--- title: Democrat Ro Khanna Down To Wire Against Mike Honda in Silicon Valley description: California hopes the non-partisan, open system will lead to a more functional Congress canonical: https://time.com/3534381/democrat-vs-democrat-down-to-wire-in-silicon-valley-house-race/ author: Jay Newton-Small article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-23T18:30:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:58:31.514Z article:section: Politics og:title: Democrat Ro Khanna Down To Wire Against Mike Honda in Silicon Valley og:description: California hopes the non-partisan, open system will lead to a more functional Congress og:url: https://time.com/3534381/democrat-vs-democrat-down-to-wire-in-silicon-valley-house-race/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e9c555a92baadee/6987627fa988ca54e66aa016/ap461991628984.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3227 og:image:height: 1815 og:image:alt: Barack Obama, Mike Honda og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Democrat Ro Khanna Down To Wire Against Mike Honda in Silicon Valley twitter:description: California hopes the non-partisan, open system will lead to a more functional Congress twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e9c555a92baadee/6987627fa988ca54e66aa016/ap461991628984.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Democrat vs. Democrat Down To Wire in Silicon Valley House Race > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Jay Newton-Small | San Francisco](https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/)  ## Jay Newton-Small | San Francisco Oct 23, 2014 6:30 PM UTC  President Barack Obama is greeted by Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., as the president arrives in Los Altos Hills, Calif., where he will attend a fundraising event Wednesday, July 23, 2014, during his three-day West Coast trip to Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. President Barack Obama is greeted by Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., as the president arrives in Los Altos Hills, Calif., where he will attend a fundraising event Wednesday, July 23, 2014, during his three-day West Coast trip to Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. AP  by [Jay Newton-Small | San Francisco](https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/)  ## Jay Newton-Small | San Francisco Oct 23, 2014 6:30 PM UTC Don’t look now, but a moderate might get elected to Congress next month from California. In California’s 17th congressional district, which encompasses much of Silicon Valley, two Democrats are on the ballot on Nov. 4\. One is seven-term incumbent Rep. Mike Honda, 73, and the other 38-year-old former Obama Administration official Ro Khanna, who is trying to unseat his fellow Democrat. Why wasn’t this battle decided in California’s June 3 primary? Honda and Khanna both “won” that primary: they both gained enough votes to advance to the general election and under California’s new rules—this is the second cycle the system has been in place—it doesn’t matter that they are both Democrats. In fact, seven out of California’s 53 congressional districts have two candidates from the same party competing in the General Election. More than 30 years ago, California led the country in closing its primaries. But that, coupled with redistricting that gerrymandered safe seats, led to increasingly partisan politicians more afraid of a primary challenge than of losing to the other party. In other words: politicians more likely to blow up the government than make deals across the aisle. So in 2010, Californians voted to take the parties out of redistricting and opened up its primary process in the hopes of electing people who didn’t think compromise is a dirty word, or at least seek to work with their opponents instead of vanquishing them. Whether this political experiment has worked remains to be seen. But if any place in the country understands disruption and reinvention, it’s Silicon Valley. And the Honda/Khanna race, while troubling fratricide to most of the party, carries undertones of California’s intent: moderation. Khanna spent a whopping $3 million to come in a distant second in the primary, which Honda won by 20 points. Honda has the endorsement of much of the establishment, including President Obama, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi and the California Democratic Party. Khanna enjoys the backing of some deep-pocketed Silicon Valley tycoons, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and a campaign team drawn from Obama’s presidential bids. Khanna burned through another $1 million post primary and by the end of September had just $218,000 cash on hand compared to Honda’s $965,000\. “We were always the underdog going into this thing,” Khanna tells TIME. “But we will have enough money to compete on Election Day. We’ve built a strong campaign on a lot of retail politics.” Khanna has been [attacking](http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/diaz/article/The-end-of-an-unusually-mean-spring-5517565.php#page-2) Honda as ineffectual and unwilling the reach across the aisle to get things done. During the debate Khanna mocked Honda’s “[bipartisanship](http://www.calbuzz.com/2014/10/khanna-fights-uphill-as-honda-flogs-phony-bi-cred/).” Honda has been [attacking](http://www.ibabuzz.com/politics/2014/10/20/ca17-honda-launches-attack-ad-against-khanna/) Khanna as a Republican in Democratic clothing. “He sent out a mailer labeling me a liberal,” Honda tells TIME. “I am a Democrat. He is?” Honda has also been promoting his seniority and his ability to deliver for the district, including helping to secure a BART train extension to the area. And, yes, he has touted his “[bipartisan](http://www.mercurynews.com/internal-affairs/ci%5F26713114/internal-affairs-mike-hondas-accomplishments-raise-few-eyebrows)” credentials working with Republicans on legislation and initiatives. [Polls show](http://venturebeat.com/2014/10/21/team-obama-does-it-again-ro-khanna-tied-with-congressman-mike-honda-in-new-poll/) the race in a dead heat with just three weeks to go until Election Day. But just the fact that the race is a debate over which candidate would be more functional, pragmatic and less dogmatic is already a victory for state reformers. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3534381/democrat-vs-democrat-down-to-wire-in-silicon-valley-house-race/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3534381/democrat-vs-democrat-down-to-wire-in-silicon-valley-house-race/"},"headline":"Democrat vs. Democrat Down To Wire in Silicon Valley House Race","datePublished":"2014-10-23T18:30:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:58:31.514Z","description":"California hopes the non-partisan, open system will lead to a more functional Congress","url":"https://time.com/3534381/democrat-vs-democrat-down-to-wire-in-silicon-valley-house-race/","keywords":["2014 Election","California","democrats","Government","President Obama","nancy pelosi"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e9c555a92baadee/6987627fa988ca54e66aa016/ap461991628984.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jay Newton-Small | San Francisco"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e9c555a92baadee/6987627fa988ca54e66aa016/ap461991628984.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barack Obama, Mike Honda","caption":"Barack Obama, Mike Honda","creditText":"AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2014-election/","name":"2014 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3534381/democrat-vs-democrat-down-to-wire-in-silicon-valley-house-race/","name":"Democrat vs. Democrat Down To Wire in Silicon Valley House Race"}}]}] ```