Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna announces he won't seek California Senate seat, endorses Rep. Barbara Lee
Source: CNN Politics
Washington CNN Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California announced Sunday that he wont enter the competitive Democratic primary to fill retiring Sen. Dianne Feinsteins senate seat in the Golden State, electing to endorse Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee instead.
I have concluded that despite a lot of enthusiasm from Bernie [Sanders] folks, the best place, the most exciting place, action place, fit place, for me to serve as a progressive is in the House of Representatives, Khanna told CNNs Jake Tapper on State of the Union. And Im honored to be co-chairing Barbara Lees campaign for the Senate and endorsing her today. We need a strong anti-war senator and she will play that role.
The Democratic field to fill Feinsteins seat also includes Reps. Adam Schiff and Katie Porter, who announced their bids earlier this year. Khanna had previously expressed interest in running for the vacant seat.
Lee, who announced her bid last month, is a member of the House Democratic leadership, serving as co-chair of the Democratic Steering Committee, and she was the former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/26/politics/ro-khanna-california-senate-seat-barbara-lee/index.html
Article updated.
Original article -
I have concluded that despite a lot of enthusiasm from Bernie [Sanders] folks, the best place, the most exciting place, action place, fit place, for me to serve as a progressive is in the House of Representatives, Khanna told CNNs Jake Tapper on State of the Union.
And Im honored to be co-chairing Barbara Lees campaign for the Senate and endorsing her today. We need a strong anti-war senator and she will play that role.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.

agingdem
(8,559 posts)what I do care about are Democrats taking back the House and Democrats keeping and expanding their majority in the Senate..
JohnSJ
(98,536 posts)no question anymore how important voting is
AllaN01Bear
(25,057 posts)city councel. county supervisors etc . i cant but the upcoming generation can.
AZLD4Candidate
(6,570 posts)let's see if the PA Democrats do the smart thing and back an older, female version of Big John who is just as in your face and aggressive.
Polybius
(19,885 posts)33 seats are up, 10 seats are held by Republicans, and 23 seats are held by Democrats or independents who caucus with them. Brutal.
Celerity
(49,771 posts)Indiana
Mississippi
Missouri
Nebraska
North Dakota
Utah
Wyoming
Tennessee (only remote hope is if Tim McGraw finally runs (he said for years he would once he was 50, he turned 50 in 2017), after TWICE refusing to run, in 2018 (his best chance, Marsha Blackburn was a true nob, and it was the Blue Wave year) and 2020, when BOTH years were open seats, I am still so mad at him for not running, especially in 2018)
Texas (yes, it is the asshole Ted Cruz, but it is still TX, which is nowhere near turning Blue anything soon, despite years of predictions, in 2018, even with that monster Blue Wave at his back, a very popular Beto still lost by 215,000 votes) Our chances may go up if Scott Kelly, retired astronaut and twin brother of Arizona Senator Mark Kelly runs.
Florida (the only non Deep Red, but it is trending that way, Rick Scott is a truly evil POS, but he will be very hard to defeat, and the FL Democratic Party is in bad shape atm (Hopefully the new leader, Nikki Fried sorts this ASAP). I think the 3 most likely Dems to end up running versus Scott will be Gwen Graham or Stephanie Murphy or Debbie Mucarsel-Powell)
then.............
The 2024 Dem seats that are in play or could be (some would take very unlikely scenarios to put them in play, but I am being as expansive as possible):
the following 6 are not 'safe' seats
WV (especially if Justice runs)
MT (Tester is the only Dem who can win there, but MT is now so Red, love Tester, so hope he wins)
OH (Sherrod Brown (close to my favourite Senator, wish he was 10 to 15 or so years younger (he is 70 now, would turn 80 in his first term as POTUS) and then would run for POTUS in 2028) is the only Dem who can win there, but OH is now so Red)
NV (especially if Sandoval runs, if he doesn't, then this one probably goes into the next category)
AZ (could be all sorts of chaos due to Sinema, and if Ducey runs and win the Rethug nomination, it will be even harder, I so hope Ruben Gallego wins!)
WI (most likely Dem win of these 6 (unless Sandoval doesn't run in NV), Baldwin is a strong Senator, but WI just re-elected an open traitor and Russian stooge, so I hesitate to put this in the next category)
then we have the 4 substantially more likely Dem wins, but still not 100% locks, especially if non MAGAt Rethugs run
MI
MN
PA
VA
then we have 3 states where ONLY IF super popular Rethug Govs run, then there could be a remote chance of danger
MD (only if Hogan runs)
MA (only if Baker runs, and that is extremely in doubt, as he first decided to not run for a third term as Governor in 2022, and then, 3 months ago, became the President of the NCAA, saying he is done with politics for now)
VT (only if Sanders retires and only IF the extremely popular Rethug Governor Phil Scott then runs)
and finally a wild card, but a real long shot for the Rethugs, as so many moving pieces have to break badly for us to even give them a remote chance
NJ (Menendez is underwater and now is once again under another federal corruption investigation. IF he is indicted again and goes to trial again, and IF he still insists on running, we might have a problem, if he is cleared, we win this easily IMHO)
republianmushroom
(19,827 posts)Adam Schiff the next CA Senator.
maliaSmith
(81 posts)I concur and I plan to vote for him. He's a great choice and will be a very good senator.
Rhiannon12866
(233,813 posts)Who removed him from the Intelligence Committee which he has ably led for 10 years.
womanofthehills
(9,741 posts)Im rooting for Katie!
Magoo48
(6,290 posts)Big Katie Porter fan here.