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President Jimmy Carter has endorsed an Indian-American candidate whose chances of winning a seat to the U.S. Congress from California look good at this juncture.
Democrat Ro Khanna, 40, is running against District 17 incumbent Democrat Mike Honda, 75, after they won the two top spots in an open primary this June. Khanna beat Honda by nearly 2 percentage points in the primary. A recent lawsuit filed by Honda against Khanna is seen by some observers as a desperate attempt to regain lost support. In 2014, Honda defeated Khanna by 3.6 percent. A recent Survey USA poll conducted Oct. 4-7, showed Honda with 37 percent of the vote and Khanna leading with 38 percent.
“I’m excited to announce that former President Jimmy Carter has decided to support my campaign!,” Khanna said Oct. 10 on Face Book. “President Carter’s work fighting disease and advancing human rights across the world has been inspirational, and I’m deeply honored to have his backing,” said Khanna who had worked as an intern at the Carter Center when he was a 19 year old sophomore at the University of Chicago.
“I have always believed in supporting the next generation of leaders for our country. Ro Khanna is such a leader,” Carter is quoted saying in his endorsement which is posted on Khanna’s Face Book account.
Carter said he was impressed that Khanna had decided to intern with him rather than at a Wall Street firm. “Back then, his passion for human rights and economics was evident,” Carter said. He traced Khanna’s passion for human rights and public service to his grandfather Amarnath Vidyalankar who spent four years in jail in Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent movement in the 1940s.
More recently, Carter said, Khanna was “an early and public voice” against the Iraq war in 2003; that he worked with Rep. Nancy Pelosi at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to help craft the Democrats Innovation Agenda in 2006; and did “admirable work” as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for President Obama from 2009-2011.
Khanna, who teaches economics at Stanford University, had run in 2014 against Honda and lost by a small margin in the general election, impressively closing a wide 20 point lead in the few months between the 2014 primary and general election.
The Indian-American community is strong is some parts of the district, but is split between the two candidates.
Khanna’s victory over Honda this June has sent the veteran Democrat scrambling for support. This Sept. 22, Honda filed a lawsuit against Khanna and his campaign manager Brian Parvizshahi, alleging they had violated the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, accusing Parvizshahi of illegally accessing Honda campaign files containing thousands of records of donors, news reports said. Parvizshahi stepped down immediately.
Khanna’s campaign sees this as a desperate last-minute bid by Honda to secure voter support, questioning why the lawsuit was filed so close to Nov. 8, calling it an attempt to distract voters from his own record.
Hari Sevugan, Khanna’s campaign spokesman told the East Bay Times Parvizshahi had decided to step down because he “believes Mike Honda is trying to distract voters from the ongoing ethics investigation into how he sold special governmental access to his VIP donors after accepting $3 million in PAC contributions.”
Guatam Dutta, legal counsel for the Honda campaign told East Bay Times they had not filed the lawsuit earlier because “with these things you have to be very sure what happened.”
According to the Universal News Network, a judge denied Khanna’s motion for expedited discovery Sept. 29, saying “None of the discovery requested is needed in order for defendants to present their opposition.”
It is not a criminal case and Honda’s campaign says it is seeking “all available compensatory and injunctive relief” demanding Khanna’s campaign destroy or return all information it may have obtained, Theunn.com website reported.
It is doubtful the lawsuit will have any measurable effect on the election results. Before news of the lawsuit broke, the Los Angeles Times said Honda “faces a tough re-election fight” against Khanna, quoting analysts saying the incumbent was “really vulnerable.” Honda has the support of the Democratic establishment, starting from senior Senator Diane Feinstein and party leader Nancy Pelosi, to Attorney General Kamala Harris. F In Congress since 2001, Honda is perhaps facing his toughest race seeing his support melt away in the redistricted Democratic leaning District 17 which includes the heart of Silicon Valley and the cities of Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Santa Clara, Fremont, Newark, North San Jose, and Milpitas.
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