Ro Khanna allies launch draft committee for 2028 presidential run

Only two days after the midterm elections , allies of Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) launched a new effort Thursday to urge the California House member to run for president in 2028.

Former Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and progressive political activist Nomiki Konst are the co-chairs of the “ Run Ro ” draft committee, according to a news release shared with NewsNation, The Hill’s broadcast partner.

The group, which can raise money and ramp up support for a potential Khanna presidential bid, includes members of former President Obama’s and Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) presidential campaigns.

The California Democrat has not officially declared his candidacy for 2028, but he has openly weighed a presidential run. The Hill has reached out to Khanna’s office for comment.

NBC News was the first to report this group’s formation.

Khanna has served five terms in the U.S. House, making a name for himself by leading a bipartisan effort in Congress to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act and for his advocacy to bring the Iran war to a close.

Bowman and Konst also cited Khanna’s efforts during his time in Congress to raise taxes on billionaires and advocate for Palestinians in the West Bank in their Thursday announcement of this group.

If successful in a presidential bid, he would be only the second person to be elected directly from the House to the Oval Office.

Bowman, who served four years in the House, called Khanna “one of the essential leaders” in the progressive movement and noted the Democratic Party’s recent victory in Tuesday’s elections, which flipped control of both chambers of Congress.

“Now is not the time to wait for progress,” Bowman said in a Thursday statement.

“With the wind at our backs after the midterms, we need a leader who puts everything on the line to fight for a better vision of America,” he continued. “That’s Ro Khanna.”