Nancy Pelosi has taken the gloves off in the increasingly vicious race to succeed her nearly 40-year reign representing San Francisco in Congress.
The 86-year-old took aim at Democrat Saikat Chakrabarti, a tech millionaire and former Alexandria Ocasio Cortez staffer, saying she’d never even met him during a withering radio interview in which she also took shots at a local newspaper, the San Francisco Democratic Party and even the journalist interviewing her.
Pelosi has endorsed Connie Chan, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
“I’ve never seen him at a homeless shelter, or a food bank, or an an immigration center,” Pelosi told KQED in response to a question about Chakrabarti, who was Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff for roughly seven months before exiting in a cloud of controversy.
“I’ve never seen him in our community. I don’t have any idea who he is,” she sniped.
Chakrabarti, a centimillionaire who’s poured $10 million of his own tech fortune into his primary bid for the coveted congressional seat, has faced “carpetbagger” accusations after records revealed he once listed a Maryland home as his primary address and didn’t vote in several local elections.
The 40-year-old Harvard grad insists San Francisco is his home and where he’s raising his children.
In response to questions about state Sen. Scott Wiener, Pelosi asked the interviewer: “Are you part of their campaign?”
Polls show Wiener, an establishment favorite who’s endorsed by the San Francisco Democratic Party and two local newspapers, with a commanding lead as Chan and Chakrabarti scrap for second place.
Pelosi further dismissed Wiener’s reputation as an effective legislator on state housing, transit and LGBT issues as nonsense.
“You sound like the SF Chronicle, which is totally irrelevant, along with the Examiner,” Pelosi told journalist Scott Shafer.
“What’s that?” she shot back after she was asked about Wiener’s Democratic Party endorsement.
“Spend your time with the public,” she said.
Pelosi has called Chan “a voice that will be heard,” harkening back to the slogan she used in her 1987 election to Congress.
Chakrabarti has taken shots at two-time House Speaker Pelosi before and reportedly annoyed fellow Dems on Capitol Hill during his brief time in Congress.
Ocasio-Cortez has refused to endorse him in the tight race after he relentless name-dropped her in campaign advertisements, touting his work on the Green New Deal during a tumultuous tenure as her chief of staff.
Drew Hammill, Pelosi’s former top aide, told KQED that he suspects the outgoing congresswoman “is making sure that AOC’s chief of staff is not in the top two.”
Chakrabarti did not respond to a request for comment.
The top two vote getters will advance to the November general election.
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The post Nancy Pelosi goes on rant about Democrat Saikat Chakrabarti as he runs for her San Francisco seat appeared first on New York Post.
