Khanna secured 62.3% of the vote in the primary elections and advanced to the general election. Indian American Congressman Ro Khanna is back in the headlines as he seeks re-election to represent California ’s 17th Congressional District in the US House of Representatives . A member of the Democratic Party, he will be competing against another Indian American, Ritesh Tandon. He is one of the most notable political figures who pushed for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Khanna was elected to the US House of Representatives in 2016 and took office in January 2017. He also co-authored a bill that shaped the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. In 2025, he joined Republican Congressman Thomas Massie and introduced a bipartisan War Powers Resolution, in order to prevent unauthorized US military action against Iran. His financial disclosures showed that his household made nearly $53 million in stock purchases and sales in 2021.
Because he supported a ban on Congress members trading individual stocks, khanna also faced criticism for stock trading in his household, mainly.
His office said that Khanna didn’t trade stocks personally and that his investments were managed by an outside adviser. He has represented California’s 17th Congressional District, which includes parts of Silicon Valley as well. Before entering Congress, he served as deputy assistant secretary of commerce under former President Barack Obama . His campaign fiercely focuses on reducing living costs, expanding healthcare access and making education more affordable. He supports Medicare for All, a proposal to provide health coverage to all Americans. He has also backed affordable housing, childcare assistance and measures to reduce prescription drug costs. He believes that working families need more financial security and an increased access to basic services. Khanna has also called for stronger protection of workers and supports the labor unions. He is a staunch supporter of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which aims to make it easier for workers to form unions and negotiate with employers. During his time in Congress, Khanna worked on environmental issues and public health. As chair of the House Oversight Subcommittee on the Environment, he led hearings on the fossil fuel industry’s role in climate change . He questioned the CEOs of six major fossil fuel companies about allegations of climate disinformation. He has also supported clean energy investments and stronger environmental protections. Additionally, he called for a ban on congressional stock trading and urged to limit the donations from political action committees. In addition to that, he advocated to expand the student loan forgiveness program, arguing that education costs should not place a financial burden on students. As the son of Indian immigrants himself, Ro Khanna has supported immigration reform and believes that eligible immigrants should have a legal pathway to citizenship. He has called for reforms to the asylum system, while demanding greater accountability from federal authorities. On the H-1B visa program, Khanna has called for safeguards to prevent companies from underpaying foreign workers or using the program to replace American employees. He has criticized the Trump administration for deporting immigrant families and children and has urged to abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Khanna has opposed the US-Iran war , arguing that military action should not continue without congressional approval. He continues to argue that the president’s authority to wage a war without approval should be limited. He believes that this conflict has increased costs for American families and placed a financial burden on them. The transactions were made through his wife’s investment portfolio. Khanna continued to support a ban on stock trading by Congress members.
Ro Khanna was the fourth richest Californian in Congress as of 2018, according to a report by San Jose Inside . His household’s assets ranged from $69.2 million to more than $166.7 million, according to his latest financial disclosure . As Ro Khanna seeks another term in Congress, his record on healthcare, jobs, artificial intelligence and foreign policy will remain central to his campaign, where he will be facing fellow Indian American Ritesh Tandon.
