Congressman Ro Khanna, 46, is a Representative of California’s 17th District in the 117th Congress.
Congressman Khanna was elected to Congress in 2016 and is now serving his third term representing California’s 17th District, which covers communities in Silicon Valley. He is the Chair of the Oversight Subcommittee on the Environment and a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform, Agriculture, and Armed Services Committees. Khanna is also the Deputy Whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, an Assistant Whip for the Democratic Caucus, and the Democratic Vice Chair of the House Caucus on Indian Americans.
In Congress, Khanna is a progressive voice working to create good jobs and opportunities for people in the 17th district and across the country. He authored the Endless Frontier Act, which formed the basis for the sweeping CHIPS and Science bill signed into law by President Biden, to ensure that the United States remains a leader in science and technology in the 21st century and has championed a new economic patriotism to drive innovation and bring people together.
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As Chair of the House Oversight Subcommittee on the Environment, Khanna has been a leader on climate, bringing in the CEOs of six major fossil fuel companies before Congress to testify under oath about climate disinformation for the first time in history and playing a key role in negotiations around the Inflation Reduction Act. He has also helped introduce progressive legislation to establish Medicare for All, set term limits for Supreme Court Justices, and get big money out of politics.
Prior to holding elected office, Khanna was a Lecturer in the Department of Economics at Stanford University and an Adjunct Professor at Santa Clara Law School. Governor Jerry Brown appointed him to the California Workforce Development Board for the State of California, where he served as chair for the Advanced Manufacturing Committee. He also served on the Board of Directors of Planned Parenthood Mar Monte and provided pro bono legal aid to the Mississippi Center for Justice on several contractor fraud cases on behalf of Hurricane Katrina victims.
In 2009, President Obama appointed Khanna to serve as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Commerce. While there, he broke new ground organizing clean technology trade missions and expanding the Green Embassy program, which allows American clean technology firms to showcase their products in our embassies overseas. Khanna also served on the White House Business Council, working with both business and labor for policies that promote to bring back American manufacturing jobs.
Khanna’s commitment to public service is rooted in the belief that the American Dream that inspired his family should continue to inspire future generations. His grandfather participated in Gandhi’s independence movement in India, spending several years in jail for promoting human rights and his parents immigrated to the United States—coming from India to seek opportunity and a better life for their children.
He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in economics from the University of Chicago and received a law degree from Yale University. As a student at the University of Chicago, Khanna worked on the campaign of a little-known candidate for State Senate named Barack Obama. Later, he worked on Obama’s presidential campaign.
Khanna has written two books: Entrepreneurial Nation: Why Manufacturing is Still Key to America’s Future and Dignity in a Digital Age. He calls Fremont home, and he and his wife Ritu have two young children.
