During a visit to Cheshire County this past weekend, Congressman Ro Khanna of California addressed what he said is a sense of hopelessness in the United States.
He also highlighted the need to get a handle on the country’s growing economic divide.
Khanna’s remarks were part of the Cheshire County Democrats annual spaghetti dinner fundraiser which took place in the Keene State College Dining Hall Sunday evening. The event also featured a slate of local, state and national democrats.
Khanna, who represents the district that covers Silicon Valley in Congress, is a high-profile opponent of the Trump administration, and is being considered a potential Democratic candidate for the 2028 presidential election, was the event’s keynote speaker.
“We’re up against something deeper and harder than Donald Trump,” Khanna said in his remarks. “We’re up against what he represents — a loss of hope. Despair. …A loss of belief in what President Biden used to say, the possibility in the country.”
Democratic Congresswoman and Khanna’s colleague in the House of Representatives Maggie Goodlander dubbed Khanna “New Hampshire’s congressman from California,” on account of his many past visits to the Granite State.
“He loves New Hampshire,” she said.
This wasn’t Khanna’s first trip to the Granite State. He’s visited several times while campaigning for the Bernie Sanders campaign.
Khanna told a Sentinel reporter the county is important, and pointed to how much people in the area care about economic fairness and how welcoming it’s been to immigrants.
Khanna is committed to “working to restore American manufacturing and technology leadership, improve the lives of working people, and advance U.S. leadership on climate, human rights, and diplomacy around the world,” according to his biography.
During his remarks, Khanna described a conversation he had with an event attendee.
“He said, ‘you know, we’re exhausted. We have been embarrassed. We’ve been eroded in our spirit, and our confidence. Where do we go from here? How did we get here? How did we get here, and where did we go?,” he recalled.
Khanna said President Donald Trump is not just acting lawlessly and degrading United States institutions. “It’s the chipping away of the American spirit, of our capacity to understand what this nation is and is capable of being,” he said.
Khanna said he wishes it was as simple as pointing to Trump’s moves, like getting a Quatari jet and millions of dollars from the United Arab Emirates and “riding roughshod at the Constitution.”
He said enough people felt left out that they wanted to break down institutions “because the system wasn’t working.”
He pointed out the sheer amount of wealth concentrated in his one district.
When Khanna said the current economic divide needs to be bridged, the crowd applauded.
“We’re going to inspire this country, not for a movement to win votes or win an election,” Khanna said. “We’re going to inspire for a movement to build this country.”
Over 260 people gathered to hear speakers, which in addition to Goodlander and Khanna included New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley, Mayor Jay Kahn, Rep. Laura Telerski, Sen. Donovan Fenton, Councilor Karen Liot Hill, Congressman Chris Pappas and Karishma Manzur. The latter two are running for Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s seat in 2026.
During the evening, multiple speakers said it hasn’t been an easy year. What Democrats view as Republican failures in education, health care and housing also came up during the evening. National Medicaid cuts and the recent expansion New Hampshire’s Education Freedom Accounts, also came up.
Sophia Keshmiri can be reached at 603-283-0725 or skeshmiri@keenesentinel.com.
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