SAN FRANCISCO — Establishment Democrats in San Francisco are trying to bury Saikat Chakraborty in the race to replace Nancy Pelosi, suddenly seeing the progressive organizer as a credible competitor.
Chakraborty, a millionaire and former founding engineer of Stripe, has emerged as a top contender in the race after spending millions of his own fortune and beyond, with his strategy — not unlike that of Zohran Mamdani in New York — to harness populist energy on the left.
Now Chakraborty appears to be a force to be reckoned with who has intimidated his rivals and his supporters in San Francisco, and they are waking up to the fact that they have to attack him. Longtime power brokers in the city, including moderates and some progressive Democrats, have been working to portray Chakraborty as more of a carpet-hanger than a transformative leftist.
Chakraborty’s main opponent in the race, state Senator Scott Wiener, and a super PAC supporting him, have mounted increasing attacks on him, questioning the depth of Chakraborty’s resume in local politics and how long he has lived in the city. The super PAC is funded by many of the city’s most prolific donors, including crypto billionaire Chris Larsen and Y Combinator CEO Gary Tan.
This week, the super PAC sent a mail to Chakraborty noting that he had previously listed a $1.6 million Maryland home as his residence.
Chakraborty fired back in a social media video, calling the mailer a “liar” because he had bought a Maryland home for his parents. He told PlayBook that he unknowingly signed a 2018 mortgage deed listing the house as his main residence (and recently corrected it).
“It’s true: I moved to SF when I was 23 and I worked as an engineer,” Chakraborty. Videostated in","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://x.com/saikatc/status/2036865094471262634","_Identification": :"0000019d-3377-d592-a79d-b77fff4d0007","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-3377-d592-a79d-b77fff4d0008","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>It is said in the video. In social media posts and campaign literature, he has often repeated a similar line, stating that he moved to San Francisco in 2009 and is proud to have raised his family here.
In the years since, Chakraborty has traveled across the country. A centerpiece of his campaign is touting his prior experience as chief of staff to New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and working for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign.
Wiener argues that Chakraborty was downplaying his lack of involvement in local politics until he began pursuing Pelosi’s seat. He added, “The people of San Francisco are very discerning, and I think people can smell a fake from a mile away.”
Chakraborty’s voter file with the city shows he has not voted in San Francisco for nearly a decade. He voted once in the city in 2010, and not again until 2020. Chakraborty said he probably did not vote in those few years because he was not yet politically engaged. Another public record shows he voted in New York City in 2016, and he said he voted there again in 2018.
He also made political contributions that listed addresses in Covina (Southern California), Washington, DC, and New York City. He said the Covina address is a digital mailbox he used in 2023 and 2024 because he didn’t want to receive junk mail at home. He said the New York and DC addresses were from when he lived there for work.
Chakraborty told Playbook that he frequently travels around the country while working on various progressive issues, but he has been living in San Francisco continuously since the fall of 2019, shortly after leaving Capitol Hill following a controversial seven-month stint","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/02/aoc-staff-saikat-Chakrabarti-climate-1445478","_Identification": :"0000019d-3377-d592-a79d-b77fff4d0009","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-3377-d592-a79d-b77fff4d000a","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>Controversial seven month tenure In Ocasio-Cortez’s office.
Chakraborty said, “I have considered myself a citizen of San Francisco since that time (2009). But, of course, work and life sometimes take me out of the city.” “I have never said anything dishonest in any of my tweets or in any of my public statements on this.”
Chakraborty, who grew up in Texas and is the son of Indian immigrants, said he finds attacks on the topic “kind of nativist.” He said the ethos of San Francisco is supposed to be a city that “accepts people from other places.”
Wiener, who’s that? interrogated repeatedly","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://www.instagram.com/reels/DVtv9CyEQA_/","_Identification": :"0000019d-3377-d592-a79d-b77fff4d000b","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-3377-d592-a79d-b77fff4d000c","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>interrogated repeatedly In a social media post, Chakraborty’s Local Authenticity dismissed the allegation as a “ridiculous argument”.
Chakraborty is now trying to use the recent attacks to his advantage, claiming that the super PAC behind the Maryland postcard mailer, Abundant Future, is “funded by Trump donors, crypto billionaires, and tech CEOs.” This argument fits their effort to present Weiner as a candidate for big corporate money.
Tan, a Democratic donor who supports centrist candidates, said in a statement to Playbook: “In the more than five years that I have been actively involved in San Francisco politics, I had never heard of Saikat Chakraborty until he decided to run for Congress.” Meanwhile, Larson, who has given money to Republicans and Democrats, said the city “doesn’t need ideologues coming in from other states chasing personal ambition.”
Political professionals in San Francisco widely view the race as a choice between Chakraborty’s brand of disruptive liberalism and Wiener’s more institutional approach. The third leading candidate, Supervisor Connie Chan, has the support of major labor unions, but has struggled to raise money. His campaign said in a statement that Chakraborty “is not who he says he is.”
But it is Chakraborty who has local powerbrokers upset over his pledge to support primary challenges to top Democrats like Hakeem Jeffries. He upset many in Pelosi’s caucus by launching his campaign to oust the former House Speaker several months before her retirement announcement.","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/06/nancy-pelosi-will-not-seek-reelection-00639467","_Identification": :"0000019d-3377-d592-a79d-b77fff4e0000","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-3377-d592-a79d-b77fff4e0001","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>announced his retirement Last fall.
“There is a populist movement happening because the politicians are completely out of touch,” Chakraborty said. “I’m calling for a whole bunch of the Democratic establishment to change.”
This reporting first appeared in California Playbook.Sign up","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://www.politico.com/newsletters/californiaplaybook","_Identification": :"0000019d-3377-d592-a79d-b77fff4e0002","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-3377-d592-a79d-b77fff4e0003","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>Sign upTo receive it in your inbox every weekday.
