Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) introduced Sunday that he’ll co-chair Rep. Barbara Lee’s marketing campaign for U.S. Senate.
Khanna, who has been urged by allies of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to think about a run on the presidency, had spent months contemplating a possible bid to succeed retiring California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, signaling shortly after Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) launched her marketing campaign in January that he would decide over the following few months.
Khanna referred to as it “an honor” to listen to from Sanders supporters and different progressives who needed him to enter the race in opposition to Lee (D-Oakland), Porter and Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), however stated, “I consider essentially the most thrilling place to advance daring and progressive coverage proper now’s within the Home.”
So he handed on a Senate run and endorsed Lee, his progressive congressional colleague.
“From the start, I’ve stated that I’d look carefully at what Barbara Lee does and that her determination would weigh closely on mine,” Khanna stated in an announcement. “She is a private hero and one of many the reason why I first ran for Congress at age 27 on an anti-war platform. Her lone vote in opposition to the warfare in Afghanistan is without doubt one of the most brave acts of contemporary time.”
Final month, a UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Research ballot co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Occasions discovered that simply 4% of registered Democrats and nonpartisan voters within the survey backed Khanna for the U.S. Senate. Even when Khanna’s supporters again Lee, their mixed help in that ballot would climb to simply 10%.
Khanna’s endorsement and position in Lee’s marketing campaign might assist her elevate extra money, although neither of them are the fundraising juggernauts that Schiff and Porter are.
In endorsing Lee, Khanna additionally stated, “Illustration issues,” noting that whereas Black ladies are the spine of the Democratic Celebration, there isn’t a single Black girl within the Senate.
“For a lot too lengthy, our nation’s establishments have did not mirror the folks,” he stated. “Constructing a multiracial, multicultural democracy is tough and we have to be keen to combat for it. I look ahead to combating alongside Barbara Lee.”
