Sunrise Movement Endorses Saikat Chakrabarti in California Primary

The Sunrise Movement endorsed Saikat Chakrabarti for Congress in a statement shared with The Intercept. Early voting is underway in California with the primary scheduled for next week. Chakrabarti is running in California's 11th Congressional District to succeed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He faces State Sen. Scott Weiner and San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, both Democrats.

Background on the Candidate Chakrabarti served as chief of staff to Rep.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after her 2018 election. He helped draft the Green New Deal resolution while in that role. After leaving Ocasio-Cortez's office, he led New Consensus, a progressive policy organization. The group released a proposal called Mission for America that calls for emissions reductions and worker protections.

Endorsements and Campaign Progressive Reps.

Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, along with former Rep. Jamal Bowman, have endorsed Chakrabarti. Justice Democrats, the group he co-founded in 2017, is also backing his campaign. Aru Shiney-Ajay, executive director of the Sunrise Movement, said in the statement that Chakrabarti has fought for the Green New Deal and working people.

The group described him as ready to confront the climate crisis and authoritarianism. Chakrabarti worked as a founding engineer at Stripe before entering politics. He has criticized Pelosi in public statements and videos during the campaign. The top two candidates in the June primary will advance to the November general election.