Democratic Primary Challenger Raises $1M #CA17

By Emily Cahn

Posted July 10, 2013 at 8:24am

Democratic attorney Ro Khanna announced Wednesday morning that he raised more than $1 million in the second quarter for his primary challenge to longtime Rep. Michael M. Honda in California’s 17th District.

Khanna now has more than $1.7 million in cash on hand, making him the first legitimate primary challenger Honda has faced in his more than 10 years in Congress.

The Khanna campaign said all contributions counted in the seven-figure haul came from individual donors. Many of the donors are prominent figures from Silicon Valley, located in the 17th District, including Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, according to the Khanna campaign.

Honda has yet to release his second-quarter fundraising figures, but he had $200,000 in cash on hand at the end of the first quarter, according to a Federal Election Commission report.

Instead, Honda claims the support of President Barack Obama, many members of Congress and other prominent Asian-American leaders in the district, which is the first to have a majority Asian population.

This is a safe Democratic seat, and California has a top-two primary system. The top-two vote-getters, regardless of party identification, advance to the general, making it possible for Khanna to run against Honda for the duration of the cycle.