Who is Saikat Chakrabarti? Indian-origin millionaire challenging Nancy Pelosi in US Congress, seeking reform in Democratic Party

Saikat Chakrabarti, an Indian-origin software engineer-turned-political advisor, is running against veteran Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi in the 2026 Democratic primary for California’s 11th Congressional District. The former chief of staff to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has slammed senior Democratic leaders, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, for “failing the party” and has called for new leadership to rebuild the party.

In an interview with Zeteo on Monday (Oct 27), Chakrabarti said that he would not be supporting Hakeem Jeffries as a party leader if elected to Congress. Jeffries, a democrat congressman, is serving his seventh term in the US Congress and is the highest-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, as per his website.

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

Sharing a video from the interview on his X handle, Chakrabarti called for a complete reform of the Democratic Party. He 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.”

Who is Saikat Chakrabarti?

A Harvard University graduate in computer science, Saikat Chakrabarti moved into politics, pursuing a long career. In a video posted by him on social media, he said that he moved to San Francisco in 2009 after college because he had “always been in love with the idea of the city.” He has worked in progressive politics “for the past decade or so”.

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

Chakrabarti started his campaign for Congress in February this year, challenging Pelosi, who is seeking her 21st term in Congress. He has criticised her for not adapting to the changing political landscape. “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,” he wrote on his campaign website.