Saikat Chakrabarti

“I don't know if it's a uniquely American thing, but I associate it that way. People get excited by this idea of, 'Let's come together and defeat this huge enemy through innovation, by solving this crisis.' I think that's motivating and inspiring.”

“I co-managed AOC's campaign alongside Vigie Ramos Rios and also was the one that managed the launch of her initial campaign in 2017.”

“I think the Right did us a service calling Obama a socialist for eight years. It inoculated us.”

“The interesting thing about the Green New Deal is it wasn't originally a climate thing at all.”

“There's a whole pipeline for where people recruit current Hill staff from, and it's people who go through a kind of ideological training that's incorrect, I'd say, and so there's a lot of work to do, and Justice Democrats is trying to figure out where it fits.”

“It's fairly common for new members of Congress to hire their former campaign managers onto their official staff.”

“We need new leaders, period.”

“I'm not a fan of people making up lies, and I do feel I owe it to people to know what the truth is.”

“I am talking about the radical conservatives in the Democratic Party. That's who we need to counter. It's the same across any number of issues - pay-as-you-go, free college, 'Medicare for all.' These are all enormously popular in the party, but they don't pass because of the radical conservatives who are holding the party hostage.”

“Not taking corporate money is a core part of the progressive message.”

“I don't think people have to be personally racist to enable a racist system.”

“People are realizing that the winning message is the progressive message.”

“I think people more and more are tired of the party system. People want good candidates and good people to win.”

“I think Trump uses social media as a way to get to people's lowest common denominator. He uses it to incite fear. He talks about simplistic ideas.”

“People focus on the labels when they are not sure what they mean. What people call socialism these days is Eisenhower Republicanism!”

“The power of Bernie Sanders was not only in his email list. The centers of power were local groups that formed on Facebook and Reddit.”

“Obama tried to make deals with Republicans, and I don't think he realized he'd have such an insanely opposing Congress.”

“When you shoot for big stuff, you stay true to the movement. You fight unapologetically on the inside; that is a very, very powerful way to pass the radical solutions that are necessary to face the radical problems that you have.”

“Running on corporate-PAC money is a huge liability.”

“I like to show my cards and see people's reactions.”