Chakrabarti has taken a page from that campaign: He now runs one of the largest paid canvasser operations in San Francisco history, with over 250 paid canvassers, including two dozen who speak Cantonese, according to the campaign.<\/p>\n
By contrast, the other leading candidates, Sen. Scott Wiener and Supervisor Connie Chan say they have no paid staff whose sole job is canvassing, with this work largely undertaken by volunteers.<\/p>\n
Both Lurie and Chakrabarti kicked off their campaigns with low name recognition, and are largely free from the constraints of endorsements \u2014 unshackled by meeting the expectations<\/a> of those who endorsed them. They even share the same headquarters at 800 Irving St.<\/a>, and Chakrabarti voted for Lurie<\/a> in 2024.<\/p>\n Also reminiscent of Lurie\u2019s campaign: There seems to be no ceiling for centimillionaire<\/a> Chakrabarti, whose largely self-funded effort stands at $1.77 million as of Dec. 31, 2025, including $1.47 million of loans to himself. (The next campaign finance filing deadline is April 15.) He is now spending tens of thousands of dollars every week on ads alone.<\/p>\n Chakrabarti\u2019s numbers game<\/p>\n Eager to do a lot of walking? Do you speak Cantonese? Chakrabarti\u2019s campaign is hiring and paying $45 an hour. \u201cIf I spoke Cantonese, I\u2019d go walk a precinct with this guy,\u201d political consultant Jim Ross said.<\/p>\n His English-speaking canvassers make between $30 and $35, also higher than the typical $25 to $30 range in San Francisco campaigns, according to political consultant James Stearns.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is no different than tech companies outpaying each other for tech workers,\u201d said Thomas Li, president of the Edwin M. Lee Asian Pacific Democratic Club. Li led the Asian and Pacific Islander outreach for former mayor Ed Lee\u2019s 2011 campaign. \u201cThere\u2019s a limited supply of talent and you really want the best to build your team.\u201d<\/p>\n The toughest soldiers are those who have worked previous campaigns, and still commit to the grueling work. They have thick skin and don\u2019t mind having doors slammed in their faces or being yelled at when they approach voters, Li said.<\/p>\n One of Chakrabarti\u2019s two Cantonese field organizers, Albert Lam, echoes the point. \u201cIt\u2019s a very niche supply,\u201d said the 23-year-old, a UCLA graduate with an economics BA. With the high hourly wage, \u201cit\u2019s not hard to find motivated people,\u201d said Lam.\u00a0<\/p>\n But he needs more: workers who really resonate with Chakrabarti\u2019s platform, and are willing to see things from voters\u2019 perspective.<\/p>\n Culture is a challenge. Team Chakrabarti needs to find people from the Chinese American community \u2014 one that often feels unheard \u2014 who care about politics, believe the government can work better for voters and are passionate enough to walk around to talk about it, said Lam.<\/p>\n The campaign gathered its soldiers through the job search website Indeed, paper posters and, most importantly, word of mouth (the pay is irresistibly good). Some canvassers still quit after walking up too many hills, but those who stay include troopers who have deep community ties, including some multilinguals who speak not only Cantonese and English, but also Mandarin, Toisanese and Spanish.<\/p>\n \u201cThe core of Lurie\u2019s strategy was recognizing the Chinese vote was important and important enough to invest heavily into,\u201d said Jeremy Lee, president of the Rose Pak Asian American Club. \u201cSaikat is doing that strategy as well, given that he\u2019s paying top dollar for canvassers who very well might not be good.\u201d Chinese-American voters account for more than one-sixth<\/a> of the electorate.<\/p>\n The rule of thumb with canvassers is that they can reach between six and 12 people an hour, according to political consultant Ross. That means that with over 200 dedicated canvassers \u2014\u00a0a historical number in city political history \u2014\u00a0it\u2019s possible to saturate a mid-sized city like San Francisco with door knockers at least once in the two months leading up to the June primary.<\/p>\n Chakrabarti\u2019s paid canvassers usually work 3 to 8 p.m. on weekdays<\/a> and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. The over 250 paid canvassers \u2014 a growing number, and there are also a legion of volunteer canvassers \u2014 are technically able to cover all the 446,000 voters in California\u2019s 11th congressional district. But that still doesn\u2019t mean Chakrabarti is locked in for a top-two spot in the June primary.