Democrats need to focus on economic hardships of Americans: Indian American Congressman Ro Khanna

Washington: Days after the defeat of Kamala Harris in the presidential elections, a top Indian American Congressman on Sunday said that the Democratic Party should focus only on addressing the economic hardships of the people.

“We need to have a vision on building new factories, on helping raise the minimum wage, on dealing with childcare, and emphasizing that our party has a better economic story," said Ro Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley in the US House of Representatives told CBS News in an interview.  “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,” Khanna said.

"I think that could unify our party, moderates and progressives. 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,” he said.

Appearing on a Sunday talk show, the first by him after the November 5 presidential elections, noted that 20-30 per cent of the people in Silicon Valley supported Donald Trump.

“They have different reasons for doing it. Some of them want more free speech. Some of them want deregulation. Some of them want tax cuts. Some of them want AI not to be regulated. Some of them were concerned about crypto,” he said.

“But I think what the Democrats need to remind folks of, and I've reminded Elon of this, is that Tesla got funding from President Obama. SpaceX got started because Ash Carter, under President Obama, helped Elon get that facility," he said.

"The Democrats are the party that has invested in the science and technology to help build Silicon Valley, and we can be the party that helps AI robotics, build new factories, build new industries in different parts of the country. When we argue policy, we have a better vision for how to get Americans prosperity in a modern economy. If we focus on that, I believe we will win back the majority and win back in 2028,” Khanna said.

Khanna was one of the key surrogates of Vice President Kamala Harris in her presidential run.

“I think she would have certainly won Michigan if there was more of a reckoning with the failures of policy on Gaza. That wasn't my point of view. That was the point of view of a lot of people I was hearing on the ground,” he said.

“I also think beyond Michigan, this was a concern for a lot of young people and a lot of progressives. Now my hope is because President Trump got some of the votes for the Muslim and Arab communities." Khanna said.

"I was just on a bipartisan CODEL in Saudi Arabia. They have said that if the President wants a deal with Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian state and a two-state solution have to be front and centre. And I hope we can work towards actually doing that after the war,” Khanna added.