Who is Saikat Chakrabarti? Indian-origin man running against Nancy Pelosi, calling for change in Democratic Party

Hakeem Jeffries is a democrat congressman who is serving his seventh term in the United States Congress is the highest-ranking democrat in the House of Representatives, according to his official website.

In an interview with news outlet Zeteo on Monday, Saikat Chakrabarti said that he thinks Jeffries has “failed as leader for the Democratic Party” and that he won’t be backing Jeffries if elected to Congress.

Chakrabarti also added that he thinks Hakeem Jeffries “should be primaried.” “I am going to be calling for people to primary all the democrats who have completely failed this party,” he said.

Sharing a clip of the interview on his X account and backing his remarks, Chakrabarti called for a complete reform of the Democratic Party and wrote, “It’s not just me. Nearly 80 people running for Congress declined to support Jeffries for leader. We need new people to run across the country to completely rebuild this party to be one that can stop an authoritarian coup and build an economy that works for working people.”

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Who is Saikat Chakrabarti?

Saikat Chakrabarti is a Harvard University graduate in computer science who eventually pursued a long career in progressive politics, according to his LinkedIn profile.

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In a video posted on his X account introducing himself, Chakrabarti said that he moved to San Francisco in 2009 after his college because he has “always been in love with the idea of the city”. He added that he has worked in progressive politics “for the past decade or so”.

He also worked on Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign and started a group called ‘Justice Democrats’ in 2017 which “recruited progressive candidates all across the country to run for Congress”. He is also behind Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s successful 2018 campaign for Congress and also served as her Chief of Staff in 2019.

Saikat Chakrabarti started his campaign to run for the Congress against Nancy Pelosi, who is seeking her 21st term in Congress, in February this year. Criticising Pelosi for her allegedly not adapting to the changing political landscape, Chakrabarti’s website reads, “she was a fighter who joined Congress in 1987 — but she does not understand the anti-Democratic, anti-Constitution, and anti-American forces that we are up against in 2025. And at age 85, she no longer has the strength for the current fight.”