarti, but Hasan Piker, a popular left-wing commentator who has over three million followers on Twitch, and according to Wired, streams for seven to eight hours a day.
When Mission Local waited to speak with Chakrabarti before the rally, the candidate was backstage, in the middle of streaming with Piker.
At the rally, Piker’s comments echoed Chakrabarti’s.
“We deserve a better party that will put your interests first,” he said.
He likened Chakrabarti to Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist who was elected mayor of New York City last year, and reappropriated a popular Maoist slogan: “We can let a thousand Zohrans bloom,” Piker said.
Chakrabarti, both as a candidate and in his previous role as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff, has positioned himself as a combative foil for mainstream Democrats. While his campaign is staunchly anti-Trump, he has taken particular aim at the Democratic Party and what he calls its failure to stop Trump’s authoritarianism. ❮❯
Beauty Bar is Back! Revitalized!
Enjoy craft martinis, live DJ nights, and dance in a unique retro-salon setting. Open daily from 2pm to 2am. Swing by during the day or join us at night for music, drinks, and unforgettable memories!Club • Trending • 5K viewsDiscover the Vibe
“We ruffled some feathers with the Democratic establishment,” Chakrabarti said to the roaring crowd. “And I’m glad we did.”
Unlike his opponents, State Senator Scott Wiener and Supervisor Connie Chan, Chakrabarti has not held office in San Francisco and, before putting his hat in the ring and spending $4.8 million on his own campaign, had little name recognition here.
When asked how he plans to build trust with voters who may not know him, Chakrabarti said he is focused on getting as much face time with voters as possible.
“I’m not part of the local political establishment,” Chakrabarti said. “The way that we’ve been running this campaign from the start is to be as physically available as possible. We’ve done more public events, more direct voter contact, more conversations with real people in San Francisco than any of my opponents — I think all my opponents combined, at this point.”
The centimillionaire former Stripe engineer, who is likely worth more than $100 million and has paid gobs to hire an army of door-knockers to get his name out, is also turning to social media and its influencers.
←→
2 / 6
On Thursday night, Chakrabarti took interviews with both members of the press and members of what his campaign dubbed “new media:” Content creators and internet personalities with millions in combined followers.
The content creators filed in line, waiting to speak to Chakrabarti backstage and get a few dedicated minutes with the candidate.
But Piker is the most popular (he is sometimes stylized the “Joe Rogan of the Left”), and has subsequently drawn the most ire from moderate Democrats here.
Supervisor Matt Dorsey authored a resolution the same day as the rally asking the San Francisco Democratic Party to condemn Piker and reject any attempt to “change” the Democratic Party to align with Piker’s views.
Dorsey has taken issue with Piker’s outspoken criticism of Israel — Dorsey is, in his own words, a “self-proclaimed Zionist” — and Piker’s comments saying that “Americans deserved 9/11,” plus a bizarre rant in which the streamer called a Vietnamese refugee a “fucking idiotic old lady” for opposing communism and supporting President Donald Trump.
Dorsey and others have sought to paint the online tirade as anti-Asian, though Piker has said that “while my sentiment is vulgar,” his statements have been taken out of context — he is streaming for much of the day, after all.
And on Thursday, no one in the hot and crowded room seemed to pay much attention to Dorsey’s flogging. The crowd was more focused on stump chants like “Abolish ICE,” “Tax the Rich” and “Medicare for All.” While flyers posted around the city had advertised a planned counter-protest outside the rally, no one showed up.
“There’s a lot of people who didn’t want me to be here today from the San Francisco Democratic Party, from numerous astroturf organizations that put fliers all around San Francisco,” Piker said on stage. But, he added, “not a single person showed up to protest. They have the money and interest, but we have the people.”
This May we have a $50K match!
Mission Local has been growing its local coverage: We’re designating reporters to five neighborhoods — the Tenderloin, Richmond, Sunset, Bayview, and the Mission to provide free, first-rate neighborhood reporting.
Having reporters on-the-ground, asking questions is what makes Mission Local stand out — it’s our biggest strength, and we intend to bring that to every neighborhood we cover.
