Chakrabarti Eliminated in CA-11 Primary; Wiener, Chan Advance

Saikat Chakrabarti, a founding engineer at Stripe, was eliminated from the race to represent California’s 11th Congressional District after Tuesday’s primary. Scott Wiener and Connie Chan advanced to the November general election. With about half the ballots tallied, Chakrabarti had roughly 15% of the vote.

Chakrabarti invested close to $10 million of his own money in the campaign. He left Stripe in 2013 and later served as chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He ran as a progressive, pressing for a ban on congressional stock trading and voicing support for central bank digital currencies. He criticized “tech oligarchs and crypto billionaires who oppose our agenda.”

Outside groups and donors intervened in the race. Abundant Future, a political action committee formed late last year, spent about $65,200 in opposition to Chakrabarti. Federal Election Commission records show Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen gave $100,000 to that PAC and $7,000 directly to Wiener’s campaign. Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan gave $25,000 to Abundant Future and investor Jeremy Liew contributed $20,000.

The contest drew attention from crypto industry political efforts. A pro-crypto political action committee supported by major industry players reported more than $20 million in backing for a slate of congressional candidates and said several preferred candidates won their primaries. Records show large crypto-related contributions this cycle, including an $11 million donation in XRP from Larsen to a Democratic-aligned PAC and a later $5 million XRP gift from Ripple to a presidential inaugural fund.

Campaign finance filings and disclosures show a mix of direct donations to candidates and spending by affiliated PACs in the district. Those filings list individual and group contributions that affected spending on advertising and outreach during the primary.

Election tallies are still being finalized and official results will be certified in the coming weeks.