Indian Americans recognized for their contribution to the country at Congressman Ro Khanna’s Townhall / Ritu Marwah

Congressman Ro Khanna held a Town Hall in Sunnyvale California on Nov.9. The parking spaces outside, and the auditorium of Sunnyvale middle school, were overflowing. Respectful citizens filled the room. Their love for their Congressman palpable, their disappointment at the results of the Presidential election results hidden under a cloak of civility. They wanted answers. Why did their party lose at the polls to Donald Trump?

“If you and I went to dinner, friend to friend, how would you grade the Democratic Party,” asked a congenial gentleman to the ex lecturer of Economics, Congressman Khanna.

“C,” said the Congressman. ”We have not done enough to speak to the working class and address income inequality. Income inequality has gone from 53rd to 128th in the world. We have rising healthcare costs, rising childcare costs, rising housing costs with wages relatively stagnant and people hurting. Inequality is ripping us apart. There are many other issues tearing us apart but deeply what is polarizing America and leading to that bitterness is the sense for so many Americans that they have lost the ability to have an American dream.”

“The primary mission of the democratic party has to be to reduce this inequality of opportunity, to reduce this inequality of where there is wealth. to create good paying jobs and higher wages for people and communities left out and places left out. By doing that we can start to heal this country and have reconciliation. And the party also has to make sure we are not supporting foreign interventions and wars that are a distraction from building a community at home. We have work to do.”

 

Residents asking questions at Congressman Ro Khanna’s Townhall / Ritu Marwah

The Congressman referred to his op-ed written the day before, 

“Democrats failed to present a compelling economic vision for the working class, and we lost because of it. To come back, we must speak to the anger of families who have been shafted by our economic system and offer surgical solutions to remedy them instead of glib slogans that could have been generated by ChatGPT.”

Polls support what Congressman Khanna points at

The CNN and the NBC exit polls paint a fairly straightforward picture of blue collar hispanics voting in huge numbers  for Trump. That made the decisive difference, said panelist Professor Robert Pape, Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago at the Ethnic Media Services briefing on November 8th. 

Kelly Dittmar, Director of Research, Center for American Women and Politics, Rutgers University said the issue in the election remained economic. Reproductive rights were expected to move voters, especially women to the Democrats in larger numbers but they did not. “It's true that many voters cited abortion as one among multiple important factors in their vote choice but it was not especially distinct to women, nor did it seem to move women in ways more than the other top issues we saw, mainly the economy and democracy,”  said Dittmar. “The support for the Democratic nominee dropped among women and men. 53 percent of women vs 42 percent of men supported Harris and 45 percent of women vs 55 percent of men supported Trump.

Pledging allegiance with veterans at Congressman Ro Khanna’s Townhall / Ritu Marwah

Over 90 percent of black women voted for Harris and as in every election for the past 20 years, the majority of white women voted for the Republican candidate, she said.

Ben Jealous, Executive Director of the Sierra Club pointed out the deindustrialization of our nation for the last 30 years. 

“Since NAFTA was passed we have shut down 65,000 factories in the United States, that's one for every city and for every town in the United States. Most Americans still live at the same address. We live where there used to be a factory. And when that factory shut down, what shot up was despair, poverty, hopelessness, joblessness, opiates, meth death from homicide, death from suicide. The answer is simple. We've got to get back to the basic American formula of building an economy that lifts all boats. “

“We need a New Economic Deal,” said Congressman Khanna.

What could the Democrats have done 

An irate citizen from Cupertino asked the Congressman why aging Democrats like Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Diance Feinsten before them have to be forced out. “I wanted your reaction Ro to what just happened at the election?  We could have replaced Biden a year ago and had a real primary and had a real chance at winning this election. What kind of guarantee can you give us that there is going to be some kind of rule to prevent this from happening? An age limit perhaps like 72 or something?” 

“Glad you didn’t say 48,” joked the Congressman. He acknowledged that this election has shown that the country wants generational change. My contention is that the Vice President could have won but she did not talk enough about the economic pain in certain communities. 

“I give assurance to people who are very disappointed with the results that in one year Trump will be a lame duck and you will have a whole new group of people across the country. The generation change you want is coming!!”