Our goal this May is to raise $125,000 — the price of adding a reporter to one neighborhood for one year. If you donate to our fundraiser today, your gift is doubled thanks to the match.about:blank
Kelly Waldron is a data reporter at Mission Local. She studied Geography at McGill University and worked at a remote sensing company in Montreal, analyzing methane data, before turning to journalism and earning a master’s degree from Columbia Journalism School. You can reach her on Signal @kwaldron.60.More by Kelly Waldron
House candidate Saikat Chakrabarti is contending with being an outsider to the local political establishment by embracing creator-driven media and hosting other outside progressives at his rallies, including incendiary leftwing commentator Hasan Piker.
Former Stripe engineer and congressional candidate Saikat Chakrabarti, who has spent millions of his own money on his campaign, is leaning into his outsider status both locally and within the Democratic Party as he tries to build name recognition in San Francisco politics, as Mission Local reports.
Chakrabarti has spent heavily on field operations, hiring paid canvassers to build name recognition through door-to-door outreach, while also leaning into what his campaign calls “new media” by doing interviews with online creators as well as traditional reporters.
A central theme of his campaign has been sustained criticism of the Democratic Party’s direction and what he describes as its failure to effectively confront Trump. As previously reported, those tensions reportedly prompted House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi to pressure Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to fire Chakrabarti as her chief of staff, creating an awkward situation where AOC declined to endorse him in the race.
On Thursday, Former New York congressman Jamaal Bowman appeared at the event, alongside progressive House candidates from New York City, Los Angeles, and Denver, all of whom are endorsed by Justice Democrats, a group Chakrabarti co-founded to help promote insurgent progressives in Democratic primaries, according to the Chronicle.
The biggest draw of the night though was Muslim content creator, Hasan Piker, whose commentary on Israel, US foreign policy, and other issues has drawn backlash from Jewish organizations and moderate Democrats. Chakrabarti and Piker have recently collaborated on campaign videos and policy discussions online, with Thursday marking their first public event together.
Piker, who has a large online following and streams for hours daily, compared Chakrabarti to New York Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani and invoked a Maoist slogan about inspiring “a thousand Zohrans” to emerge, per Mission Local. Chakrabarti told the crowd, “We ruffled some feathers with the Democratic establishment. And I’m glad we did.”
In anticipation of Piker’s appearance, Supervisor Matt Dorsey reportedly introduced a resolution this week calling on the San Francisco Democratic Party to formally condemn Piker and reject what it describes as efforts to reshape the party around his political views.
Dorsey, who has described himself as a “self-proclaimed Zionist,” per Mission Local, has focused his criticism on Piker’s public comments about Israel, as well as other past remarks that have circulated widely online, including statements about 9/11 and a video in which Piker lashed out at a Vietnamese refugee supporting Donald Trump.
Piker has pushed back on those characterizations, saying his comments have been taken out of context and pointing to the pace and volume of his hours-long live streams.
Additionally, a counter-protest over Piker’s appearance was also planned Thursday, but Piker pointed out that not a single person showed up, as Mission Local reports. “They have the money and interest, but we have the people,” he said.
Per the Chronicle, Tiffaney Bradley, spokesperson for Chakrabarti’s campaign, responded to Dorsey’s resolution in a statement, arguing that the Democratic party is failing its constituents, citing dismal polling numbers and pointing to rising costs, global conflict, and what she described as an erosion of civil rights under an “authoritarian government.”
“The only option we have left is to use the democratic process to change our party, so if you see a rally of Democrats trying to inspire people to get involved as a threat — then you’re part of the problem,” Bradley said.
Image: Hasan Piker attends the 2026 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Mark Guiducci at Los Angeles County Museum of Art on March 15, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)
In his energy policy unveiled Friday, Democratic US Senate candidate Graham Platner in Maine emphasized that political choices over the last several decades undid the robust New Deal-era framework that helped keep household bills down and financed electricity across his state and the country—and that lawmakers can and must shift their priorities in order to help working families afford energy once again.
“What was done by political choice can be undone by political choice,” said Platner in the plan. “If we approach our energy challenges with the resources currently reserved for the Pentagon and for billionaire tax breaks, we can meet our energy needs.”
