Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota has endorsed Saikat Chakrabarti in the hotly contested Democratic primary race to succeed Nancy Pelosi in California’s 11th Congressional District, making her the second member of the Squad to back the progressive tech millionaire ahead of the June 2 vote.
Chakrabarti, who served as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff in 2019 and was a co-founder of Justice Democrats, has emerged as the most nationally recognised candidate in a field competing for one of the most storied seats in American political history.
Omar said in her endorsement statement that she has known Chakrabarti for years and believes he has the integrity and courage the current political moment demands.
She described him as the only candidate in the race not beholden to corporations, the Israel lobby, or careerism, and expressed confidence he would fight for Medicare for All and removing big money from politics.
Chakrabarti responded by saying he first met Omar at a time when President Trump was attacking her personally on a daily basis and that he never once saw her flinch.
The endorsement follows one from Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who threw her support behind Chakrabarti earlier in the same week, meaning two of the four original Squad members are now formally behind his candidacy.
The most conspicuous absence from Chakrabarti’s endorsement list remains Ocasio-Cortez herself, whose backing is widely seen as the prize that could reshape the race given her ideological alignment with Chakrabarti and their shared history.
Chakrabarti served as Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign manager when she won her landmark 2018 primary upset, and the two were closely identified with one another before he left her staff the following year.
Mission Local reported this week that Chakrabarti’s campaign has now raised more than $10 million, with the majority coming from his own personal fortune accumulated through his time as an early employee at payment processing firm Stripe.
California’s top-two primary system means the two candidates with the most votes on June 2 advance to November regardless of party, making the primary an unusually open contest in a district that leans heavily Democratic.
