Stripe Engineer Running to Replace Pelosi May Be Wealthier Than Her

This text has been up to date in gentle of Pelosi’s announcement that she is not going to search reelection. It was first printed in August 2025.

Nancy Pelosi is among the wealthiest members of Congress. One of many individuals operating to succeed her could also be even richer.

Saikat Chakrabarti, a progressive activist who’s operating in subsequent yr’s Democratic major, is value no less than $167 million — and presumably way over that.

If elected, he could be one of many wealthiest members of Congress.

Pelosi and her husband, in the meantime, personal belongings value someplace between $100 million and $422 million.

Chakrabarti is greatest recognized in politics for serving because the marketing campaign supervisor and first chief of workers for Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Years earlier than that, he was a founding engineer at Stripe, which is how he turned rich.

“After I helped construct the cost processing firm Stripe, I turned a centimillionaire — no less than on paper,” Chakrabarti informed Enterprise Insider in an e mail. “It was a stunning and bizarre expertise, and naturally, I really feel extremely fortunate. But it surely’s additionally given me a window into how wealth inequality works in America and simply how unfair it’s.”

Chakrabarti launched his congressional marketing campaign earlier this yr, operating on a progressive platform whereas arguing that Pelosi has been in workplace for too lengthy and is not in a position to combat for Democrats.

Pelosi, 85, introduced in November that she wouldn’t search reelection in 2026. She has been in workplace since 1987.

Chakrabarti is now one among a number of candidates hoping to succeed her.

Chakrabarti and Pelosi each personal greater than $100 million value of belongings

Chakrabarti, Pelosi and every other candidates who select to run are required to file monetary disclosures that embody details about their belongings, sources of earnings, and any liabilities.

As an incumbent member of Congress, Pelosi’s disclosure covers simply 2024. As a result of he is a candidate, Chakrabarti’s disclosure covers all the things from the start of 2024 till July 2025.

Lawmakers and candidates are typically not required to reveal actual greenback quantities for his or her belongings and liabilities, and solely have to offer worth ranges for every.

Pelosi and her husband personal belongings value between $100 million and $422 million. In addition they have a wide range of liabilities, largely mortgages, of between $36.5 million and $106 million.

A lot of the Pelosis’ wealth is sure up in actual property and inventory in varied tech firms. In 2024, Paul Pelosi owned between $25 million and $50 million in Apple inventory, plus between $5 million and $25 million in inventory every in Alphabet, Salesforce, NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Amazon.

Chakrabarti’s disclosure signifies that he is value no less than $167 million and doesn’t have any liabilities. However in contrast to with the Pelosis, it is troublesome to know what the utmost worth of his belongings is.

That is as a result of the majority of his wealth comes from fairness in Stripe and a Constancy funding fund that primarily holds US authorities securities. In each instances, Chakrabarti was solely required to say that every asset is value greater than $50 million.

Chakrabarti didn’t present a extra exact quantity when requested by Enterprise Insider, and Stripe didn’t reply to a request for remark in August in regards to the dimension of Chakrabarti’s stake within the firm.

Except for these two belongings, a lot of his wealth is held throughout scores of different funding funds. He has earned no less than $16 million in funding earnings for the reason that starting of 2024, whereas the Pelosis earned no less than $8.9 million in 2024 from funding and rental earnings.

An uncommon progressive candidate

Chakrabarti’s standing as a centimillionaire units him other than different progressive politicians.

The wealthiest Democrats in Congress have a tendency to not be members of the social gathering’s furthest left flank, and a few of the social gathering’s most outstanding progressives have a tendency to return from extra modest means.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Chakrabarti’s one-time boss, not too long ago disclosed proudly owning someplace between $17,000 and $81,000 in belongings, together with as much as $50,000 in scholar mortgage debt.

Chakrabarti’s wealth has allowed him to largely self-fund his marketing campaign thus far. The newest publicly out there Federal Election Fee information present that 75% of the cash in his marketing campaign account has come from private loans he is made to the marketing campaign.

He informed Enterprise Insider that whereas he labored “onerous” at Stripe, he didn’t work more durable than lecturers or nurses, and that the American economic system should not “be organized as a winner-take-all battle for survival.”

“A society that works like that, the place you both hit the lottery and get wealthy otherwise you’ll by no means be capable to afford a home or a safe retirement, is loopy. And except we alter it, America is doomed to fail,” Chakrabarti mentioned. “That is an enormous purpose I am combating for insurance policies like Medicare-for-all, inexpensive housing for all, common childcare, a Mission for America to create hundreds of thousands of high-wage jobs, and a wealth tax on billionaires and centimillionaires.”

A doubtlessly crowded major discipline

Chakrabarti is not the one candidate operating for Pelosi’s seat.

State Sen. Scott Weiner introduced his personal marketing campaign for the seat in October, earlier than Pelosi introduced her retirement. He’s a outstanding housing coverage voice and was the writer of an AI safety bill that brought about divisions in Silicon Valley final yr.

Connie Chan, a member of the San Francisco board of supervisors, launched her marketing campaign in November. In her launch video, she appeared to make a refined dig at Chakrabarti, saying she “did not make cash in tech.”

One one who’s not operating: Pelosi’s daughter Christine, who had lengthy been seen as a possible successor to her mom.

The youthful Pelosi introduced that she would as an alternative run for the state Senate seat at present held by Weiner.