The oyster farmer and combat veteran, a political newcomer who is the presumptive Democratic nominee and is running to unseat five-term Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), unveiled a plan under which the US can “Take Back American Power” by replacing “regressive gas and diesel taxes” with his billionaire wealth tax proposal, introduced last month; take aim at Big Oil windfall profits; and prioritize clean energy development instead of “overpriced, dead-end Pentagon pet projects.”
The plan is divided into four sections, with the first focusing on slashing energy prices for households across the country and in Maine—where the average family paid $900 more this past winter compared to the previous year to heat and light their home and power their car.
While the federal gas tax is meant to fund the Highway Trust Fund for infrastructure projects, Platner noted that $275 billion general fund have been needed to supplement the trust fund since 2008. Instead of funding projects with taxes that “hit working-class Mainers that hardest,” said Platner, “public goods should be financed by progressive, general revenues” like his proposed 5% tax on wealth over $1 billion.
He expressed support for the Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act, introduced by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), with a national fund to lower or freeze electricity rates supported by a per-barrel tax equal to 50% of the price difference between current oil prices and those from last year.
“We can cut Wall Street speculators out of the equation, build at scale with union jobs, and lower costs for everyone.”
A rate freeze would also be funded by “repurposed federal fossil fuel subsidies and federal energy leases… so that states can support utilities making long-overdue upgrades that create a stronger, better-utilized, and cleaner grid that lowers power bills.”
The second section of the plan focuses on funding clean energy projects and replacing the model of “financing energy investments with expensive private equity and high-yield debt” with a National Energy Infrastructure Fund. The fund would issue debt backed by the federal government, working with state agencies to provide “cheap capital directly to utilities, rural electric co-operatives, public energy authorities, and other developers of low-risk clean energy projects.”
Combined with permitting reform for clean energy projects, the National Energy Infrastructure Fund would allow for an efficient build-out of transmission lines and offshore wind projects while passing tens of billions of dollars in savings on to ratepayers.
“We can cut Wall Street speculators out of the equation, build at scale with union jobs, and lower costs for everyone,” said Platner.
The Senate candidate also proposed strategic fuel reserves for fisheries and farms, modeled on a reserve that hold approximately 1 billion barrels of oil for households across the Northeast in case of a fuel disruption.
Releases from a marine fuel reserve would “be triggered by verified price spikes during fishing seasons,” while the stock for farmers, who bear “the brunt of our energy crisis,” would be used to insulate the nation’s food supply “from price shocks, particularly those caused by arbitrary wars.”
The policy proposal was released as President Donald Trump issued his latest violent threat against Iran despite a ceasefire that was reached a month ago in the war the US and Israel started in late February. The average gas price is now above $4.50 per gallon, while 70% of US farmers told the American Farm Bureau Federation last month that the price of fertilizer has gotten so high due to Iran’s closing of the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for the attacks, that they will not be able to afford all they need for the 2026 planting season.
Platner has taken aim at Collins for her votes against war powers resolutions that would give Congress a check on Trump’s authority to attack Iran.
“Mainers can no longer afford Susan Collins, her party, or the crony capitalism that has handed over our essential public infrastructure to oil companies, private equity, and foreign-owned utilities,” said Platner. “The solutions are straightforward. They simply require the political will: to end Big Oil’s stranglehold on our energy policy, to slash prices for consumers, and to build the energy of the future.”
The Democrat’s energy plan also calls for a National Whole Home Repair Program, modeled on a Pennsylvania initiative and scaled to the federal level. The program would partner “with public housing authorities, county-level programs, and local building and construction trades unions to cover the full range of work that would bring old housing into the present.”
“Weatherization, electrification, and heat pumps can lower bills by thousands of dollars a year,” reads the plan. “The technology exists. The skilled trades exist. What does not exist, for most Mainers, is the upfront capital.”
It concludes that “it is long past time to hearken back to the legacy of the New Deal, to unlock American ingenuity and work ethic to rise to our energy challenges.”
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
The story goes that on a hot San Francisco autumn night in 1955, a roomful of poets, drifters, and wide-eyed believers crowded into the Six Gallery on Upper Fillmore St. and listened as a young, bearded man unspooled a long, incantatory cry into the air. This eruption would come to embody the Beat era.
No one knew exactly what they were witnessing, but it was too raw to ignore. Somewhere between breath and prophecy, Allen Ginsberg had found a frequency, and the room, alive, sweating, and electric, became the first witness to Howl. The poem would soon ignite an obscenity trial and redraw the boundaries of American speech.