<\/p>\n \u201cBasically what he\u2019s buying is a couple percentage points,\u201d said Ross, because many of those canvassers\u2019 attempts will be met with empty homes, voters who completely disregard this election, and voters who\u2019ve already decided to support other candidates. Even in the most professionally managed teams, there\u2019ll be canvassers who \u201cgo to a coffee shop and read a book\u201d during work hours, Ross added.<\/p>\n But it could be worthwhile, since only the top two finishers advance to November\u2019s general election. The race for second place in June may come down to as few as a couple thousand, or even a couple hundred, votes.<\/p>\n Different approaches from Wiener and Chan<\/p>\n Paying 250 canvassers top-dollar is a luxury the other two leading candidates, Wiener and Chan, don\u2019t have. They\u2019re running campaigns with far fewer paid canvassers, if any, both due to less cash on hand and different strategies.<\/p>\n Canvassing isn\u2019t as valuable for Wiener and Chan as for Chakrabarti \u2014 both already have decent name recognition in San Francisco, and many voters have already formed opinions about them. Chan is also hamstrung by having raised less than $200,000 by the end of 2025, compared to $2.8 million for Wiener and $1.8 million for Chakrabarti. Wiener also needs to set aside a significant portion of his war chest for the general election \u2014 he will all but certainly be in the top-two spot in June.<\/p>\n Chan\u2019s campaign currently has no paid canvassers, according to campaign spokesperson Julie Edwards. But with the support of organized labor, various political groups and Asian community groups, more than 100 volunteers have canvassed and phonebanked for Chan since February, Edwards said.<\/p>\n Chan and Wiener are able to \u201ctap into those deep networks to have people that have actually gained from what they\u2019ve done for them,\u201d said Eric Kingsbury, manager of former mayor London Breed\u2019s 2024 campaign. People like that, Kingsbury continued, can be more persuasive than paid canvassers because they are undoubtedly passionate about the candidate and can share firsthand examples of how the candidates have changed their lives.<\/p>\n Kingsbury, for example, said that a paid Chakrabarti canvasser showed up at his door, reading off a script but demonstrating little understanding of the talking points.<\/p>\n For Wiener\u2019s campaign, around 15 salaried field staffers coordinate about 40 volunteers every week and join them on canvassing runs, according to spokesperson Joe Arellano. Given Wiener\u2019s high name recognition \u2014 he has won three citywide races and has held elective office since 2011 \u2014 common campaign tactics like putting up window signs no longer carry the same weight.\u00a0<\/p>\n The campaign is \u201cmore about reminding voters and refreshing their memory about everything he\u2019s done for San Francisco, and less about introducing him,\u201d said Arellano.<\/p>\n And, Arellano said, Chakrabarti\u2019s campaign is not the only one that\u2019s learned from the most recent mayoral race.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the lessons from 2024 is that the public doesn\u2019t view wealthy candidates negatively if they have real connections to San Francisco \u2014 the way Mayor Lurie does with Tipping Point and Levi\u2019s,\u201d Arellano said. \u201cThat gives candidates with money the ability to spread their message far and wide, with the potential to catch fire and go on to victory.\u201d<\/p>\n In other words: You can\u2019t allow a campaign loaded with cash to spread its message unimpeded. With that in mind, Wiener\u2018s campaign recently began targeting Chakrabarti, labeling him as a rich guy<\/a> trying to buy San Francisco\u2019s seat. A tech-funded PAC has done the same<\/a>, cutting ads describing Chakrabarti as an outsider from Maryland.<\/p>\n Chakrabarti\u2019s campaign has fired back, describing Wiener as a politician \u201cwho will do anything<\/a> just to build a political career.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_5987-854x640.jpg\")
Congressional candidate Saikat Chakrabarti poses for a picture at a cafe close to Duboce Triangle on Feb. 25, 2026. Photo by Yujie Zhou. <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_9582-853x640.jpg\")
A gathering of roughly four dozen Saikat Chakrabarti canvassers in the Richmond on March 19, 2026. Photo by Nicholas David.<\/p>\n