The ongoing civil war for the soul of the Democratic Party has finally come for Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
The former U.S. House speaker’s San Francisco district will play host to an ideological battle next year after an aide to “Squad” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) announced his intention to run to Pelosi’s left in their party’s 2026 primary.
Saikat Chakrabarti, who propelled AOC past a longtime party incumbent during her successful 2018 campaign, is laying the groundwork to remove Pelosi, the face of a Democratic establishment that has been “paralyzed and unprepared” since President Donald Trump took office. Chakrabarti is starting at the grassroots, holding online meetings with voters as he prepares to mount a serious bid for California’s 12th Congressional District.
After serving as AOC’s chief of staff, Chakrabarti embarked on a lucrative career with stints on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley. Now a millennial millionaire, he has collected the largesse and Rolodex to fund a spirited intra-party challenge.
“I’m going to find every way I can to talk to everybody that I possibly can in San Francisco and get my message to them directly,” he explained.
Chakrabarti added that removing Pelosi won’t bring about change overnight, but releasing her iron grip on the party apparatus would be a symbolic victory for the new generation of activists.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for a lot of what Nancy Pelosi has accomplished in her time in Congress, but I just think we’re in a different era now,” he told CBS News.
A software developer by trade, Chakrabarti said he’ll hone in on economic and cost-of-living issues in a district that ranks among the most expensive in the nation. One in 10 San Franciscans live in poverty, and a single person living in Pelosi’s city is considered low-income if they make less than $105,000 annually, according to SF Gate.
“I’m not sure she realizes the level to which the average person — or even most people in this country and in San Francisco — are really feeling the squeeze of just how expensive these big essentials have gotten,” Chakrabarti described.
Chakrabarti and AOC unseated longtime Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY) in 2018, a year when the electorate’s appetite for change was far less than it is today, the nascent candidate surmised.
“If that could happen then, in that lower change environment, what could happen right now?” asked Chakrabarti.
It could be argued that Pelosi, who hasn’t faced a serious challenger since winning her seat in a 1987 special election, is unprepared for a well-funded challenger. However, despite progressives’ antipathy toward her style of governance, she has only once garnered less than 70% of the vote in that time.
Chakrabarti is hoping city residents set aside their appreciation for all Pelosi has accomplished in their minds.
“To really rebuild this party, we need a whole new generation of leaders who are committed to this kind of a vision of really going out there and first admitting that there’s a problem, which I think the party often doesn’t admit at all,” said Chakrabarti.
