Nancy Pelosi facing primary challenge from former chief of staff for Ocasio-Cortez

The former chief of staff to Democratic Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York has announced a bid to unseat Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California (D).

Tech entrepreneur Saikat Chakrabarti says that Pelosi, who had been voted speaker of the House twice, just isn’t meeting the demands from the American people for change in their political leadership.

‘She first got elected when I was a 1-year-old baby.’

Chakrabarti was the campaign manager for Ocasio-Cortez when she first won her seat in 2019 and shocked the Democratic Party. The firebrand socialist defeated a 10-term party loyalist who was thought to be next in line to take over for Pelosi.

Now Chakrabarti is aiming to unseat Pelosi, who has won the seat for California for 20 terms.

“She first got elected when I was a 1-year-old baby,” said Chakrabarti to CBS News.

He said that he was motivated to run for the influential Democrat’s seat when he saw her say in an interview that Democrats really hadn’t done anything wrong in the 2024 election that reinstalled President Donald Trump and handed control of the U.S. Congress to Republicans.

“For decades, both parties have been ignoring the biggest problems most people are facing,” he explained.

“For most Americans, their wages have been stagnating or barely creeping up, while the big things you use to make a life — you buy a house, childcare to raise a family, to get a good education, go to a doctor — those things have been skyrocketing,” Chakrabarti added. “And so people just feel stuck, and the result is people have been voting for change.”

He cited both Barack Obama and Donald Trump winning elections as evidence that people were desperate for change.

Chakrabarti also said that Pelosi pushed aside Ocasio-Cortez when she was seeking a greater role in the party.

The interview with Chakrabarti on CBS News can be viewed on its YouTube channel.

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