Is Saikat Chakrabarti wealthier than Nancy Pelosi? Congressional candidate refutes the narrative of him being a "working class socialist"

Left-wing activist and software engineer Saikat Chakraborti has become a candidate challenging Nancy Pelosi in the 2026 United States House of Representatives elections in California. According to Business Insider, if elected, Chakraborti might be wealthier than Pelosi, who was re-elected in 2024 with more than 80% of the votes.

Chakraborti recently took to X to respond to a tweet in which the user claimed that he was a "dexamillionaire" trying to run as a "working-class socialist." The politician soon responded to the user by saying that he has always been quite open about his wealth. He wrote,

"Out of curiosity, where did you see that I’m running as a working class socialist? I’ve been very open and transparent about my wealth, and how it was part of what got me into progressive politics..."

Saikat Chakraborti further wrote that he has never claimed to be a part of the "working class." He, however, added that he has been open about his middle-class background and that his parents had lived in poverty at one point in time. The response by Chakraborti led to the user posting another tweet pointing out that while he apparently claimed to not be a socialist, he had worked for Bernie Sanders.

To this, Saikat came up with another tweet where he clarified his stance and said,

"I claimed I'm not working class. I don’t love using any labels since it lets folks like compress actual policies and ideas into a single label and caricature it..."

Exploring more about Saikat Chakraborti and Nancy Pelosi's financial status

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Nancy Pelosi's net worth would be something in the range of $250 and $270 million as of April 2025. The outlet further described her to be one of the five richest members of Congress. The factors that contributed to the massive net worth reportedly were stock trades and real estate investments.

The outlet added that Nancy's husband, Paul Pelosi, has played a significant part in them being a financially powerful couple. They also own many properties across the United States. Business Insider stated that their net worth as a couple could be anywhere between $100 and $400 million.

As far as Saikat Chakraborti's financial statements are concerned, he has reportedly gained most of his wealth by being a founding engineer at Stripe. He told Business Insider,

"After I helped build the payment processing company Stripe, I became a centimillionaire — at least on paper."

Chakraborti's financial disclosure suggests that his net worth is at least $167 million and also that he has no liabilities. Since early 2024, Chakraborti has earned at least $16 million in investment income. Saikat Chakraborti's financial stability has reportedly allowed him to self-fund his campaign as of now.

Speaking of his agenda, he told Business Insider that his agenda includes policies like Medicare for all and affordable housing for all.

According to reports by Business Insider, Saikat Chakraborti decided to run the election, citing that he believed Nancy Pelosi has been in the position for too long. As of now, Pelosi has not announced if she will be taking part in the re-election.