Khanna: Time for ‘old guard’ in Democratic establishment to step aside

Progressive Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif.) on Wednesday called on the Democratic Party’s establishment “old guard” to step aside as he celebrated former attorney Melat Kiros’s primary win against 15-term incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.).

“Yesterday was a big night for progressives,” Khanna said in a video posted to the social platform X. “Colorado shows a new generation of progressives like Melat are building a new and bold Democratic Party. It’s time for the old guard to step aside.”

Khanna added that he views the victories won by left-wing candidates as the end of “the era of cliches that politicians deliver with charisma and charm,” which has since transitioned into a “moment of transformational change.”

“Voters want to know where you stand on the tough issues and whether you will fight for real change in our unfair and lopsided economic and political system,” he said. “Are you for single-payer healthcare? For taxing the wealth of billionaires? For stopping these foreign wars? For recognizing the genocide in Gaza? For abolishing and replacing ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]? For workers over AI? For money out of politics?”

Khanna has been an outspoken critic of Democratic leadership. He praised the “new generation of leaders” who won last November’s elections while blasting Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) after eight moderate Democrats strayed from the party to vote for reopening the government after the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

The California Democrat told CNN at the time that someone “jokingly, or maybe it was serious, described me as a backbencher. I said, ‘No, the problem is those of us in the back need to get to the front. This party needs a change in the leadership.”

Victories won by democratic socialist candidates in New York, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and California have received warm-to-temperate responses from different establishment Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), who called on the party to unite after the primaries and remember that the “enemy is Donald Trump.”

“I’ve talked to our leadership. Again, we’re a big party with lots of different ideas,” Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.) told CNN on Monday. “That said, we’ve got to come together because this is about putting a check on Donald Trump.”

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), however, has been among the most dismissive about these recent victories, warning of the rise of the “dirtbag left” within the party. He told Fox News on Saturday that it signifies a growing shift for the party.

“There’s a significant part of our party that’s getting taken over with these extreme views. You know, whether it’s P. Hustle in Maine or the new squad coming in out of New York City or the guy in Colorado, that’s the direction that our party’s going,” Fetterman said, referring to Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner (D) by a nickname.

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Khanna: Time for ‘old guard’ in Democratic establishment to step aside

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