California Rep. Ro Khanna passes on Senate run and backs liberal icon Barbara Lee over Reps. Katie Porter and Adam Schiff: ‘She stood up so strongly against the war in Iraq’

• Ro Khanna on Sunday introduced that he is backing Rep. Barbara Lee within the 2024 California Senate race.
• The progressive congressman is endorsing Lee over fellow Democratic Reps. Katie Porter and Adam Schiff.
• Khanna throughout his announcement mentioned that Lee would convey a “distinctive voice” to the higher chamber.

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna — a distinguished progressive who was regarded as a possible candidate within the 2024 California Senate race — on Sunday mentioned he is not coming into the competition to switch retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein and would as an alternative throw his assist behind liberal icon and longtime Rep. Barbara Lee.

“I’ve concluded that regardless of a number of enthusiasm from Bernie of us, the most effective place, essentially the most thrilling place … for me to function a progressive is within the Home of Representatives,” he said throughout an look on CNN’s “This Week.” 

“I am honored to be co-chairing Barbara Lee’s marketing campaign for the Senate and endorsing her at this time. We want a powerful antiwar senator and she is going to play that function,” he continued.

Feinstein, 89, is retiring subsequent 12 months after first being elected to the Senate in a 1992 particular election.

In endorsing Lee, a fellow lawmaker from the San Francisco Bay Space, Khanna praised her antiwar file and mentioned that the congresswoman could be a “distinctive voice” within the higher chamber.

Khanna’s transfer additionally means that he’s supporting Lee over fellow Democratic Reps. Katie Porter and Adam Schiff — two colleagues who’ve a nationwide following and are at the moment the frontrunners within the get together main.

The congressman, a nationwide co-chair of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential marketing campaign — mentioned in the course of the CNN interview that he had respect for each Porter and Schiff, however heralded Lee’s nearly-25-year tenure in Congress.

“Barbara Lee is a singular voice,” Khanna mentioned. “She was a lone vote in opposition to the limitless warfare in Afghanistan. She stood up so strongly in opposition to the warfare in Iraq. She labored with me in attempting to cease the warfare in Yemen and the Struggle Powers Decision.”

“And albeit, illustration issues. We do not have a single African-American girl in the USA Senate. She would fill that function. She’ll be the one candidate from Northern California and he or she’s going to, I feel, consolidate a number of progressives. The opposite two are formidable candidates, however I feel Barbara goes to be very, very sturdy,” he added.

Lee, who introduced her marketing campaign final month, is a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and a former co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Below the first system in California, each candidate within the Senate race will run collectively on the identical poll, with the top-two vote-getters rising to compete within the normal election, no matter their political get together.

If Lee wins the overall election within the Golden State, the place no Republican has received a Senate race since 1988, she would turn into solely the third Black feminine senator in US historical past.