We’re thrilled to have Former AOC chief of Staff, Saikat Chakrabarti on the podcast this week! Saikat is a co-founder of Justice Democrats as well as AOC’s former chief of staff. That’s to say that he’s played a hugely important role in progressive politics over the past years and has his finger on the pulse. By his own account, he decided to run when he saw Democrats doing nothing as Trump ascended to power a second time. Now, with an authoritarian in power, Saikat is both a talented, experienced progressive activist and an observer of everything that’s failed about establishment, gerontocratic politics in California’s 11th congressional district. Unlike Pelosi, who has refused to assess how the Democrats let the people down leading up to and after the 2024 election, Saikat is ready for the Democratic Party to hold itself to account.
By his account, the way for Democrats to move forward isn’t denying that this erosion of the Democratic voter base is happening; the Dems need to confront the erosion head-on in order to win people back. In the age of Trump, and especially as Trump destroys our social support system, filling in political potholes won’t be enough. Renewing faith in our political institutions, as he suggests, will. Getting money out of politics will, too. Those are the things Saikat is interested in accomplishing in office, and we’re excited to see the rest of his campaign.
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