diff --git a/monarch_hyperactor/src/actor.rs b/monarch_hyperactor/src/actor.rs
index 276bd0905..68066d1a0 100644
--- a/monarch_hyperactor/src/actor.rs
+++ b/monarch_hyperactor/src/actor.rs
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ impl PythonMessage {
                 id,
                 unflatten_args,
             } => {
-                let broker = BrokerId::new(local_state_broker).resolve(cx).unwrap();
+                let broker = BrokerId::new(local_state_broker).resolve(cx).await;
                 let (send, recv) = cx.open_once_port();
                 broker.send(LocalStateBrokerMessage::Get(id, send))?;
                 let state = recv.recv().await?;
diff --git a/monarch_hyperactor/src/local_state_broker.rs b/monarch_hyperactor/src/local_state_broker.rs
index 5c287f182..98b10b75b 100644
--- a/monarch_hyperactor/src/local_state_broker.rs
+++ b/monarch_hyperactor/src/local_state_broker.rs
@@ -75,9 +75,34 @@ impl BrokerId {
     pub fn new(broker_id: (String, usize)) -> Self {
         BrokerId(broker_id.0, broker_id.1)
     }
-    pub fn resolve<A: Actor>(self, cx: &Context<A>) -> Option<ActorHandle<LocalStateBrokerActor>> {
+
+    /// Resolve the broker with exponential backoff retry.
+    /// Broker creation can race with messages that will use the broker,
+    /// so we retry with exponential backoff before panicking.
+    /// A better solution would be to figure out some way to get the real broker reference threaded to the client,  but
+    /// that is more difficult to figure out right now.
+    pub async fn resolve<A: Actor>(
+        self,
+        cx: &Context<'_, A>,
+    ) -> ActorHandle<LocalStateBrokerActor> {
+        use std::time::Duration;
+
+        let broker_name = format!("{:?}", self);
         let actor_id = ActorId(cx.proc().proc_id().clone(), self.0, self.1);
         let actor_ref: ActorRef<LocalStateBrokerActor> = ActorRef::attest(actor_id);
-        actor_ref.downcast_handle(cx)
+
+        let mut delay_ms = 1;
+        loop {
+            if let Some(handle) = actor_ref.downcast_handle(cx) {
+                return handle;
+            }
+
+            if delay_ms > 8192 {
+                panic!("Failed to resolve broker {} after retries", broker_name);
+            }
+
+            tokio::time::sleep(Duration::from_millis(delay_ms)).await;
+            delay_ms *= 2;
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/monarch_tensor_worker/src/stream.rs b/monarch_tensor_worker/src/stream.rs
index f25cda1c5..d59c933c6 100644
--- a/monarch_tensor_worker/src/stream.rs
+++ b/monarch_tensor_worker/src/stream.rs
@@ -978,7 +978,7 @@ impl StreamActor {
         let x: u64 = params.seq.into();
         let message = LocalStateBrokerMessage::Set(x as usize, state);
 
-        let broker = BrokerId::new(params.broker_id).resolve(cx).unwrap();
+        let broker = BrokerId::new(params.broker_id).resolve(cx).await;
         broker
             .send(message)
             .map_err(|e| CallFunctionError::Error(e.into()))?;