Ahead of his visit to Republican stronghold South Carolina, U.S. Representative Ro Khanna spoke with Newsweek on the battle plan for Democrats to compete in pro-Trump districts in next year’s midterms.
Khanna, a California Democrat, is heading to the Palmetto State as part of his “Benefits Over Billionaires” tour in hopes of engaging with the state’s voters on key issues ahead of the midterms. He will focus on policy issues—like Medicaid cuts—emerging from President Donald Trump‘s One Big Beautiful Bill Act and how they will affect the state, he told Newsweek.
South Carolina isn’t ordinarily a competitive state—it backed Trump by 18 points in November—but Democrats are eyeing U.S. Representative Nancy Mace‘s seat, whose district favored Trump by a narrower 13 points, as a potential pickup if the national environment is strong enough for the party.
His visit to the state has also fueled speculation that he could run for president in 2028, though Khanna has not announced he’s interested in a bid for the White House. South Carolina is an early-voting state in the Democratic presidential primary, so other potential candidates like California Governor Gavin Newsom are also heading there.
Khanna said that at the moment, he is more focused on helping Democrats win back control of Congress in November of next year than the 2028 election.
“Right now, the focus has to be how do we win 30, 40 seats back in the House,” he said. “We have a lot of momentum.”
Historically, the party in the White House loses seats in the midterms, and some polls already show Democrats with an early lead on the generic ballot. Democrats are hopeful about competing in more traditionally conservative seats, like South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, held by Mace—but still divided on the message to win over right-leaning voters.
Khanna explained how he believes Democrats can do just that next year.
Khanna Calls for ‘New Economic Patriotism’
Democrats’ path to winning these seats runs through emphasizing economic issues like health care and plans to increase wages, Khanna said.
“Their party wants to take health care away from working class families. We want to expand health care to make sure every working family has health care, and they don’t have these outrageous premiums and deductibles,” he said. “Their party wants tax breaks for billionaires in Silicon Valley. Our party wants to give ordinary workers a raise by raising the living wage.”
He also pointed to policies like ensuring parents can get child care for $10 per day, investing in trade schools and establishing artificial intelligence (AI) academies “so people can have access to digital jobs,” as a path to garner support from independent voters and moderate Republicans in these districts.
“I call this a new economic patriotism, an economic message that actually centers on the working class in this country,” he said.
While in South Carolina, Khanna said, he will home in on the “devastating trillion dollar Medicaid cut” and how it will impact rural hospitals, health care services and raise rates for those in the state. He said he will also discuss his championing of Medicare for All, adding, “we should, in this country, have healthcare from the day we are born.”
The tour has brought him to states like Wisconsin, New Jersey and Nebraska, he said. In South Carolina, Khanna wants to “hear from the African American community on an economic agenda.”
He also plans to focus on how the tech industry can bring jobs to the Black South to ensure the Black community has access to economic security with high-paying jobs—whether through having access to venture capital, the availability of trade schools or opportunities to enter new industries like AI or cryptocurrency.
“How can we have venture capital there? How can we have new technology jobs there? How can we have AI jobs there,” he said. “How can we build economic wealth in those communities and the economic future.”
Trump’s Epstein Backlash Gives Democrats ‘Populist’ Opportunity, Khanna Says
The Trump administration’s approach to the files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which has created a storm of backlash, including from some of the president’s most ardent supporters, could give Democrats a chance to recast themselves as the more “populist party,” according to Khanna.
On the campaign trail, Trump suggested he would release documents related to Epstein, the financier who was arrested in July 2019 on charges of sex trafficking and died by suicide in a New York federal jail a month later while awaiting trial. There have long been rumors of an Epstein “client list,” and Epstein’s former girlfriend and associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, was sentenced in 2022 for aiding Epstein in the trafficking of minors and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
However, a recent memo from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI said there was no “client list” and that no further charges would be brought. Trump has also called on his supporters to move past what he now describes as the “Jeffrey Epstein Hoax.”
The backlash “speaks to a populism and anger and elites who have rigged the game to hurt working class and middle class families while accumulating a lot of power and wealth,” Khanna said.
“It gives the Democrats an opportunity to be the populist party, to breathe new life into the populism in a Democratic Party that had become too identified with a lethargic status quo. We can have a new energetic, independent populism,” he said. “And that, I think, will allow the Democrats to win elections again.”
House Republicans voted against an effort introduced by Khanna this week that would have required the DOJ to release the Epstein files within 30 days. Khanna said he and U.S. Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, plan to introduce a bill on the matter, and a vote could be held in September, he said.
Trump is “underestimating the anger people have” over Epstein, Khanna added.
“This is about rich and powerful men who are connected to the highest levels of government here and possibly overseas, who engage in the abuse and assault of young girls. And they’re being treated with impunity, and they’re telling you about a core rottenness in our political system. And people want that to be exposed,” Khanna said.
“Sunlight is the best thing we can do to restore people’s trust in government, to restore the sense that government is there for the people, not for rich and powerful elites.”
Trump ‘Betrayed’ Voters With Iran Strikes, Khanna Says
The Epstein investigation isn’t the only instance in which Khanna believes Trump betrayed voters. He also pointed to the president’s strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites last month as an example of Trump defying his base after pledging no new wars along the campaign trail.
Khanna said these moves by Trump allow Democrats a chance to cast themselves as the more populist party.
“I think that the president betrayed his promise to his base by getting into a war with Iran and Massie and I put the war powers resolution that pressured him not to have a regime change war, but many Americans did not want more of our billions of dollars going into the Middle East,” he said.
That resolution invokes the War Powers Resolution of 1973 to limit Trump’s ability to send U.S. armed forces to war without the approval of Congress.
Khanna’s Take on California Redistricting Battle
Khanna also discussed Newsom’s suggestion that California could redraw its congressional districts if Texas chooses to do so.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, has called a special session that will in part address calls from Republicans, including Trump, for the state to redraw its districts to favor the GOP. Newsom responded on X, formerly Twitter, “Two can play this game.”
Khanna said Newsom would not have the power to do so without efforts first going through the state’s voters, as California has an independent redistricting committee.
“Well, it has to go through a ballot measure,” he said. “The governor, none of us, have that power. It’s for the voters to decide, and the voters have an independent commission. What we need to do is make sure that we challenge what Texas is doing as unconstitutional. It’s a violation of the Voting Rights Act. It’s a violation of people having a fair vote, and it’s gerrymandering districts.”
He said his goal is “helping defeat what they’re doing in Texas,” rather than “calling for ballot initiatives in California.”
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