Saikat Chakrabarti, Man Running Against Nancy Pelosi In US Congress

Saikat Chakrabarti, an Indian-origin political activist, will challenge House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi for her San Francisco seat in the US Congress. The 39-year-old has previously managed the election campaign for House Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and worked with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

On Wednesday, Mr Chakrabarti announced his candidacy for the 2026 midterm elections on X, formerly Twitter, saying after watching Donald Trump and Elon Musk "freely unleash chaos in their illegal seizure of government", it was clear to him that the Democratic Party needed new leadership. “I respect what Nancy Pelosi has accomplished in her career, but we are living in a totally different America than the one she knew when she entered politics 45 years ago,” He said.

Ms Pelosi, 84, has yet to announce her reelection bid but filed her statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission last November.

Who is Saikat Chakrabarti?

1. Born in 1986 to an Indian Bengali family in Fort Worth, Texas, Saikat Chakrabarti graduated from Harvard University in 2007 with a Bachelor's in computer science. After that, he moved to California and co-founded Mockingbird, a tech startup. He was also a founding engineer for Stripe, a payment processing company.

2. After nearly 8 years working in the tech industry, Mr Chakrabarti entered the political arena and was associated with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign. After Sanders' presidential bid came to an end, Mr Chakrabarti and others founded a political action committee called the Brand New Congress.

3. Mr Chakrabarti successfully helped Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in her congressional campaign for the New York seat in the US Congress. He was her campaign manager and first chief of staff before deciding to return to San Francisco.

4. He was also at the forefront of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other progressive groups' Green New Deal, which sought to address economic inequality and climate change. He has also voiced his opposition to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and supports its abolition.

5. Mr Chakrabarti was also on Politico's “Playbook Power List” 2019, which spotlights politicians, activists and operatives across the US likely to or positioned to play an important role in the country's political landscape the following year.