A possible Nancy Pelosi successor who has incessantly bragged of his ties to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suffered a public humiliation after the progressive Dem darling declined to endorse him in a video interview.
Ocasio-Cortez was cornered by a reporter for Drop Website and requested about her opinion of Saikat Chabrakarti, who briefly served as her chief of workers after she was elected to Congress in 2018 and is now operating for Congress in San Francisco.
The lefty star sidestepped the query about her former high aide.
“For me, general, I’m attempting to consider the position I”m attempting to play extra broadly in these items,” she stated.
Chabrakarti, a multimillionaire lefty Democrat who was Ocasio-Cortez’s congressional aide for roughly six months earlier than resigning, has prominently featured the Bronx congresswoman in marketing campaign literature and speaking factors.
“Having labored with AOC, I can safely say she’s one in every of a sort. However I’d be honored to signify San Francisco in Congress and be part of AOC to construct a society that actually works for all,” Chakrabarti boasted in an X publish saying his marketing campaign final 12 months.
Chakrabarti, 40, struck it wealthy working for monetary tech agency Stripe and has plowed $5 million into his personal marketing campaign for retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s seat.
The Harvard-educated tech multimillionaire describes himself as a former tech director with Sen. Bernie Sanders’ failed 2016 presidential bid and “the architect of the Inexperienced New Deal.”
He labored for Ocasio-Cortez’s 2018 marketing campaign for Congress, when she defeated incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley in an upset.
Chakrabarti then joined the brand new congresswoman within the Home of Representatives — the place he shortly gained a tough popularity after instigating nasty public spats with Democratic colleagues, based on media studies on the time.
Ocasio-Cortez went on to clarify that she has a “lean” political workers within the Thursday interview.
“There are 435 seats in Congress, proper? And there may be this second the place it’s like — and never simply on this race however any race, when you go in it’s like ‘what about this one, and this one?’” she stated.
Chakrabarti is competing in opposition to state Sen. Scott Wiener, metropolis Supervisor Connie Chan and Marie Hurabiell, a lawyer and activist.
The Texas native has racked up endorsements from drag performer Peaches Christ and former congressman Jamal Bowman, who misplaced his 2024 reelection bid after pulling a hearth alarm on the Capitol, leading to a $1000 nice.
Chakarabarti additionally raised eyebrows for gushing over the polarizing far-left streamer Hasan Piker, whose racist tirades calling Asian Individuals “canine for white individuals” got here to gentle this month.
Chakrabarti didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Younger Turks host Cenk Uygur, Chakrabarti’s pal who has tried to model him as a “West Coast Zohran Mamdani,” furiously denounced Ocasio-Cortez and demanded she endorse him in a video posted Friday.
“I can’t consider she hasn’t endorsed him but,” he fumed.
