Ro Khanna

Congressman Ro Khanna represents California’s 17th Congressional District (Silicon Valley), and is serving in his first term. Rep. Khanna sits on the House Budget and Armed Services committees and is a vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Rep. Khanna is one of just six elected officials to refuse contributions from PACs and lobbyists. He supports a 12-year term limit for Members of Congress and a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.

Rep. Khanna was born in Philadelphia, PA, to a middle-class family. Both of his parents immigrated to the United States in the 1970s from India. His father is a chemical engineer and his mother is a substitute school teacher. Rep. Khanna’s commitment to public service was inspired by his grandfather who was active in Gandhi’s independence movement.

Prior to Congress, Rep. Khanna practiced intellectual property law, taught economics at Stanford University, law at Santa Clara University, and American Jurisprudence at San Francisco State University. He wrote "Entrepreneurial Nation: Why Manufacturing is Still Key to America’s Future". Rep. Khanna served in President Barack Obama’s administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Commerce. In 2012,Governor Jerry Brown appointed him to the California Workforce Investment Board. He has also provided pro bono legal counsel to Hurricane Katrina victims with the Mississippi Center for Justice, and co-authored an amicus brief on the fair housing U.S. Supreme Court case, Mount Holly v. Mt. Holly Gardens Citizens in Action, Inc.

Rep. Khanna graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in Economics from the University of Chicago and received a law degree from Yale University.

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