Mar 30, 2026

Justice Democrats (JD) is endorsing two new candidates on Monday, throwing its weight behind Saikat Chakrabarty in San Francisco and Adam Hamawy in New Jersey. Both candidates, for their own reasons, threaten to have outsized importance if they make it to Congress, and both are running in open seats vacating by a retiring Democrat.

Chakrabarti was himself a co-founder of JD and went on to be the first chief of staff to [AOC]. Chakrabarti was driven out of Washington by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who objected to his hard-charging approach, which had included helping to organize an occupation of Pelosi’s office during freshman orientation.

Chakrabarti being thrown out of Washington by Pelosi for being too aggressive as a chief of staff and returning as a member of Congress replacing Pelosi would rattle the lower chamber in a major way. Chakrabarti is also unusual among Democrats in presenting a full-spectrum populist economic agenda that goes far beyond checking the boxes of Medicare for All and the Green New Deal.