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Saikat Chakrabarti vows to continue fight after primary loss
The former AOC chief of staff finished third in the race to succeed Nancy Pelosi, trailing the two candidates who advanced to the November runoff.
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Malvika Choudhary - Thu, 04, Jun 2026
- 14:40 EDT
- 31
Saikat Chakrabarti / @saikatc
Democrat Saikat Chakrabarti conceded defeat in California's 11th Congressional District primary race, thanking supporters for their efforts and pledging to continue his political activism despite failing to advance to the general election.
In a video message released after the results were announced, Chakrabarti said he had called San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan and State Sen. Scott Wiener to congratulate them on advancing beyond the primary.
Also Read: How Indian Americans fared: California New Jersey primary takeaways
"I know the election results did not go the way that we would have hoped," he said. "So first off, I just want to say to everyone who put your time, your blood, your sweat and tears into this campaign, thank you, and I'm sorry."
The campaign has ended, but the mission remains. We must wrest control of our country away from the corporations and back into the hands of people. And the only force capable of doing that is a movement of people unlike any we have seen in generations. Thank you to everyone who… pic.twitter.com/P1yDPz4Aie
— Saikat Chakrabarti for Congress (@saikatc) June 4, 2026
Chakrabarti said he had wanted to win "more than anything" for his supporters and for San Francisco, but stressed that he did not regret entering the race.
"But I'm not sorry that we did this. Not for one second," he said. "Because on this campaign, we built something truly incredible."
The progressive Democrat said his campaign faced significant opposition from what he described as the political establishment and outside spending groups.
Chakrabarti claimed that multiple super PACs backed by AI and crypto billionaires and pro-Israel interests spent heavily in the race, alleging that opponents and allied groups spent about $7 million, including roughly $1 million on advertisements attacking his campaign.
"Unfortunately, those attacks worked," he said, adding that his campaign's polling numbers declined after weeks of negative advertising.
Despite the loss, Chakrabarti said the reasons that prompted him to run remain unchanged.
"To defeat not just Trump, but the reason Trump is in office, we have to fundamentally deliver a better life for all," he said. "And to do that, we have to wrest control of the Democratic Party away from the corporations and put it back in the hands of people."
He described the campaign as part of a broader effort to build a grassroots movement and said thousands of volunteers had participated in what he called "the largest field operation in San Francisco history."
Chakrabarti thanked supporters and said the campaign had introduced many young people to politics for the first time.
"The campaign has ended, but the mission remains," he wrote. "We must wrest control of our country away from the corporations and back into the hands of people. And the only force capable of doing that is a movement of people unlike any we have seen in generations."
According to preliminary election results, Wiener led the field with 41.3 percent of the vote, followed by Chan with 28.6 percent. Chakrabarti finished third with 14.9 percent, falling nearly 14 percentage points behind Chan and missing a place in the November general election under California's top-two primary system.
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