In a hall filled with more than 250 workers Friday morning, congressional candidate Ro Khanna stood with union officials and San Jose Councilwoman Magdalena Carrasco, announcing that he had persuaded the laborers’ union to switch from U.S. Rep. Mike Honda and endorse him.
Five months before the primary and 10 months before the general election, this passes for news in a hard-fought congressional race. And Khanna, a man adept at cultivating coverage, was casting his lot with the blue-collar men and women who had aspirations for their children.
“This undercuts Honda’s misleading campaign that I am just for the 1 percent or want to ship jobs overseas,” Khanna told me by email.
In truth, endorsements mean more to the politicians than they do to ordinary voters. They offer a window into the knife fight of campaigns, the combat that leaves lasting scars.
Though the members can offer campaign volunteers, nobody outside the union cares deeply about what the Pacific Southwest Region of the Laborers’ International Union thinks.
But there is something unfolding in the background of this campaign that matters more than Khanna’s ability to turn a construction union. That is this: There are signs of desperation in the Honda camp, or at least the kind of thoughtlessness that urgency can foster.
Honda appeal
Several weeks ago, Honda’s campaign manager, Michael Beckendorf, sent out a fundraising appeal notable for its ugliness. “Mike Honda has spent his career fighting for justice and equality in Washington — and the Republicans can’t stand it,” he wrote.
“That’s why they’re aligning themselves, again, with our opponent, Ro Khanna, in attacking one of the nation’s leading progressive champions. It’s shameful — and we can’t let Donald Trump’s Republican Party get away with it.”
As my colleague Josh Richman put it in his blog, it’s true that some Republicans are supporting Khanna. But it’s hard to imagine any Trump supporter casting a ballot for Khanna, especially given the presence of a conservative Republican in the primary, Ron Cohen.
The nastiest part of Beckendorf’s email is that he implies that Trump’s backers are using Khanna as a tool to unseat Honda. At a personal level, that misstates the truth.
Khanna’s background
Begin with who Khanna is — an Indo-American and Hindu whose grandfather was jailed by the British Raj because he fought for Indian freedom. Khanna’s parents migrated to the U.S. in the 1960s.
As a 39-year-old man with dark skin, he says he is often pulled over for tighter airport screening. More than most people in the Congress he hopes to join, Khanna understands the plight of Muslim Americans and South Asians at a visceral level.
If that isn’t enough to convince you, check out what Khanna has posted on his Facebook page over the last couple of months: In mid-December, he spoke at the Muslim Community Association in Santa Clara, denouncing hate and bigotry.
Later that same month, to illustrate that bigotry, he posted a link to an ugly story about a Sikh American falling asleep on an airplane and being filmed, with the footage labeled “Flying with Bin Laden.”
These are not the stands of a man who wants to blame our problems on immigrants. Mike Honda has no monopoly on progressive stances. To try to beat Khanna, the congressman’s campaign is using the tactics of the man Honda decries — Donald Trump.
Contact Scott Herhold at 408-275-0917 or sherhold@mercurynews.com. Follow him at Twitter.com/scottherhold.