Seventy years later, that echo is still ricocheting through the city.
On Mon/11, The Chapel will hold an event—different in shape, but similarly charged—as (((folkYEAH!))) presents A Centennial Celebration of Allen Ginsberg, marking 100 years since his birth and the enduring shockwave of Howl and Other Poems.
The evening unites musicians and writers into a single, shifting organism—sound and language colliding in real time—culminating in a rare live performance of Howl by the Kronos Quartet. It’s not a reenactment, however. No one is trying to cosplay the Six Gallery or summon ghosts in sepia. The point is to test whether that same voltage can still surge through a contemporary room.
It is also, crucially, a night built less on sequence than on accumulation. Musicians move through poems, poets move through sound, and the boundaries between forms begin to dissolve in real time.
Bob Donlin, Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg, Robert LaVigne, & Lawrence Ferlinghetti in front of City Lights Books, late 1955. Photo courtesy of Allen Ginsberg Estate
The structure resists polish in favor of presence, allowing for a kind of controlled unpredictability that mirrors the spirit of the work itself.
That approach echoes how Ginsberg worked in public. His readings were rarely static; they were communal experiments. He moved between poetry and chant, between language and music, collapsing distinctions that still tend to hold. It’s the kind of only-in-this-city activation the producers are hoping to invoke.
Sponsored link
“San Francisco is where he wrote Howl,” says curator Peter Hale, who oversees the Allen Ginsberg Estate. “It’s where he matured as a writer and found permission to live openly and write honestly.”
Hale’s relationship to that history isn’t distant. Drawn as a teenager into the experimental literary and Buddhist scene around Naropa University—where Ginsberg helped found the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics—he first encountered the poet in the ‘80s as a living presence rather than a fixed icon.
“He said he was gay,” Hale recalls. “That was the first time I’d heard anybody publicly say that they were gay.”
“It was smoky rooms, parties, drinking, and meditation,” he adds. “The boundaries were blurred, but it was magnetic.”
Allen Ginsberg and Peter Hale, New York City, September 5, 1992. Photo by Allen Ginsberg, courtesy Stanford University Libraries / Allen Ginsberg Estate
What began as proximity eventually became responsibility in 1992, when Hale began archiving tapes and photographs, helping shape posthumous projects, and translating a countercultural moment into something that could continue to evolve.
The evolution now shapes the event itself. Hale and co-producer Jesse Goodman, inspired by late producer Hal Willner, known for his expansive tribute projects, approached Ginsberg not as a relic but as an open framework for reinterpretation.
“We were inspired by Willner’s approach of having different artists reinterpret a single figure,” Hale says. “When he died, it felt like a torch passing, like, ‘You guys take over.’”
What Hale is pointing to is something larger than a single moment. Howl didn’t arrive all at once; it grew out of a San Francisco scene already in motion, a loose constellation of poets including Kenneth Rexroth, Robert Duncan, and Gary Snyder, and a culture of public readings where poetry was spoken aloud, tested in real time, and shaped by audience and atmosphere.
It was here that Ginsberg met Peter Orlovsky, his lifelong partner, and began fusing poetry with performance, spirituality, and radical openness.
He didn’t pass through once and leave a legend behind; he kept returning. In the ’60s, he chanted at the Human Be-In in Golden Gate Park, which arguably launched the Summer of Love, threading poetry into a rising counterculture.
He continued reading and teaching in San Francisco into the ’90s, when he gave what is believed to be his final public reading at The Booksmith in 1996, a year before he died in 1997, still chasing that same open line.
Andy Cabic. Photo by Alissa Anderson
For Cabic, Howl‘s lineage runs sideways through music. As the founder of band Vetiver and a longtime collaborator of Devendra Banhart, he emerged from a 2000s scene that echoed the Beat-era cross-pollination of songwriters, poets, and visual artists who shared space, traded influence, and built something loose and communal.
“I probably discovered him through Kerouac and William Burroughs in college,” he says. “It wasn’t until I got to college that I discovered a love of reading.”
“What I love about Ginsberg is his interviews, the range of his interests, and the way he folds different practices into his own,” he adds. “That’s encouraging.”
