- By Patrick Hoge | Examiner staff writer
- Apr 19, 2026 (SFExaminer.com)
Relying mostly on loans he made or guaranteed to his campaign, tech tycoon Saikat Chakrabarti has spent nearly $5 million on his run to succeed U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi in Congress — more than all of his rivals combined in the race.
Chakrabarti’s campaign shelled out $3.3 million from Jan. 1 through March 31, bringing total disbursements for the race to nearly $4.97 million, according to federal disclosures for the June 2 primary.
The top two vote-getters in June will advance to November to see who will represent the 11th Congressional District, which covers much of San Francisco.
Chakrabarti’s operation reported raising $3.4 million in the first quarter, bringing the campaign total to almost $5.2 million, leaving nearly $209,000 in cash on hand.
Loans made or guaranteed by Chakrabarti, who made a fortune as an early engineer for payments-technology company Stripe, hit more than $3.3 million for the quarter, bringing the total to more than $4.8 million for the campaign.
Aside from loans, Chakrabarti’s campaign reported $61,643 in direct contributions in the first quarter, raising his total of direct contributions for the race to nearly $360,890.
A first-time candidate, Chakrabarti was a top campaign official for liberal firebrand U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and was her chief of staff for eight months. He left that job amid reports of conflicts between him and Democrats and co-founded New Consensus, a think tank that develops and promotes progressive public-policy ideas.
Chakrabarti’s campaign in the past has said that his reliance on personal money reflected his pledge to take no corporate or lobbyist money. A spokesperson Thursday provided a statement emphasizing that he received 3,500 individual contributions during the quarter at an average amount of $17.46, with more than 13,000 contributions to date at an average of $27.
“This is what a grassroots campaign looks like,” said Tiffaney Bradley, his campaign’s communications director. “That’s real people chipping in what they can because they believe we deserve a candidate who isn’t backed by tech billionaires and corporations to represent San Francisco in [Washington] D.C.”
Bradley said the campaign was investing in voter outreach — “knocking doors, showing up in communities, and meeting people where they are.”
An independent committee called Abundant Future, meanwhile, had spent at least $277,388 as of April 16 on direct mail opposing Chakrabarti. That committee has received support from various San Francisco tech big wigs, including cryptocurrency billionaire Chris Larsen, Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan and Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman, among others.
Joe Arellano, the campaign spokesperson for next the highest fundraiser, state Sen. Scott Wiener, challenged the notion that Chakrabarti’s is a “grassroots” movement.
“He is trying to purchase a congressional seat with personal wealth, spending more on advertising in three months than most candidates raise in an entire cycle,” Arellano said.
“This is not a campaign built on community support,” he said.
Arellano said Chakrabarti was “trying to cover up the skeletons in his closet” from his time in the nation’s capital “and make it look like he actually has ties to San Francisco. News flash: He doesn’t.”
While Wiener has said Chakrabarti lacked a presence in San Francisco before running for office, Chakrabarti says that he has long had a home in The City.
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Wiener, a prolific author of legislation on many subjects who is known particularly for reducing cities’ regulatory abilities to impede housing construction, has collected far more than Chakrabarti in direct contributions — including nearly $735,000 in the first quarter — for a total of $3.5 million since 2023.
The money came from 1,363 donors in the first quarter, bringing the number of donors since the launch of his campaign last October to 3,371, Arellano said.
Wiener’s campaign had paid out about $386,000 in the first quarter, bringing its total spending to a little less than $900,000 for the race. That left just more than $2.6 million in cash on hand. The campaign reported no loans.
Trailing distantly on the cash front was Supervisor Connie Chan, who represents District 1 on the Board of Supervisors. A progressive supported by numerous labor groups, Chan raised about $282,000 in the quarter, bringing her total to just over $456,000 for the race.
Chan’s campaign also had no loans. It had spent about $247,000 in the quarter, for a total of $302,000, and had nearly $157,000 cash on hand.
“Connie Chan is a longtime public servant — she is not bankrolled by billionaires; she is not a tech millionaire,” said campaign spokesperson Julie Edwards. “This is why she has the support of working people like teachers, nurses, firefighters, hotel workers, seniors, tenants and students — over 2,000 individual donors who will continue to power this campaign to victory on June 2.”
Edwards also provided a statement from Chan assailing Chakrabarti’s spending.
“This is an election, not an auction,” Chan said. “San Franciscans are tired of the mega-rich using endless wealth to buy elections, and we know our city is not for sale.”
Meanwhile, the campaign of Marie Hurabiell, who only announced her candidacy on Feb. 25, reported raising nearly $422,000. That included a $100,000 loan made or guaranteed by the candidate.
The campaign reported spending $18,922, leaving Hurabiell with nearly $403,000 cash on hand.
Hurabiell, who previously ran unsuccessfully twice for the City College of San Francisco board of trustees, held various private-sector roles before 2020, when she founded ConnectedSF, a nonprofit focused on “pragmatic solutions, accountability, and results.” She is the group’s executive director, though currently on leave.
Hurabiell, who presented herself as an alternative to “the extreme, progressive agenda that has failed our beautiful city” in her candidacy announcement, is a registered Democrat who backed Mayor Daniel Lurie. The former Republican was a three-year appointee of President Donald Trump’s to the Presidio Trust board of directors.
Huriabell was also active in the successful recalls of District Attorney Chesa Boudin and three members of the Board of Education in 2022.
In a statement provided by her campaign, Hurabiell touted the fact that she raised more in direct contributions in the first quarter than either Chakrabarti or Chan.
“It’s a huge achievement to have outraised Connie and Saikat in Q1,” Hurabiell said. “I also raised a very respectable number next to Scott, and I only had one month versus the rest of my opponents fundraising for a full quarter. Clearly, San Franciscans are ready for a common sense candidate.”
