San Francisco congressional candidate Saikat Chakrabarti made millions in tech, and he’s poured almost $5 million of his own wealth into the race to succeed former House speaker Nancy Pelosi.
But that didn’t stop the progressive techie — who’s been weirdly shunned by his former boss, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — from holding a rally to level vulgar attacks at the wealthy elite just a rung or two up the economic ladder.
“F–k the oligarchs,” Chakrabarti awkwardly shouted Thursday to a crowd gathered to hear him and Marxist influencer Hasan Piker speak.
Adding to the spectacle were shouts of “f–k Israel” and former New York congressman Jamaal Bowman leading chants of “f–k ICE.”
The race has highlighted divisions within local Democratic politics in the famously liberal city by the bay. Piker’s appearance was seen as a thumb in the eye of the establishment after he was condemned by the local Dem party.
Recently unearthed videos show Piker going on expletive-filled rants against Asian Americans, calling them “dogs for white people” and telling a female Vietnamese refugee to “suck my d—, old lady.” Chakrabarti also
Chakrabarti did not immediately respond to a request for comment about his actions at the event, which was held at a club in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood and comes ahead of the June 2 primary election.
Chakrabarti is facing off against state Sen. Scott Wiener, city Supervisor Connie Chan and neighborhood advocate Lori Brooke to see who will decide who will take the baton from Pelosi after four decades in office.
Federal campaign records show Chakrabarti has consistently funneled huge checks into his campaign, including two separate million-dollar contributions earlier this year.
Polling has shown Wiener, who is considered a moderate Democrat by San Francisco standards, leading the race, and his platform has traditionally focused on housing, transportation and LGBTQ+ rights as an openly gay man. Chan, meanwhile, is seen as a labor-oriented progressive and she has been unsuccessfully courting Pelosi’s endorsement.
Last month, Chan took a meeting in Pelosi’s office while in Washington, D.C. for a California Building Trades event.
Chakrabarti is further to the left than both candidates and he’s called for campaign finance reform that would prevent future candidates from independently funding campaigns with their own wealth as he’s doing.
That’s not the only disconnect in the race.
Ocasio-Cortez, better known as AOC, has been frequently cited by Chakrabarti as a model for his lefty brand of politics, but the congresswoman has ghosted her former campaign manager and chief of staff at every turn.
When recently asked by a reporter why she hasn’t endorsed Chakrabarti, AOC responded: “I’m just not commenting on it at all.”
The San Francisco Standard covered Thursday’s rally and noticed that some attendees were there more to observe than support.
“I don’t think someone with a hundred million dollars is a functioning human being on the same level as me,” said an attendee named Ryan, who declined to give his last name. “He’s not a real person.”
In an interview with the Standard, Chakrabarti — in perhaps oligarchian fashion — said there’s no limit on how much he’ll spend to win the race.
“That’s going to depend on how much is getting spent against me,” Chakrabarti said. “For me? I’m in this to win it.”