Cabic will perform songs Ginsberg himself once played, folding his own style into that lineage. There’s a bittersweet nostalgic spin. “A lot of what was here isn’t anymore,” Cabic says. “You don’t have the same freedom to pursue art full-time.”
If Cabic’s perspective is tempered, Purnell arrives sharper. The writer, musician, and cultural critic cuts across novels, essays, and punk performance. He has fronted bands like Gravy Train!!!! and The Younger Lovers, bringing that same confrontational energy to the stage.
“I’m deeply honored,” Purnell says about taking part in the event. “I remember reading Howl when I was about 14 or 15. It was wild. It always followed me.”
A “post, post, post-modern writer” by his own account, he wrestles with how and whether he belongs in Ginsberg’s lineage. “I would like to think that if Ginsberg and James Baldwin got together and had a shamelessly, cynically ironic son, I would be it,” says the author.
Brontez Purnell, in a Beat selfie
His view of Howl is less reverent than diagnostic, shaped by a culture that no longer responds to language the way it once did.
“The fact that something like that would face an obscenity trial and the fact that people don’t even read anymore, it’s almost awe-inspiring and a little deflating,” Purnell says. “Something that was once offensive now reads like Shakespeare.”
What’s changed, for Purnell, isn’t the poem so much as the conditions around it: the audience, the attention span, the very idea of what counts as transgressive.
“I think the revolution is long over,” he adds. “Can we even get people to read anything again?”
That question extends beyond literature and into the cultural landscape he moves through every day, where he says he meets 50 drag queens and 50 DJs but rarely meets any writers.
As for the shape of the event, what began as a group reading expanded into something larger, building toward Kronos Quartet’s closing performance of Howl. The poem becomes a destination, something the evening moves toward.
“We want people to be inspired to find their own voice,” Hale says. “We want to pass the torch.”
Back in 1955, no one in the crowded Six Gallery (now a Mexican street food restaurant) could have predicted what Howl would become—only that something had happened and rearranged the air.
The question now is quieter but no less urgent: Can that kind of moment still occur?
ALLEN GINSBERG CENTENNIAL Mon/11, 7pm, The Chapel, SF. Tickets and more info here.
Joshua Rotter is a contributing writer for 48 Hills. He’s also written for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, SF Weekly, SF Examiner, SF Chronicle, and CNET.
By Alyce McFadden, Staff Writer Updated May 8, 2026 (SFChronicle.com)
Gift Article
House candidate Saikat Chakrabarti rallies supporters to “Change the Party” at a nightclub in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood Thursday night. Lizzy Montana Myers/For the S.F. Chronicle
Hundreds of progressive Bay Area voters crammed into a San Francisco nightclub Thursday for a campaign rally held by congressional candidate Saikat Chakrabarti that featured the hyper-popular, and controversial, political commentator Hasan Piker.
The mostly young crowd was packed shoulder to shoulder, seemingly energized about the rally’s “Change the Party” theme, a key promise of Chakrabarti’s campaign to replace Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. The former tech engineer and centimillionaire, who founded a group dedicated to unseating incumbent moderate Democrats, shared a vision Thursday for a more progressive agenda in Washington.
“San Francisco, the political revolution is here,” Chakrabarti said when he took to the stage a little after 8:30 p.m.
The promise has rankled some Democrats in San Francisco and beyond. But it also resonated deeply with many attendees, some of whom traveled from the East Bay and beyond to hear Piker and Chakrabarti speak.
T Bowman, a canvasser and San Francisco voter, said she sees Chakrabarti as the kind of “up front, honest” candidate who could effect change in Washington.
“I feel like the Democratic Party isn’t standing up for us in the right ways,” Bowman said, citing foreign policy issues and corporate spending on elections.
The slate of Democrats running against Chakrabarti include state Sen. Scott Wiener, the race’s front-runner, Supervisor Connie Chan, and Marie Hurabiell, a former Presidio Trust board member.
Chakrabarti has embraced the role of a Democratic dissident willing to buck party leadership. An alumnus of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, Chakrabarti has criticized the party’s approach to core issues from President Donald Trump to Israel to affordability.
“We need a new generation of leaders that will deliver on a fundamentally better life for all,” Chakrabarti said during his speech. “To do that we have to completely change the leadership of the Democratic Party.”
