Progressive Spotlight: Ro Khanna.

Instead of asking whether you’ve ever heard Rep. Ro Khanna—a progressive Democrat representing Silicon Valley in Congress—speak, perhaps the more apt question is: When haven’t you heard from him?

Khanna, who was born in Philadelphia to immigrant parents from India, has quickly become one of the most ubiquitous voices from the mainstream Democratic Party, seemingly appearing on any media platform that offers him an opportunity to share his perspective.

What’s more, Khanna isn’t one of those siloed political actors who prefer safe media spaces (ahem, Sen. Elissa Slotkin) such as MSNBC or other mainstream outlets that have traded away their journalism credentials for opportunities to be invited to the next big D.C. social gathering.

No, Khanna will take the heat—and give it—often appearing on independent platforms with hosts who have diverging political views.

Like Sen. Bernie Sanders before him, Khanna believes in not only energizing his base but bringing his message to people who wouldn’t typically hear or see his positions on their heavily curated social media feeds. And that’s good news for progressives, given how politically adept Khanna is at messaging on the policy level—yet another trait he shares with Sanders, whose 2020 presidential campaign he co-chaired.

Khanna has been especially vocal since Donald Trump’s election victory over Vice President Kamala Harris last year. He’s been particularly critical of the Democratic Party as a whole and how its failures have contributed to Trump’s rise. He’s also been among the loudest critics of Israel’s genocide in Gaza in Congress (although, to be honest, that’s not saying much). Khanna, to be sure, has been outspoken about various military interventions, including in his very early days as a member of Congress when he authored a resolution to end the brutal U.S.-backed Saudi war in Yemen.

Khanna has made himself a consistent presence in Congress since he was first elected to the House in November 2016. While he was quick to carve out space among other progressives by campaigning on such issues as Medicare for All, raising the minimum wage to $15, and preserving civil liberties and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, Khanna was on the receiving end of leftist blowback when he initially endorsed establishment Democrat Rep. Joe Crowley in his primary against upstart candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the summer of 2018. Within hours of Crowley publicizing the endorsement, Khanna—who had beaten an incumbent himself—also endorsed Ocasio-Cortez, a rocky start for a first-term congressman.

But the episode inflicted little damage on Khanna, who, along with Ocasio-Cortez, is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. He has since introduced various bills important to the left, including one that would allow states to receive federal funding to support universal healthcare such as Medicare for All; a bill that would eliminate medical debt; another that would put a tax on Big Oil profits; and most recently, legislation to lower the cost of prescription drugs.

With Khanna becoming one of the more recognizable names in Congress, there’s been a push in recent years for him to run for the Senate. However, Khanna seems to have more ambitious dreams: the White House. While he hasn’t publicly said he’d make a presidential run, the fact that Khanna is omnipresent on cable news and independent media, plus his recent multi-state tour, suggests he’s got his eyes on the Oval Office.

While Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have been barnstorming mostly GOP-held districts across the country amid their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, Khanna has quietly started making stops in swing states for a series of town halls dubbed “Benefits Over Billionaires,” including South Carolina, Nevada, and Georgia—all states Harris lost last year.

At his most recent town hall in Atlanta on Aug. 18, Khanna said the United States needs its own version of the Marshall Plan “where we’re investing in the industries of the future that hire people who grew up locally.”

“What is the Democratic mission?” he reportedly added. “I say very simply, it is to answer the inequality in this country and to provide a pathway for economic success for every community and every family in the United States of America.”

You can bet you’re going to see and hear a lot more of Khanna, be it at a town hall near you, on your favorite podcast, or your crazy uncle’s favorite Murdoch-run network.

Image Source

• Σ, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Changes were made.