National Democrats are still reeling from their 2024 election loss as they have not found a way to effectively come up with a coherent vision for the country or counter President Trump, who currently enjoys a modest approval rating.
The too-early polls show a wide-open race for the Democratic nomination, which is good news for Republicans in 2028, as Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, and Gavin Newsom are struggling to gauge enthusiasm. However, there is one California politician who is plotting a different way and generating excitement this summer: Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA).
Despite lacking national name recognition, the 48-year-old Congressman who represents California’s 17th district, notably Silicon Valley, is embarking on a media tour reminiscent of someone with presidential ambitions, as well as attending town halls in swing states and speaking candidly on foreign policy matters.
One of the main differences between Khanna and AOC or Kamala Harris is his ability to work with Republicans and appeal specifically to the MAGA base.
Unlike Kamala Harris, Ro Khanna is a genuine politician with a unique background. He was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, to legal immigrants from India and graduated from Yale Law School to become an intellectual property attorney before serving as an assistant secretary in the Department of Commerce under President Obama. His career in electoral politics began in 2014, when he challenged long-time incumbent Congressman Mike Honda for California’s 17th Congressional District and narrowly lost. However, he then ran against Honda again in 2016 and won.
As a Congressman, Ro Khanna identifies as a “progressive capitalist” and is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. He campaigned for Bernie Sanders in 2016 and co-chaired his 2020 presidential campaign. Despite his left-of-center politics, Khanna is a Silicon Valley Democrat and is well-versed in the tech industry, understanding the appeal of tech brothers on the right, such as Elon Musk and Peter Thiel.
This approach has sometimes put him at odds with his party as he’s not afraid to call out Democrats when they are out of line. For instance, calling President Biden’s re-election campaign a “mistake” when an open primary would have been more suitable, given his advanced age, and criticizing minority leader Chuck Schumer for the position Democrats have put themselves in.
The data indicate that Democrats lost in 2024 due to their lack of appeal and out-of-touch policy positions. Khanna believes Democrats should regain working-class voters and the best way to do that, he says, “We got to listen less to the sort of George Clooneys and Beyoncés and more to people in Lorraine and Johnstown and Milwaukee to build this party back.”
One of the main differences between Khanna and AOC or Kamala Harris is his ability to work with Republicans and appeal specifically to the MAGA base. He’s against cancel culture and a prominent defender of free speech. The Twitter Files publication revealed his efforts to stop Twitter executives from censoring the New York Post’s coverage of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, and he defended author J.K. Rowling when a San Francisco bookstore refused to sell her Harry Potter series due to her anti-transgender views. (RELATED: SF Book Banners Cast ‘Harry Potter’ Off the Shelves)
In Congress, he’s worked with Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky to prevent the executive branch from using military force without congressional approval and even praised President Trump for wanting a peace deal with Iran and supporting aid in the Gaza Strip. Despite numerous disagreements with the President’s domestic agenda, he has found common ground by introducing legislation to nullify Trump’s executive order in law, aiming to lower prescription drug costs.
As far as charm and political savviness go, Ro Khanna is not in the same league as Barack Obama or Bill Clinton. Still, he makes up for it by being a policy wonk for a middle-class economic agenda and is very well-spoken. Unlike most Democratic politicians, Khanna isn’t afraid to go on conservative media and defend his positions. His appeal to a broader audience has garnered the attention of conservative podcast host Megyn Kelly and Townhall columnist Kurt Schlichter, with whom Khanna has been a guest on both programs. His policy proposals, which focus on economic issues and working-class voters, set him apart from other Democratic politicians.
Make no mistake; Ro Khanna is still a liberal Democrat congressman from California who is for abortion rights, tax increases for the wealthy, and the Green New Deal, as well as men in women’s sports. No conservative should vote for him under any circumstances. He’s not registering in any presidential polls, even in California, but he’s smart and shaping the Democrat Party to appeal to the same voters Trump and Vance did in 2024. The Democrat Party has no runaway frontrunner, and Khanna is preparing to take hold of that mantle.
Republicans still have a deep bench of candidates, including JD Vance, Marco Rubio, Ron DeSantis, and Tom Cotton, and they will need to be prepared to counter his campaign message. The good news for Republicans is that 2028 is still a few years away, and they will remain the favorites to win as long as the country continues to perform well. In the meantime, Ro Khanna will need to work on eating corn dogs before the Iowa Caucus hits.
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