Nancy Pelosi soon-to-be replacement in Congress is significantly further to the left than even the longtime San Francisco congresswoman.
It raises serious concerns about the clear slide to socialism and the future of the Democratic Party.
Saikat Chakrabarti, the 39-year-old former chief of staff to socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is looking to replace Pelosi in California’s 11th Congressional District. Chakrabarti co-founded the radical leftist Justice Democrats group, managed AOC’s upset victory over 10-term incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley in 2018, and wrote the original Green New Deal resolution.
Pelosi announced in early November that she will resign her seat and not seek reelection in 2026, ending a nearly 40-year career in Congress. The longtime House Speaker will be 86 years old when her current term ends in January 2027.
But Chakrabarti launched his campaign in February, months before Pelosi’s announcement, and said he wants to run a campaign like socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“I think people want to see leadership that’s fighting the current administration,” Chakrabarti said. “This is the reason there are tens of thousands of people coming to these rallies that Bernie and AOC are doing all over the country.”
The former tech millionaire worked on Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign before co-founding Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats.
Chakrabarti has said his platform includes socialized healthcare, the government building millions of homes, and redistributing wealth. He also worked on Justice Democrats’ platform to encourage open borders, which included abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Chakrabarti left AOC’s office in August 2019 after he implied that any Democrats who voted for a secure U.S. border were pro-segregation racists, a tweet that sparked backlash from House Democratic leadership.
State Senator Scott Wiener is the other major candidate in the race. Wiener, 55, announced his campaign in October and has represented San Francisco in the state Senate since 2016.
“I’m running for Congress because San Franciscans deserve a leader who can stand up to Trump’s extremist agenda,” Wiener said. He is best known for pushing legislation to protect transgender rights.
The race has quickly become a proxy for bigger questions facing the Democratic Party as the party continues its extremist slide to the left.
And Pelosi’s successor could end up even worse than she ever was.