Congressional Candidate Visits

Upcoming election sees student support for Ro Khanna, Mike Honda

Collin BakerTHE SANTA CLARAOctober 23, 2014

[dropcap]S[/dropcap]tanding on the dimly lit Benson Memorial Center patio, Democrat Ro Khanna engaged an audience of about 35 students on Oct. 14, emphasizing his commitment to cooperate and collaborate with Democrats and Republicans alike to create change.

Running against 13-year incumbent and Democratic Rep. Mike Honda, Khanna, a former adjunct law professor, stopped by Santa Clara to speak and answer questions about his background, campaign and political stances.

Khanna’s campaign centers around students and young adults in both policy and involvement.  He aims to make education and housing more accessible and affordable through financial aid and rent reform.

Khanna called out his challenger, incumbent Mike Honda, who has been in office since 2001, for being disconnected from his constituency and refusing to step across party lines.

“I like Honda, but he hasn’t been very effective,” Khanna said. “We need to take back the House and we need young people to get involved.”

Like Khanna, Honda also has support from Santa Clara students. Junior Jordan Nunes, a volunteer on Honda’s campaign, said Honda is an experienced and proven Democrat compared to Khanna, who has attempted to win elections in several districts in California.

“(Honda’s) right on education, he’s right on civil rights, he’s right on LGBT issues and he still has lots of things he wants to accomplish,” said Nunes. “He’s a big part of why Silicon Valley is what it is today, and he does that by serving all this constituents.”

The 17th District race has garnered interest on a national scale.

Although the June primaries gave Honda a 20 percentage point margin on Khanna, the race has since become far tighter. Polling data released by KPIX this week shows Honda at 37 percent and Khanna trailing at 35 percent, with 28 percent of the voters undecided.

Contact Collin Baker at cnbaker@scu.edu .