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Saikat Chakrabarti vows fight against corporate election funding
Chakrabarti took the Progressive Victory Pledge, backing positions on election fairness, college access, and Medicare.
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Jeffin T. Kaleekal - Wed, 25, Mar 2026
- 04:17 EDT
- 25
Saikat Chakrabarti / Wikimedia commons
U.S. congressional candidate Saikat Chakrabarti, a Democrat running in California's 11th Congressional District, has taken the Progressive Victory Pledge, aligning himself with a left-leaning push within the Democratic Party.
Launched by Progressive Victory, an online community of activists, creators, and volunteers, the pledge is taken by Democratic candidates who agree with the group’s ideals.
In his pledge, Chakrabarti expressed support for Progressive Victory policies on election integrity, decommodifying health care, and college for all.
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The pledge requires candidates to publicly affirm their participation and support at least one of the group’s 10 core policies, explaining its significance to them.
In a video announcing his pledge, Chakrabarti reiterated his opposition to the Citizens United v. FEC judgment, a landmark 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed corporations, unions, and associations to spend unlimited, undisclosed money on political advocacy under free speech protections.
“I’m taking the Progressive Victory Pledge. That means overturning Citizens United, implementing Medicare for All, and passing tuition-free public colleges and trade schools,” he said.
In a post on X, Chakrabarti said he is not accepting corporate PAC money and challenged other Democrats to take the pledge and forgo such funding, arguing “they would never take the PV Pledge.”
Several other Democratic candidates, including Washington congressional candidate Hunter Gordon and Maryland congressional candidate Ethan Wechtaluk, have also taken the pledge in the months since its introduction.
Taking the pledge grants Chakrabarti an endorsement from Progressive Victory.
In its endorsement post on X, the group said, “From co-founding @justicedems to running for Congress, @saikatc has been committed to creating a progressive mass movement powered by people and not corporations. We are proud to have endorsed him and to see him take the #PV_Pledge.”
Chakrabarti, former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former Bernie Sanders campaign tech director, is campaigning on a platform that includes new Democratic leadership, opposition to current immigration enforcement practices, and rejecting corporate and lobbyist funding.
He is gearing up for the June 2 Democratic primary.
I'm not taking any corporate PAC money, but I am taking the @progressivevictory pledge, and I challenge any corporate Democrat to do the same — spoiler alert, they won't. pic.twitter.com/uMI8cGoZqN
— Saikat Chakrabarti for Congress (@saikatc) March 24, 2026
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