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Ro Khanna urges Democrats to stop political name-calling
Khanna highlighted Hong’s immigrant background and recalled his own family’s Thanksgiving traditions as the son of Indian immigrants.
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Malvika Choudhary - Wed, 12, Aug 2026
- 15:37 EDT
- 40
Ro Khanna / X
Congressman Ro Khanna urged Democrats to reject political name-calling and allow room for policy disagreements, saying the party should offer “moral leadership” rather than deepen divisions.
His remarks came while defending Wisconsin state Rep. Francesca Hong, who faced criticism over some of her policy positions and past statements during her campaign for governor.
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I appreciate that Democrats can have differences over single payer healthcare, free childcare, pausing data centers and other issues @FrancescaHongWI fought for.
— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) August 12, 2026
But caricaturing and labeling candidates based on a few statements is not a politics I believe in.
I have known…
Khanna said he had known Hong for years and remained “proud” to have endorsed her. His statement came after Hong narrowly lost the Aug. 11 Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor to Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley. Crowley defeated Hong by roughly 0.4 percentage points in a closely watched contest between the party’s progressive and more moderate wings.
The California Democrat acknowledged that Democrats can disagree over issues including single-payer health care, free child care and pausing data center development. But he argued that such disagreements should not lead to candidates being caricatured or labeled based on a few statements.
“I am all for spirited debate on issues and even electability,” Khanna wrote on X. “But I categorically reject the idea that the Democratic party must play the same name calling games as Trump, reducing people's identity to labels for political games.”
Khanna highlighted Hong’s background as part of his defense of her. He described her as the daughter of Korean immigrants, a single mother and a small-business owner who struggled while running a restaurant.
“As an Asian American, she had to fight for a seat at the table of our party and country. Nothing was handed to her,” Khanna wrote.
He then reflected on his own experience as the son of Indian immigrants, recalling Thanksgiving gatherings with other Indian American families while growing up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
“As a son of immigrants, I grew up watching the Ohio State Michigan football game during Thanksgiving weekend,” Khanna wrote. “We did not have a lot of extended family here since both of my parents are immigrants so we would gather with other Indian American aunties and uncles for Thanksgiving in Lancaster, PA at the Sudans home for years.”
He described those gatherings as “one of my favorite childhood memories.”
Khanna said those experiences reinforced his belief in extending grace to others and trying to understand their stories.
“I believe in an America where we extend each other some grace, where we try to understand each other's stories,” he wrote.
Hong, a democratic socialist and member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, had emerged as a prominent progressive candidate in the gubernatorial race. Her campaign focused on issues including universal child care and a proposed moratorium on new data center construction. She also received support from national progressive figures, including Khanna.
The race became a test of the Democratic Party’s ideological divide, with Hong representing its progressive wing while Crowley, who was backed by outgoing Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, was positioned as a more moderate candidate.Hong’s campaign also faced scrutiny over her previous positions and social media posts. In particular, a 2021 post in which she called to “cancel Thanksgiving” resurfaced during the campaign. Hong later sought to explain the position, saying Thanksgiving had become an important holiday for her family while also arguing that its historical context could be painful for some people.
Khanna, however, framed his defense of Hong around the broader question of how Democrats should handle internal disagreements.
“This country cries out for moral leadership,” he wrote. “We want to rise above division. Let us start to provide it.”
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