Saikat Chakrabarti, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s former chief of staff, announced recently that he will challenge Nancy Pelosi for her San Francisco congressional seat in 2026.
When the media fawns all over him as the heir apparent to the Democratic Party, The Horn News remembers that Chakrabarti has been criticized in the past for wearing pro-Nazi collaborator shirts.
“It’s become clear to me that the Democratic Party needs new leadership,” Chakrabarti said on X, announcing his challenge to Pelosi. “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.”
The announcement drew immediate attention to Chakrabarti’s tenure with Ocasio-Cortez, which ended in 2019 after a series of public controversies.
In July of that year, Chakrabarti directly criticized fellow Democrats, including Rep. Sharice Davids, over their support for emergency U.S.-Mexico border funding.
He directly accused the Democratic Party leadership of supporting racisim if they supported a secure border.
“New Southern Democrats… certainly seem hell-bent to do to black and brown people today what the old Southern Democrats did in the 40s,” Chakrabarti wrote in a now-deleted tweet.
He later added: “I don’t think people have to be personally racist to enable a racist system. And the same could even be said of the Southern Democrats. I don’t believe Sharice is a racist person, but her votes are showing her to enable a racist system.”
According to The New York Times, Chakrabarti’s criticism of moderate Democrats over the $4.59 billion emergency border funding bill “ignited a firestorm” within the party.
Most notably, Chakrabarti faced serious criticism when he appeared in a NowThis News video wearing a t-shirt featuring the portrait of Subhas Chandra Bose, an Indian nationalist leader who allied with Nazi Germany during World War II.
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that, with the help of Nazis, Bose “enlisted tens of thousands of Indian men to support the Japanese Invasion of British India in 1944 and help fight the British in Europe for Hitler.”
Take a look —
Saikat Chakrabarti… the guy who wore a tshirt of Subhas Chandra Bose, a NAZI COLLABORATOR, announces he is running for Nazi Piglosi's seat!!
I thought the left were anti-fascist? Didn't think they really were!! pic.twitter.com/J47W0sNyGL
— Karma Be Thy Name (@KarmaIsThyName) February 6, 2025
Pelosi, who will be 86 during the 2026 midterms, has filed paperwork indicating she intends to seek a 21st term representing California’s 11th Congressional District. The former House Speaker stepped down from Democratic leadership in 2022 after two decades at the party’s helm in Congress.
She still struggles to walk on her own power after undergoing emergency hip surgery following a recent fall —
NANCY PELOSI STILL RECOVERING FROM MAJOR HIP SUREGERY.pic.twitter.com/lSNTzSUNjt
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) February 7, 2025
Chakrabarti managed Ocasio-Cortez’s successful 2018 congressional campaign before joining her congressional staff. His challenge to Pelosi marks his first bid for elected office.