Saikat Chakrabarti

Endorsement: Mr. Chakrabarti’s campaign filled out an extensive questionnaire that ASATA Power submitted to his team and we wanted to highlight a few of his key positions, that align deeply with ASATA Power’s values and policy priorities.

Key Positions:

• Caste equity. Mr. Chakrabarti says he plans to submit Congressional legislation to make caste a protected category. This is a policy issue that is at the heart of ASATA Power’s origin story; and something we believe in deeply.

• Addressing growing Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism: Mr. Chakrabarti says he plans to work on dismantling the post-9/11 surveillance infrastructure - again, an issue that ASATA Power has worked on since its early days. In addition to that. Mr. Chakrabarti has a clear analysis addressing anti-Palestinian racism, says he will oppose any legislation that that uses the IHRA definition of antisemitism to target speech, and will work to protect Muslim-led organizations from federal investigations and attacks. 

• Abolishing ICE: Mr. Chakrabarti says he supports Abolishing ICE, and moving all immigration functions out of the Department of Homeland Security. This aligns deeply with ASATA Power’s values and policy priorities.

• On Palestine: Mr. Chakrabarti clearly names the genocide in Gaza as a genocide and strongly supports an arms embargo against Israel. 

• On Flock and government surveillance: Mr. Chakrabarti says he opposed Flock, and work on federal policy to put guardrails on surveillance technology.

Organizations Endorsements

• Justice Democrats

• PAL PAC

• AROC Action

• US Campaign for Palestinian Rights Action

• San Francisco Latino Democratic Club

• New American Leaders Action Fund

• Health Care for All - California

• Democrats for Palestinian Rights - Bay Area

• Patriotic Millionnaires 

• MPower Action

• Muslims United PAC

• Jamaal Bowman (former U.S. Representative)

• AROC Action, noting strong support for Palestine

• CAIR California Action Joint-Endorsement with Connie Chan

Connie Chan

Recommendation: ASATA Power also strongly supports Supervisor Connie Chan and applauds her strong, progressive track record. We encourage our community to also consider her candidacy strongly. We also recognize that a number of our key allies have co-endorsed between Supervisor Chan and Mr. Chakrabarti in this race given both candidate’s strong, progressive qualifications. 

Dr. Aisha Wahab

Endorsement: ASATA Power endorses Dr. Wahab, largely in recognition of her leadership in supporting caste equity by sponsoring California’s landmark caste equity bill - despite suffering staggering personal costs for doing so.  While no candidate is perfect, we believe Dr. Wahab will be an overall net positive to the Congressional representatives from the Bay Area. 

Key Positions:

• Caste Equity: Sponsored the landmark bill in California to make caste a protected category.

• Supporting Muslim communities: Sponsored a bill to make Eid a state holiday; has long spoken out against Islamophobia.

• Immigrant Rights: Has provided concrete support and constituent services to the large immigrant community in her district as a State Senator.

• Gaza: Dr. Wahab explicitly states that Israel’s action in Gaza amount to genocide. 

Organizations Endorsements

• Working Families Party

• AROC Action

• CAIR California Action

• Our Revolution

• SEIU

• Courage California

Matt Ortega

Recommendation: While not making an endorsement, ASATA Power recommends taking a closer look at Matt Ortega, another progressive candidate in the California-14 race. 

Key Positions: Mr. Ortega also has a strong policy platform that aligns closely with ASATA Power’s values and goals. 

Lateefah Simon

Endorsement: ASATA Power is excited to endorse the re-election campaign for Representative Simon. Since joining Congress, Representative Simon has been a staunch progressive ally, including serving as the Vice Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Key Positions:

• On Islamophobia: As the first Muslim-American representative to Congress from California, Representative Simon has deep and long roots in the community and fighting for Muslim-Amerian rights. 

• On ICE: Representative Simon says that ICE is beyond reform, has consistently voted against funding for ICE and has worked to bring accountability for the actions of ICE agents in Minnesota and beyond.

• Genocide in Gaza: Representative Simon has a been a strong advocate for Gaza, including as one of the co-sponsors of the Block the Bombs Act in Congress, and early calling for a ceasefire; and has never accepted money from AIPAC. 

Organizations Endorsements

• League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Action Fund

• California Working Families Party

• Cal Berkeley Democrats

• Bend the Arc PAC

• United Farm Workers

• AROC Action

• CAIR California Action 

Ro Khanna

Endorsement: ASATA Power endorses Congressman Ro Khanna’s re-election. In particular, we support Congressman’s Khanna position on reducing the overall budget for the Department of Defense, his strong and vocal critique of increasing right-wing Hindutva groups in the US and overseas, and his position on the genocide in Gaza. Again, while no candidate is perfect, Congressman Khanna has demonstrated a real commitment to working with ASATA Power to further a progressive vision across the Bay Area. 

Key Positions:

• On ICE: Representative Khanna has said that funding ICE is a moral test for Democrats; and has introduced legislation to hold ICE agents accountable for their actions.

• On Hindutva: Has called on all Americans to reject Hindutva.

• On Palestine: Co-sponsored the original ceasefire resolution, has called what’s happening Gaza a genocide, and has co-sponsored the Block the Bombs Act.

• On accountability: Representative Khanna also co-sponsored the bill to make the Epstein files public. As we see sexual violence - particularly against women and trans folks - continue unabated, we value elected officials working toward a measure of accountability. 

*Note: Representative Khanna has been endorsed by many key groups, including AROC Action and other close allies. However, Candidate Khanna’s campaign page does not list out all his endorsements. 

Governor

In a crowded field for governor, ASATA Power does not have a strong endorsement to make given the field candidates - none of whom reflect a true progressive vision for California. Additionally, none of the candidates responded to our survey.  We encourage our community to take a closer look at the following candidates, while acknowledging that none of them align with ASATA Power’s values and policy priorities. That being said, these candidates are more progressive than others in the race:

• Tom Steyer

• Katie Porter

• Tony Thurmond

We also encourage our community to take a look at third party candidates, including the Green Party candidate Butch Ware who has been a staunch advocate on issues around Palestine,his opposition to ICE, and a strong overall climate platform across the Green Party. While not on the ballot, voters can opt to write-in his name. 

Lt. Governor

Additionally, we recommend taking a close look at Oliver Ma for Lt. Governor. Running as a Democratic Socialist, Mr. Ma does align strongly with ASATA Power’s overall values. This include his policy position against ICE and a career defending immigrant communities, and his strong support for Palestine - including his support for the University of California systems to divest from apartheid in Palestine and from other harmful industries, and his support for a single payer health care system in California - among many other policy positions. He is also endorsed or supported by key ally and other progressive organizations.