Ro Khanna elected for third term to represent California’s 17th Congressional District
Washington:
The victory of US President-elect Joe Biden in the popular votes and the overthrow of five states is not only a great victory for America, but also a “clear repudiation” of the xenophobia of incumbent President Donald Trump, according to an influential member of the Indo-American Congress.
Ro Khanna, 44, who was elected this month for the third consecutive term to represent California’s 17th Congressional District, which includes Silicon Valley, in the United States House of Representatives, expressed confidence that The administration of President-elect Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris is going to be a great success.
“This is a great victory for America and the Democrats,” Khanna told PTI in an interview.
Overthrowing five states against the incumbent president is a success, he said, adding that Biden received more popular votes than those received by former President Barack Obama in 2008.
Biden received 78.6 million popular votes versus Republican Trump’s 73.1 million. Obama in 2008 had 69 million popular votes.
According to the latest constituency vote tally from all 50 states, Biden has 306 of 538 constituency votes, which is well above the midpoint of 270.
Trump, who holds 232 votes in electoral colleges, challenged election results in various states, including Pennsylvania, Nevada, Michigan, Georgia and Arizona. He had called for a recount in Wisconsin.
Biden overthrew five states, including Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
“It was (the election results) a clear repudiation of Trump’s xenophobia against the vision of a multiracial, multi-ethnic America and policies aimed at helping the American working and middle class,” Khanna said.
JD (Juris Doctor) of prestigious Yale University, Khanna comfortably won the Nov. 3 election by beating another Indo-American Ritesh Tandon by a massive margin of over 42 votes.
Vice-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Khanna served as national co-chair of the 2020 Bernie Sanders presidential campaign.
The Biden-Harris administration “is going to be a big success,” he said in response to a question.
“The first thing they need to do is bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control and make sure that we have an efficient and equitable distribution of the vaccine,” he said.
“Then we need to have a bold stimulus bill that takes the pressure off Americans and helps create economic opportunities for small businesses or entrepreneurs,” he said, adding that a Democratic-majority House of Representatives will play a big role in working with the Biden-Harris administration to fight the pandemic to stimulate the economy that has been affected by the disease.
Mr Khanna said there was a need for the new administration to rebuild the alliance and join the Paris Agreement on climate change. The United States must tackle global poverty and show that it is once again a world leader who cares about the community of nations.
“And part of that is to continue to build a very strong relationship with India which is a key ally, as a democracy, is a key partner on economic issues, a key source of so much talent in this country. I will continue to be a strong supporter of US-Indian relations, ”said Mr. Khanna.
Another important issue for the new administration will be a certain sense of police and racial justice accountability, which he said played an important role in the election campaign and resulted in high turnout. Other important issues are infrastructure spending and ensuring that broadband is available in all parts of the country.
Responding to a question about Trump’s refusal to concede the election, Khanna said it was a sad situation and the president was struggling to come to terms with reality.
“At the end of the day the elections will be certified and the House and Senate will vote to affirm Joe Biden and Kamala Harris (as the next president and vice president). They will take office,” he said. .
But, Trump by such moves “makes it harder for the country to come together” and he becomes more and more polarized, which is sad and opposed to the American way of sportsmanship and concession after a loss. “But that’s no surprise,” Khanna said.
“Our task is to understand how we unite this country,” said the congressman, who is currently writing a new book “Dignity in the Digital Age”, the draft of which is being written by the winner. of Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen. The book is expected to hit the market in mid-2021.
Describing Ms Harris, 56, as a trailblazer, Khanna said he hoped the Vice President-elect, whom he had known from when she was a District Attorney, would bring with her some of California’s values in terms of clean energy and renewable energy. , need for Medicare for all, universal health care, need to forgive student loans and free public college.
Khanna, who won the award for Best Constituent Services in All of Congress, is one of the few lawmakers to regularly run for mayor.
“I am really proud of the work we have in the community. I tried to be very accessible to voters. We have a monthly town hall meeting that people enjoy, ”he said. Its congressional district is one of the most diverse in the country, including a large Native American population.
