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Why Saikat Chakrabarti lost, according to campaign strategist
A combination of the political system, a super PAC, and AOC's distance were cited as reasons for his loss.
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Jeffin T. Kaleekal - Tue, 30, Jun 2026
- 05:17 EDT
- 44
Saikat Chakrabarti and Nadia Rahman / Wikimedia commons and Nadia Rahman via X
Weeks after Saikat Chakrabarti was handed a tough loss in California's 11th Congressional District primary race, the person behind the Indian American Democrat's campaign strategy, Nadia Rahman, has come out with a detailed breakdown of why his campaign failed to translate into votes.
Rahman, the campaign's political director, came out with the analysis after the Harvard-educated software engineer, Chakrabarti, managed to secure only third place, with under 15 percent of the vote. Chakrabarti didn't make the cut after being bested by state Sen. Scott Wiener, who finished first with more than 40 percent of the vote, and San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, who finished second with close to 30 percent of the vote.
Also Read: How Indian Americans fared: California New Jersey primary takeaways
Rahman believes that Chakrabarti's campaign was undermined systemically. Spotlighting how multiple stakeholders came together to choke the campaign, she highlighted how insurgent candidates, like Chakrabarti, are targeted by "the establishment in San Francisco politics."
She said, "The establishment in San Francisco politics shuts out insurgent candidates, aligned organizations and institutions fall in line, and its symbiotic relationship with the local press makes it difficult to break through."
The second reason, according to her, was the money that was allegedly pumped in against Chakrabarti's campaign. She named and attacked Abundant Future, describing it as a "shady super PAC" that was allegedly funded by tech executives and billionaires backing state Sen. Scott Wiener.
Chakrabarti's push for meaningful change and reining in AI companies was central to his campaign. He had even accused his rival, Wiener, of watering down AI regulation laws after meeting with AI lobbyists.
Rahman said, "Saikat was attacked relentlessly by nearly $1 million in spending, mostly from Abundant Future, a shady super PAC funded by tech oligarchs and billionaires, backing Senator Scott Wiener."
The third reason she noted for the failure of her "insurgent anti-establishment congressional campaign" was the "non-endorsement of Saikat's former boss, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, coupled with the viral DropSite News social media videos from April, were a death blow to the campaign."
Rahman believes that AOC distanced herself from the campaign and that the failure to get backing from Chakrabarti's former boss also affected the campaign. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez had refused to comment on the race as recently as April 2026.
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