A Conversation With Saikat Chakrabarti, Candidate for Congress in San Francisco
A wide ranging conversation on housing, healthcare, climate, and the fight over what Democrats stand for next
In this conversation, I speak with Saikat Chakrabarti, a candidate for U.S. Congress in San Francisco in the seat long held by Nancy Pelosi. Saikat has spent the last decade working to push the Democratic Party beyond symbolism, from Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign, to launching Justice Democrats, running AOC’s first campaign, serving as her chief of staff, and helping write and launch the Green New Deal. We talk about why he entered this race early and why performative opposition is not enough in a moment of rising authoritarianism. Let’s Address This.
Watch now on YouTube.
Conclusion
Saikat Chakrabarti is running for U.S. Congress in San Francisco, and if you live there, your vote can help shape what the Democratic Party becomes next. You can support his campaign by visiting saikat.us to volunteer, sign up for a weekday Zoom call with him, join local canvasses or phone banks, or simply help by sharing his work so more voters know about this race.
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As a longtime resident of San Francisco, and a voter in the district where Mr. Chakrabarti is running for Congress, I am GRAVELY concerned about his candidacy. Since coming to San Francisco, Mr. Chakrabarti has not been engaged in any of our local political groups or any of our local issues. Two years ago, he used his great wealth to help ensure the defeat of the progressive slate to our local DCCC. He invested about $10,000 to elect one of the most conservative Democratic groups ever elected. Then, to add insult to injury, he spent the maximum permitted by law (and unknown amounts to PACs) to defeat Dean Preston, our most progressive Democratic Socialist on our local Board of Supervisors. His contributions went directly to elect someone who is one of the most conservative members of our governing legislative body (horrible on housing, “law enforcement” and just about everything else). He also gave money to another conservative candidate against a progressive. Fortunately, that progressive won. Making matters worse, while asserting that Israel is committing a genocide (which it is), Chakrabarti remains seriously invested in Stripe and Blackstone (earning about $6,000,000/year on those chosen investments). For this race, we are lucky to have a candidate who has walked the walk (on picket lines with labor), advocated for the housing needs of our community, called it a genocide, proudly participated in the anti-ICE demonstrations, is herself an immigrant. Her name is Connie Chan. Please don’t give Chakrabarti a platform. I appreciate everything you do, but worry about someone who appears to be an exceedingly wealthy fraud. Perhaps there’s a reason that neither Bernie nor AOC nor Justice Democrats have endorsed him?
This guy is clearly very smart. Sounds like the right person for the job. I liked what I saw & heard in your conversation. But could you address the concerns expressed by Ig? Ig does not sound like a troll, but appears sincere.