California representative on post-2024 election
(CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Representative Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) spoke to Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about the Democrats' approach to the 2024 election.
"We did not have a compelling enough economic vision. The Democratic Party should have one simple mission, and that is to address the economic hardships and struggles of many Americans, not just working class Americans, a large slice of Americans who feel the American Dream has slipped away for their families and their kids, and you have new voices Congress, people like Pat Ryan, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Chris Deluzio, who are saying, look, we need to have a vision on building new factories, on helping raise minimum wage, on dealing with child care, and emphasize that our party has a better economic story. I think that could unify our party, moderates and progressives. And it transcends race and will help us with Latino voters, Black voters, white working class voters, and we have a better vision than Donald Trump on that."
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.)
During the interview, Brennan and Khanna talked about Democrats focusing on social issues, with Brennan asking if "woke politics" was incredibly damaging to the left, to which Khanna responded saying:
"I have always said that we need to be emphasizing the economic issues, but I don't think we should run away for standing up for trans rights, for standing up for equal rights for people, for teaching American history responsibly. You can be true to your values with two things...One, if someone disagrees with you, we need to respect that disagreement, not cancel or shame them. Don't shy away from your convictions, but have a reasonable conversation. I did that with Megyn Kelly on a podcast on trans rights. I stuck to my position, but we had a reasonable conversation. The second thing is, if we emphasize the economic hardships people are facing, I've got $12 trillion in my district in Silicon Valley, while towns like Johnstown were hollowed out. Galesburg, Illinois were hollowed out. We can build new factories. We can build new industry. We can create new economic opportunity. We have a vision of how to do that...President Biden started it. I think we can win over people, even if they may not agree with us on a particular social issue."
Brennan and Khanna also talked about former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's statement to the New York Times, saying there should have been an open primary system and that President Biden's decision to endorse Vice President Harris immediately made it impossible. When asked if he agrees with Pelosi, Khanna said:
"I have a lot of respect for Speaker Pelosi, but I've sort of chuckled when people have said this about President Biden, because the day he got out, we had Democrats with the most over the top superlatives comparing him to George Washington, saying he did the most honorable thing. So now to go back and criticize him seems a bit contradictory. I think this was a winnable campaign. Even when he got out, Vice President Harris was five points up in some of the polls. Anyone who is saying now, this was not a winnable campaign, didn't say that back in August. The reason we didn't win, ultimately, is we didn't listen enough to people on the ground, people like Chris Deluzio, Pat Ryan, who were saying, talk about the economy, talk about people's economic struggles. Have- convince people you have the better policies and better vision. The reason I'm hopeful for the future is we have the substance. We actually- you can't build new factories just with tariffs and tax cuts. You need federal financing. We have actual investment in apprenticeships. And I think over the long run, the American people will see the truth of the policy ideas."
To watch more of Brennan's interview with Khanna, click here.
