Ro Khanna takes economic message on the road. Will it lead to White House?

PENNSYLVANIA, OHIO and MICHIGAN — U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna was riding shotgun in a black Chevrolet Suburban hurtling down an Ohio highway. His mind was on the economy. 

“I do think I have the right economic vision for this country,” Khanna, D-Calif., told CNBC, taking a break from answering one of the hundreds of text messages he receives each day. “The question is just whether I will get behind someone who can help adopt it, or whether I’ll do it myself.”

The Silicon Valley representative had just left Magnet, a nonprofit industrial consulting firm and talent incubator and a stop on his three-day tour through the Rust Belt. He was speaking to the question that many were asking here: whether the former co-chair of the 2020 Bernie Sanders campaign would mount his own bid for the White House in 2028. 

“It’s a natural question, and the truth is that I’ve said I’m going to consider it after the midterms,” he said when CNBC asked whether he ever gets tired of reporters asking him if he’s running. 

The question has become more natural lately. Khanna, a progressive long seen as ambitious in Washington circles, has found himself joining the list of potential 2028 hopefuls in the eyes of oddsmakers after his successful push to release the Epstein files, which exploded into the biggest news story of 2025. He’s turned that win into a populist bazooka, railing against the “Epstein class” as he calls for progressive, populist policies that could reshape the U.S. economy.

Khanna has a liberal track record and endorsed self-described democratic socialist New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. But in the industrial U.S., he talked more middle-of-the-road economic issues and pitched well-worn Democratic ideas such as cutting defense spending and finding money to pay for social programs by targeting waste, fraud and abuse.

While recent polling suggests he’d be a long-shot candidate, Khanna’s ability to champion progressive causes while representing one of the wealthiest congressional districts in the nation has not gone unnoticed. And his economic ideas could take root in any campaign Democrats run.

Despite the buzz, Khanna was not in Ohio to campaign explicitly. He was here for the “Heartland Tour,” a swing through the industrial Rust Belt for his post as the top Democrat on the House’s China select committee. Undergirding the tour was a dual purpose: pitching and honing his profile-raising platform of a “New Economic Patriotism,” a 13-point plan he says will revive U.S. manufacturing and solve the country’s economic woes, while hearing about the threats China poses to workers and businesses in this region.

CNBC rode with Khanna through Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan as he toured steel mills, factories and farms. At each of the 12 stops, he was introduced to people trying to revive manufacturing in the U.S.’ industrial nerve center and shared his…