The man who helped Ocasio-Cortez enter Congress faces a major defeat in the race for Pelosi’s position.

Political Setback for Chakrabarti in Congressional Race

A prominent figure from the far-left has encountered a significant defeat in his latest political bid. Saikat Chakrabarti, who comes from a background in software engineering and has experience on Wall Street, previously gained notoriety for his role in supporting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during her rise in politics.

Chakrabarti was deeply involved in the presidential campaign for Senator Bernie Sanders in 2016 and later founded the Justice Democrats to advocate for more progressive positions within the party. His most notable achievement was helping Ocasio-Cortez unseat a long-standing party official in New York in 2018.

In the recent primary election for California’s 11th Congressional District—aimed at succeeding Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who is stepping down after 20 years—Chakrabarti invested substantial funds yet only garnered about 15% of the total votes. This was particularly striking given that his spending topped $9.2 million, while his closest rivals, Scott Wiener and Connie Chan, spent considerably less at $3.9 million and only $650,000, respectively.

Wiener emerged as the front-runner, receiving 41.3% of the votes, while Chan advanced with 28.6%. Despite Chakrabarti’s vast spending, he found himself excluded from the general election.

Throughout his career, he worked as Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff before becoming independent. There were controversies around him allegedly misallocating funds to her campaign through payments to her boyfriend. Although Ocasio-Cortez denied the allegations, she chose not to fully endorse Chakrabarti in his recent campaign.

When asked about her former chief of staff, she suggested the importance of considering her broader role in light of the election landscape, highlighting the complexity of political allegiances.