Tech entrepreneur Ethan Agarwal, a Democrat challenging Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) in California’s 17th Congressional District, failed to advance to the general election in Tuesday’s primary.
With 51% of ballots counted, Agarwal was in fourth place with 4,053 votes (6.2%), according to the New York Times. Khanna led the field with 38,105 votes (57.8%), followed by Republican Ritesh Tandon with 11,337 votes (17.2%) and Republican Jennie Ha Phan with 8,509 votes (12.9%).
Under California’s top-two primary system, Khanna and Tandon are projected to advance to the November general election regardless of party affiliation.
The district, which encompasses much of Silicon Valley, has been represented by Khanna since 2017 and is considered strongly Democratic.
Agarwal congratulated Khanna and Tandon after the race was called and stated that he is “going to continue fighting for the values I believe in.”
“I continue to believe in meritocracy, that California has a spending problem instead of a revenue problem and that antisemitism should be called out and defeated at every turn,” he wrote.
Tali Klima, a spokeswoman for Bay Area Jewish Coalition-Action, which backed Agarwal’s candidacy, said the group viewed the campaign as a “long shot” but believed his “moderate viewpoints and moral clarity on hatred and antisemitism were aligned with our community’s values, as well as the district’s overall.”
“We also felt that we could not allow Khanna to continue steamrolling our community with his divisive messaging and policies,” Klima told JNS. “Naturally, we are disappointed that Ethan’s campaign did not gather enough momentum in time for the primary, but we are undeterred in opposing Ro Khanna.”
She added that the group “will continue to support any candidate who supports the Jewish community and stands up to the extremism that Khanna is intent on spreading.”