After Sanders lost his bid in 2016, Chakrabarti helped found the Justice Democrats, a political action committee dedicated to helping progressive campaigns unseat incumbent Democrats in primary races across the country. The group recruited Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to challenge long-time Rep. Joe Crowley in New York City. After her win, Chakrabarti became her chief of staff at the Capitol, though Ocasio-Cortez has declined to endorse him in this race.
Chakrabarti was joined onstage Thursday by three progressive candidates challenging incumbent Democrats in primary races across the country who spoke about their desire to reshape the party from within. The stakes could not be higher, Chakrabarti said in an interview before the rally.
“If we just keep going the direction we’re going, we are sleepwalking into the destruction of this party,” Chakrabarti said. “So I’d rather change and win than just go the direction that we are headed right now.”
He dismissed the notion that his pugnacious approach could hamper his effectiveness in Washington, should he advance in the June primary and go on to win election in November. He said he would rely not on support from his fellow Democrats to pass legislation but leverage his popularity with supporters on the grassroots level, much as Ocasio-Cortez used her large following to build support for progressive policies such as the Green New Deal.
Chakrabarti supporters in attendance Thursday said they hope that approach could give them a voice in a party they say has failed to stand up for their values.
“I feel like I’ve been waiting 40 years for this guy,” said Regina Islas of San Francisco, a campaign volunteer and longtime Democrat. “One of the things I like is he’s a fighter. He’s a feisty guy, and we need that spirit.”
That combativeness, and Chakrabarti’s decision to court Piker’s support, could alienate some voters. Piker has emerged as a divisive figure in the party and a favorite target for moderate Democrats and Republicans for controversial comments on a slew of issues, including Israel, 9/11 and Asian Americans.
On Wednesday, San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey said he would submit a resolution to the city’s Democratic Party central committee decrying Piker and urging him and his supporters to “pursue the formation of their own party and to get out of ours.”
Chakrabarti seemed to lean into Dorsey’s censure in a social media video Thursday, labeling him as part of the party’s “old guard.”
“They’re attacking us because we want Democrats to stop taking corporate money. They’re attacking us because we want genocide in Gaza to end,” he said.
Piker echoed the message onstage at the rally, suggesting that Dorsey and other critics were out of touch with what voters want.
“I see a lot of people in this room who want to change the party today,” Piker said. “We have to fight to make sure we elect responsive politicians who serve our interests.”
In the week leading up to the rally, flyers in Chinese and English had popped up on telephone poles and lampposts around the city urging people to come out to protest Piker’s appearance. But as the event got underway Thursday, there was no evidence that such a protest had materialized.
“There’s a lesson there, in that story,” Piker said. Chakrabarti’s opponents might have the support of politically powerful outside groups, he added, “but we have the people.”
Alyce McFadden is a City Hall reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle covering the Board of Supervisors. McFadden previously worked at the New York Times, where she was a news assistant and reporting fellow. She covered Andrew Cuomo’s history of sexual harassment, the trial of the man accused of attacking Salman Rushdie, the Los Angeles wildfires and the reaction to the killing of Charlie Kirk. McFadden has also written for Law360, OpenSecrets and the Maine Beacon. She’s a graduate of Bowdoin College, where she studied government and legal studies and was editor in chief of the student paper.
The film, which blends new interviews, archival footage and watercolor animation, will drop on the service later this year, and seems likely to contend for the best documentary short Oscar a year from now.
The Baddest Speechwriter of All, a documentary short about Dr. Clarence B. Jones, the lawyer and speechwriter for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., has been acquired by Netflix, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. It will drop on the service later this year.
In the film, which blends new interviews with archival footage and watercolor animation sequences hand-painted by Brazilian artist Daniel Bruson, Dr. Jones, who is now 95, reflects on his life on the front lines of America’s Civil Rights Movement, and the personal toll experienced by himself and others as a result.
Proudfoot, who is repped by UTA and served as a producer of the film through his company Breakwater Studios, tells THR, “This is a man who not only witnessed but personally shaped the Civil Rights Movement from the inside. Stephen and I are still humming from the incredible response to the film at Sundance and could not be more thrilled that now, millions of people will experience Dr. Jones’ electrifying testimony because of this extraordinary partnership with Netflix.”
