Ro Khanna, D-California, is a man in a hurry. On Tuesday, he was at the center of the vote to release the Epstein files, and when I saw him, on the way to his office in the Cannon Building, he asked if I could walk and talk since he had a few more stops to make.
“Of course,” I said, and we left.
I wasn’t there for Epstein. I wanted to know more about the future of his Democratic Party. So I started by asking if he and she have moved the goal of the social safety net from hand to hand.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-California, speaks at a campaign event for Zohran Mamdani in New York City on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. New York voters are showing up early in large numbers for a mayoral race that has captured the nation’s attention. (Christian Monterrosa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“That’s not my view,” Khanna said. “My vision is an FDR-like vision where we need to generate prosperity in this country. We need manufacturing and manufacturing and making things across America.”
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He pointed out that Roosevelt not only received handouts, but also helped industrialize America.
I pushed for his call for $10 a day child care for all Americans. Isn’t this, along with his Medicare for all policy, a free giant payout from the state? Once again he turned to FDR.
“It’s the New Deal,” he said. “I believe in an economic bill, in national health care. That’s what FDR believed in: universal child care. Under FDR we had war farms, you know why?”
I could have guessed it, but that was because someone had to watch Rosie the Riveter’s children build planes and tanks.
FDR and the New Deal really seem to be at the heart of Khanna’s economic vision, and while conservatives, especially the old guard, tend to hate the New Deal, they would probably take FDR from Karl Marx, who seems to be the inspiration for others in his party today.
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By the time I shifted my questions to immigration, we had reached an elevator, the only elevator the congressman took during our 25-minute journey. “The stairs are faster,” he told me.
This was a chance to take the road, where I live, to the halls of power in DC, where I only go as a reluctant tourist.
A new poll found that nearly two-thirds of Americans believe illegal immigration is a real crisis and not a media story. (Left: (Photo by David Peinado/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Right: (Photo by Curtis Means-Pool/Getty Images) Right: (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images))
“People say to me all the time, ‘The Democrats let in 20 million illegal immigrants with little to no due process, now they say every one of them has to go through due process.’ What do you say to them?”
For emphasis, I added that if you were to hear twenty million people each for an hour, the total time required would be over 2,000 years.
Khanna entered into a filibuster of sorts, telling stories about his own immigrant parents, how his mother emphasized learning English and learning our country’s history and values. And that he had won the lottery and, as an American, had to focus more on his responsibilities than his rights.
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The congressman dodged the question, but it was notable that this pride in and gratitude toward America runs counter to the rhetoric of his party’s rising socialist wing.
At this point Khanna had to duck into a meeting. He gestured for me to join in, but a polite security guard told us that my Adidas Gazelles and white sweater were not the right attire. In my defense, it’s a nice sweater.
When he came out, I took another stab at the twenty million illegal immigrant issue.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., participates in a debate, June 2, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
“You’re asking about the millions who are already here. I believe that if you have committed a crime, a violent crime, deportation is necessary after due process. But for many people who are here, providing childcare and working in the hospitality industry, or working in construction and paying taxes, I believe there should be a path to legalization.”
And there it was. They can stay.
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As the elevator door opened to the busy, bright white underground paths we had already passed through, I said to Khanna, “This is exactly what people along the way will say: ‘If the Democrats let in 20 million last time, why won’t they do it again when they get power?’
It seemed to land.
“That’s a very good point, that’s a very good question because we don’t want to lose an election,” Khanna said, suggesting that the open border was responsible for the Republican Party’s recent gains.
Two conclusions here: one is that Khanna and the Democrats think the vast majority of the twenty million Biden illegals will be allowed to stay. The other is that they may be planning to run, at least nominally, for a secure border.
As we made our circuitous route back to his office, I asked the congressman about Israel. He agreed that even a decade ago his party was much friendlier to the Jewish state.
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“What’s changed?” I asked.
He didn’t miss a beat: ‘Netanyahu’. Khanna had initially supported Bibi’s efforts to target Hamas after the October 7 massacre, but after several months felt they went too far.
If there is a silver lining for Zionists, it is that Khanna, unlike New York’s newly elected mayor and socialist wunderkind Zohran Mamdani, supports Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.
We both agreed that if President Donald Trump’s peace efforts hold, the Israel issue could soon fade into the background.
Finally, after a few minutes back in Khanna’s office, I asked him about Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who has fervently argued that his party is moving too far to the left.
“I like John,” Khanna said. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t say it. We have drinks, but I’m a progressive Democrat, so we have disagreements.”
It was then that I realized that this was the third or fourth time Khanna had called himself a “progressive Democrat,” and for the first time ever, this phrase I had known for decades had new meaning. It meant ‘not socialist’.
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This is an incredibly important distinction and will be the most important skirmish line for the soul of the party. Until about ten minutes ago, “progressive democrat” meant those furthest to the left. It included Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. and her team. Now it starts to mean: “a little to the right of the socialists.”
As the midterm elections approach, this booing in what was once the party of Jefferson and Jackson will intensify. A lean and hungry Ro Khanna races to be at the forefront of the battle.
