Allies of Rep. Ro Khanna Form 'Run Ro' Committee to Encourage 2028 Presidential Bid

Allies of Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., have formed a draft committee called "Run Ro" to lay groundwork for a 2028 presidential run, the group's leaders told NBC News on Thursday. Former Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., and progressive strategist Nomiki Konst are co-chairs. The committee can raise money from donors and build support for a Khanna candidacy while he weighs whether to run. The launch came days after Tuesday's midterm elections, in which Democrats won control of the House and the Senate. Konst said starting now is meant to ensure the primary debate is framed from a progressive populist perspective. Khanna, a fifth-term lawmaker who co-chaired Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2020 campaign, has visited early primary states and worked with Republicans on efforts to release the Jeffrey Epstein files and end the war in Iran. He said he is honored by the encouragement and would run on Medicare for All, ending foreign wars and taxing billionaires, and that he will decide with his family after the holidays whether to run or back someone else. Khanna had said in August that he was seriously considering a run.

Left-leaning outlets Politico and NBC News treat it as a political-positioning story. NBC, the original source, places the launch in the post-midterm context and the left's search for a successor to Sanders. It stresses the obstacles: only James Garfield went from the House directly to the presidency, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has not said what she will do, is better known. Right-leaning Breitbart rewrites NBC's report, credits it with a "Report:" headline, and largely repeats the same facts. It gives more room to Khanna's platform quote and his decision timeline, and includes his Sanders role and early-state travel. It leaves out the Garfield and Ocasio-Cortez context in its excerpt and inserts a promotional link attacking Bowman over a 2023 security video. Both sides agree on the co-chairs, the committee's purpose and Konst's quote. NewsNation's short item adds only Khanna's August comment.