NASHUA, NH – On Thursday U.S. Congressman Ro Khanna, D-CA, traveled to the Granite State to campaign on behalf of the Harris-Walz ticket and for local and state Democratic candidates. A gathering was hosted at the Nashua home of State Representative Latha Mangipudi (Hillsborough-11). About 30 local officeholders, candidates, and Democratic activists attended the backyard event.
Mangipudi welcomed the group and expressed her concerns about a potential second Trump administration. For her, the Project 2025 agenda is an existential threat to democracy. She also wholeheartedly voiced her support for what she considers the antidote to that threat, the candidacy of Kamala Harris.
“We have the first woman, the first Asian-American, Black, and a very talented, very capable, very strong, woman who is serving as vice president and is running for president,” Mangipudi said.
Current State Representative and candidate for the State Senate Ben Ming also addressed the crowd. If elected he would be the first Asian-American elected Senator in the state of NH and the second person of color in that body.
Continuing on the theme of threats to our democracy he reflected on his career as an attorney and the relationship of the law with democracy.
“Democracy is the framework, it is the scaffolding on which the rule of law is constructed. The rule of law is a feature of democracy which is why I believe so deeply in defending it. It is not just a reflection of our values, it is a reflection of our most powerful values,” Ming said.
Khanna followed Ming and acknowledged the local supporters and officials on hand for the event.
“Politics is all about having the right team at the right moment and to see Vice President Harris and Governor Walz electrify this country. I quickly switched from being a Biden surrogate to a Harris surrogate. I love the President, I admire the President deeply, and he is going to be one of the most historic presidents but the difference is big,” Khanna said. “Men and women are equally invested in this candidacy, we get the stakes. We get the stakes about what kind of democracy, what kind of country we want to be.”
He moved on to a critique of Donald Trump’s VP pick, JD Vance, whom he humorously referred to “as the gift that keeps on giving,” and his convention speech. In particular his reference to his family cemetery plot owned for seven generations.
Paraphrasing Vance, he said the objectionable part was when he said, “This plot of land is our homeland and that America is not just an idea, America is about claiming the physical land and your ability to trace back your lineage seven generations.”
Speaking on his own behalf about this point of view he said, “As someone who is the son of immigrants, whose grandfather was part of the Gandhi Independence movement, that didn’t make me feel that included in this “America,” Khanna said.
“I have great admiration for Americans who can trace their heritage back to the Mayflower but they are no more and nor no less American than those who are the daughters and sons of immigrants. Do You know who said that? It wasn’t actually a Democrat it was Abraham Lincoln in 1858,” Khanna said.
Noting the irony that the Democrat’s defense of pluralism makes them more aligned with the first Republican president he said, “What matters is if you believe in the ideals of this country, do you believe in the Constitution, do you believe in freedom, do you believe in equality, do you believe in democracy. That is what this election is about,” Khanna said. “It is not just about Vice President Harris or Donald Trump; it is about are we going to build a multiracial democracy, an inclusive democracy where all of us have a role in this country or are we going adopt a very narrow nationalism.”
