Who is Saikat Chakrabarti, Indian-origin man up against Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco race?

Saikat Chakrabarti is a political advisor, left-wing activist and a Harvard-qualified software engineer.

Saikat Chakrabarti, the former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will take on House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi to represent San Francisco in Congress, he announced on X.

Saikat Chakrabarti served as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign manager and first chief of staff. (AP)

The 39-year-old Indian-origin progressive activist is setting his sights on unseating the 84-year-old Pelosi, who is seeking her 21st term in Congress.

"I’ve decided to run against Nancy Pelosi to represent San Francisco in Congress. I know some of you might be surprised that Speaker Emeritus Pelosi is running again, but she is — for her 21st term," Chakrabarti wrote on X.

Saikat Chakrabarti cited his frustration with the current Democratic leadership and their failure to adapt to the changing political landscape in the United States.

"Watching Trump and Elon freely unleash chaos in their illegal seizure of government, it’s become clear to me that the Democratic Party needs new leadership. I don’t understand how DC’s Democratic leaders are so paralyzed and unprepared for this moment after living through President Trump’s first term - and after Trump and Elon warned us exactly what they planned to do," he added in his social media post.

Saikat Chakrabarti, who has deep ties to progressive politics, referenced Pelosi’s recent remarks during an interview with journalist Ezra Klein, where the former Speaker of the House asserted that the Democratic Party does not need to change.

"In an interview with Ezra Klein after Trump’s victory, Pelosi said the Democrats don’t need to change. I disagree. When Democrats were about to appoint their star communicator — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — to chair the powerful Oversight committee to hold Trump and his cronies accountable, Pelosi personally intervened to block it," he further wrote.

Talking about his campaign, Chakrabarti said that his approach will be voter-driven rather than donation-driven.

"Now, I want to bring those solutions to Congress. I’m going to run a very different kind of campaign than most. Instead of spending hours each day doing “call time” with big money donors — I’m going to spend every day talking with voters. I know! What a radical idea," he added.

Who is Saikat Chakrabarti?

Originally from Texas, Saikat Chakrabarti is a political advisor, left-wing activist and software engineer.

A Harvard-qualified techie as per his LinkedIn profile, Chakrabarti has had a long career in progressive politics. After working on Wall Street and several startups in Silicon Valley, he became part of Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign.

He later helped launch Ocasio-Cortez’s successful 2018 congressional campaign.

Chakrabarti served as Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign manager and first chief of staff before eventually returning to San Francisco.