Adds Curry and Erick Peyton, who also served as producers of the film through their company Unanimous Media, “We couldn’t be more excited that The Baddest Speechwriter of All has found a home with Netflix. Dr. Jones’ story has long deserved this level of reach and recognition. Through Netflix’s platform, his words and stories will resonate with audiences across borders and generations. We’re deeply grateful to Ben and the entire creative team whose passion and dedication made this film possible.”
The film’s executive producers included Elizabeth Goodstein and Gigi Pritzker for Madison Wells, Peter Rotter and Jane Solomon. Its cinematographer was Brandon Somerhalder, editors were Nick Wright and Tim Johnson and composer was Cameron Moody. UTA Independent Film Group and WME Independent co-repped the sale.
Establishment Democrats don’t trust their own voters to make the decision of who should represent them in some of the races that will decide who controls Congress next year.
There is little doubt that, if it were up to the Republicans across the country who are working hard to gerrymander their opponents out of existence, or the GOP lawmakers in Congress pushing the SAVE America Act, every Democratic voter would be disenfranchised. Sometimes, however, it seems as though establishment Democrats have the same goal.
Time and time again, they are trying to take decisions that ought to be made by voters away from them. We have seen this in presidential primaries and also when former Vice President Kamala Harris was anointed to take on Donald Trump in 2024 (although, to be fair, Joe Biden’s stubborn insistence to run for a second term and his refusal to drop out of the race sooner was a big part of that problem).
The most recent example of this dynamic came this week courtesy of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), which added eight candidates to its “Red to Blue” program — an initiative that identifies particularly vulnerable Republican-held districts that Democrats hope to flip.
That in itself is hardly controversial.
The program, which now includes 20 names but will likely be expanded in light of the favorable political climate for Democrats, is meant to give promising candidates a boost in races the party believes they can win. And, usually, being part of “Red to Blue” does translate into more fundraising opportunities from donors who want to make sure that their money has a maximum impact on which party controls Congress.
The problem, however, is that some of the newly added Democrats haven’t even sewn up their nominations yet, which means that the DCCC is trying to pick winners and losers in competitive primaries and deprive the party’s voters from choosing their preferred candidates.
To those familiar with the machinations of the Democratic Party, it will come as no surprise to learn that the congressional hopefuls being disadvantaged in those cases are more progressive.
One is Randy Villegas, who is running in California’s 22nd district and has been endorsed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Instead of letting Californians decide who is the best candidate in a fair fight, the DCCC instead added Jasmeet Bains to “Red to Blue.”
This drew heavy criticism from the party’s left wing.
“Establishment Democrats want a big tent party until it starts to include real progressive fighters who don’t answer to corporations and billionaires,” stated David Hogg, an activist who co-founded the progressive group “Leaders We Deserve.”
CPC leaders were slightly more diplomatic.
“We disagree with the DCCC’s decision to attempt to tip the scales in this race. Voters, not the DCCC, should pick Democratic nominees,” they said in a joint statement. “The Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC and our members have consistently advocated for DCCC neutrality in competitive House primaries, and the DCCC should have observed that policy in this race.”
In Maine, where the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee already whiffed when it endorsed Gov. Janet Mills (D), who recently ended her campaign, the DCCC backs Joe Baldacci. That move drew criticism from two of his primary opponents.
“It’s undemocratic for national establishment Democrats to put their thumb on the scale in any primary,” said Matt Dunlap, who has released a poll showing him leading the race. “Just like in certain other races across Maine this year, they won’t decide this one — the people of Maine will.”
And Jordan Wood, the leading fundraiser in the race, noted that he was not surprised by the news but rather energized.
“Maine does not want DC political elites deciding our primary,” he said before arguing that the DCCC’s endorsement shows that change is needed in the nation’s capital. “It’s a reminder of how desperately we need change in Washington, not just to stop [Donald] Trump and hold him accountable, but also to fix our broken party, which is so out of touch with people that it thinks it knows better than them.”
And that gets to the heart of why the DCCC’s move is so short-sighted.
In a midterm election, which usually features lower turnout, voter enthusiasm is crucial, especially in close districts like the “Red to Blue” targets.
