Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) is reportedly being prepared to run for president in 2028 by former President Joe Biden’s chief of staff, who also worked with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and California gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra on their respective campaigns.
Sources familiar with the matter told Politico’s Playbook this week that Khanna has caught the attention of Ron Klain, an attorney who was an appointee of former President Barack Obama as the White House Ebola Response Coordinator.
Klain, who was named Biden’s chief of staff after working as a senior adviser on his 2020 campaign, is now a chief legal officer at Airbnb, while “using his personal time” to advise Khanna “as he prepares for a possible 2028 presidential bid,” the outlet reported.
Khanna announced while speaking with left-wing activist Rev. Al Sharpton at the National Action Network Conference in April. that he would “consider” a run after the November midterm elections.
The progressive congressman has championed progressive causes like recently calling to “tear down” U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) and speaking out against the Republicans’ Laken Riley Act.
Klain was seen as the far-left faction of the Democrat Party’s way to wield more power in the Biden administration, with him telling the Daily Beast in 2021, “Progressives are a big part of our party and making sure their voices are heard here at the White House is a big part of my job.”
In 2022, the following headline graced Politico’s website: “Progressives, once skeptical of Biden, rally around his chief of staff.”
“Once-sidelined liberals see Ron Klain as a critical conduit between them and the West Wing,” the subhead reads.
The outlet’s latest article also revealed that the personal political activities since he left Biden’s orbit are “far more significant and sweeping than previously known.”
Klain entered socialist Mamdani’s circle to help him with debate prep in 2025, and did the same plus general advising for New York congressional candidate Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of President John F. Kennedy.
He is also reportedly “assisting” with California’s Democrat nominee for governor, Xavier Becerra and “advising” Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) on his reelection campaign.
Ahead of a debate between Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) and embattled Democrat Senate candidate Graham Platner that never happened, Klain also “signed on to do debate prep” to help Platner, Politico noted.
Khanna is also a close ally of Platner’s.
Klain declined to do an interview with the outlet, simply stating that he wants his political activities to remain “low key.”
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