Ro Khanna topples veteran Congressman to enter House of Representatives

Ro Khanna defeated the eight-term veteran Mike Honda on Tuesday in his second try to enter the House of Representatives after a bitter contest.

Khanna, who served as former Vice President Al Gore's chief of staff, will represent the heart of Silicon Valley in a constituency where many tech giants like Apple, Facebook, Google and Oracle are located. It is also the only one in mainland America with an Asian American majority.

Former President Jimmy Carter endorsed Khanna, while Honda failed to get President Barack Obama's backing this time.

During the heated campaign, Honda filed a federal suit against Khanna's campaign manager, Brian Parvizshahi, alleging that he illegally accessed Honda's list of donors and other records. Parvizshahi resigned from the Khanna campaign.

Honda was under an investigation by the House Ethics Committee on allegations that he used Congressional staff for campaign work.

Forty-year-old Khanna has a law degree from Yale University and specialised in intellectual property law.

He has been a Deputy Assistant Commerce Secretary and a member of the White House Business Council. He teaches economics at Stanford University and law at Santa Clara University.

Khanna is married to Ritu Ahuja.

--IANS

al/vd