Therefore, alienating any voter bloc, such as progressives in this case, by trying to influence the primary and disadvantage certain candidates, is extremely short-sighted.
In addition, it makes Democratic leaders in Congress sound disingenuous when they talk about Republicans trying to disenfranchise voters. Because, albeit on a different level, this is exactly what they are trying to do: make sure that the voices of certain voters don’t get heard.
Klaus Marre Klaus Marre, a former congressional reporter, is a senior editor for US politics at WhoWhatWhy. He writes regularly here, and you can also follow him on Bluesky and Substack.
Robert Reich and Inequality Media May 7, 2026 Our media is controlled by just a handful of billionaires and their corporations. And Trump is making things even worse. Here’s how we stop it.
Help Outreach Working Group lift the fog of corporate media. Donate to help us maintain this website and distribute literature on the street.
This Sunday’s Town Hall: Announcing This Week’s Progressive Town Hall: Every Sunday at 4pm ET/1pm PT RSVP HERE Join PDA activists online from across the country to discuss the importance of progressives reclaiming the American story from the MAGA right, an issue of heightened importance as we’re now within one... Continue reading →
We protest Heritage Foundation EVERY MONDAY (Join us!!!!) By admin | September 2, 2025 | Uncategorized Cliff Cash Comedy Premiered Jul 26, 2025 Every Monday at The Heritage Foundation 214 Massachusetts Ave. Washington D.C. 4pm protest 6pm pizza Every Friday at Fox News D.C. 400 N. Capitol St. Washington D.C. 4pm protest 6pm pizza We are... Continue reading →
One Million Rising: Strategic Non-Cooperation to Fight Authoritarianism Virtual Event · Hosted by No Kings Time Wednesdays 8 – 9:30pm EDT Location Virtual event Join from anywhere About this event Across the country, authoritarian forces are getting bolder and more dangerous. Trump and his allies are not hiding their agenda: mass deportations,... Continue reading →
THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 2023 AT 2 AM – 4 AM PDT How to create trust in a group? Details Event by Extinction Rebellion Empathy Circles online EMPATHY CAFE Duration: 2 hr Public · Anyone on or off Facebook How to create trust in a group? This is the question that arose in our... Continue reading →
RSVP » The bottom line is this: Our outreach is working. Since ramping up our efforts, the number of candidates signing the pledge has surged. In the month since our last POP Action Call, we’ve secured over 70 new signers, which is a sharp surge in engagement. That’s a direct result of... Continue reading →
CBS + SF Examiner Gubernatorial Debate Registration Register here to attend the CBS KPIX + San Francisco Examiner Gubernatorial Debate. Guests will be selected at random on May 10 and receive a confirmation email on May 12. Date: Thursday, May 14, 2026 Time: 5:30 – 7:30 pm Location: 465 California... Continue reading →
When you volunteer for Saikat, it’s on us to give you a great experience and a genuine chance to make a difference. We don’t want to waste a second of your time. That’s why we’re always optimizing. And I’m excited to report that this Saturday we talked with 300% more... Continue reading →
Trump Regime Takedown: Every Saturday Saturday, March 7, 2026 12:00 PM 2:00 PM Tesla San Francisco999 Van Ness AvenueSan Francisco, CA, 94109United States (map) Google Calendar ICS Keep democracy alive every Saturday by showing up, taking a stand, and sticking together for the long haul. Standing together is better than standing alone. Let’s get together... Continue reading →
This Sunday’s Town Hall: Announcing This Week’s Progressive Town Hall: Every Sunday at 4pm ET/1pm PT RSVP HERE Join PDA activists online from across the country to discuss the importance of progressives reclaiming the American story from the MAGA right, an issue of heightened importance as we’re now within one... Continue reading →
We protest Heritage Foundation EVERY MONDAY (Join us!!!!) By admin | September 2, 2025 | Uncategorized Cliff Cash Comedy Premiered Jul 26, 2025 Every Monday at The Heritage Foundation 214 Massachusetts Ave. Washington D.C. 4pm protest 6pm pizza Every Friday at Fox News D.C. 400 N. Capitol St. Washington D.C. 4pm protest 6pm pizza We are... Continue reading →
Search
. SBA Preferred Lender.
by 
