Yesterday I got the chance to meet Saikat Chakrabarti, who’s running against Nancy Pelosi in California’s 11th congressional district. He has my vote for the following reasons:
- I agree with the vast majority of his policies, which focus on affordable housing and healthcare, building a clean economy, and ending corruption in Congress.
- He’s relatively young (39) and is thinking about what the next 30 years of democracy can look like.
- He’s not afraid to call out the complacency and cowardice in the Democratic party, and to stand up for systemic change, even if it means rocking the boat.
- He’s a flexible, nuanced thinker, who rejects false dichotomies (for example, we can expand state capacity AND make government more efficient–it’s not one or the other).
Some random observations:
- His name is pronounced “shoy-kot” (more or less), which is the Bengali pronunciation of the name.
- He’s independently wealthy from a startup (engineer #2 at Stripe). I don’t hold this against him at all, as it allows him to fund a campaign entirely free of corporate PAC money, AND he’s in favor of a wealth tax on people like himself.
- He’s approachable, down-to-earth, and has a good sense of humor.
- He’s originally from Texas.
- He campaigned for Bernie Sanders, and was AOC’s campaign manager, and later, chief of staff.
- While just as articulate and principled as Bernie and AOC, I could see Saikat being a less polarizing figure, simply because he is so personable and solutions-focused.