California Rep. Ro Khanna celebrated what he described as a resurgence of diversity, equity and inclusion after Democrats scored historic victories nationwide Tuesday night. His upbeat message came as a high-profile wealth tax proposal he supported appeared headed for defeat by California voters.
“Tonight, DEI is back as America celebrated diversity and inclusion,” the progressive Silicon Valley Democrat said in a video posted to X as Election Night results continued to come in.
“Likely three Black governors: the first Latina governor in Texas, the first Muslim American senator, the first gay senator. I love this America tonight,” Khanna added.
Khanna’s remarks came as Proposition 40, the controversial “billionaire tax” he had backed, appeared increasingly likely to fail. Even as the measure’s final outcome remained unsettled, he insisted that efforts to tax the nation’s wealthiest people would continue.
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“I’m proud of our efforts wherever we end up,” Khanna said, according to SFGate. “I am going to be right there, first in line supporting this in the next election cycle if it doesn’t pass this one.”
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About 60% of the ballots had been counted by Wednesday morning, and California voters appeared on track to reject Prop. 40, a proposed one-time 5% wealth tax on billionaires, the Associated Press reported.
The measure’s opponents were leading with 55.6%, or 4,268,499 votes, while supporters had 44.4%, or 3,411,323 votes. More than 7.6 million ballots had been counted at that point.
Khanna, meanwhile, held onto his seat representing California’s 17th Congressional District. The Associated Press projected that he would defeat Republican challenger Ritesh Tandon.
With roughly 48% of the expected vote reported by 3:25 a.m. Wednesday, Khanna had secured 70.5%, or 72,364 votes, compared with Tandon’s 29.5%, or 30,251 votes. The totals represented 102,615 ballots counted.
