California Democrat targets Kean during Bridgewater town hall

In a ballroom far from his home district in Silicon Valley, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) still delivered a crowd. 

Khanna spoke to about 1,000 people in a Bridgewater hotel’s ballroom during a marathon town hall meant to put the pressure on Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield), who hasn’t hosted a similar in-person event during President Trump’s second term. Kean hosted a short telephone town hall last month, but Khanna and other Democrats say he hasn’t done enough to represent his constituents.

The town hall is the latest event as Democrats try to channel the anger of their base—local organizers said it was the biggest town hall in nearly a decade. Khanna’s town hall follows similar events in the district held by former Rep. Tom Malinowski and Senator Andy Kim.

The Democrat said his visit wasn’t focused on electoral politics, but rather to pressure Republicans he hopes could vote against future GOP legislation, like potential budgets that Democrats worry could put Medicaid at risk.

“I get that it’s a competitive district,” Khanna told the crowd. “My trip here is genuinely to say that we need three Republicans to find some courage.”

Khanna said Kean’s absence from public town halls “dishonors” his family’s history of public service.

“I have no doubt that Thomas Kean’s father would have been here today,” Khanna said about former Gov. Tom Kean Sr., who turned 90 on Monday. “Thomas Kean’s father was someone like President [George] Bush Sr. Someone who I disagreed with at times, but who I respected.”

Khanna, who represents the country’s richest congressional district, has been brought up in discussions about 2028 presidential contenders. His stop in New Jersey comes after a speech in Ohio and a visit to Yale Law School. Both, not so coincidentally, are former homes to Vice President JD Vance, and during those trips the Democrat was happy to contrast himself with the Hillbilly Elegy author.

His visit also comes during something of a crossroads for New Jersey politics: Senator Cory Booker, who has already once run for president, is expected by many to try again in the 2028 cycle. (Khanna told reporters he’s not thinking about 2028 just yet.)

Democrats are targeting the 7th congressional district, and a sizable field is growing to take on Kean. (Khanna said he’s currently focused on winning the seat from Kean rather than making an endorsement in that race.)

Six Democrats are also seeking the nomination for governor as the party hopes to win three consecutive gubernatorial elections for the first time in decades. (Khanna didn’t endorse a candidate, but he did tell reporters he likes Rep. Mikie Sherrill, one of two House colleagues in the race.)

Khanna has some connections to the 7th: He said it’s home to some of his family members, and Hunterdon County abuts his childhood home of Bucks County.

The Californian held the dais for nearly three hours in the Bridgewater Marriott, outlasting most of those who went to see him. While about 1,000 showed up for the event, fewer than 100 were left by the time he was done answering every question the visitors were willing to ask.

Many aspects of the event were essentially carbon copies of other Democratic events of the ilk. Like other Democratic leaders, he disavowed the president’s handling of the economy, aggressive executive action, and steps toward mass deportations.

But the progressive Democrat also embodies some of the more assertive responses that angry Democrats are looking for. Khanna is one of the only congressional Democrats to support DNC Vice Chair David Hogg’s controversial efforts to fund primary challengers against incumbent Democrats in safe districts.

“Where is it written in the Constitution that if you are a Democrat and you’re an officeholder, that you’re entitled to have that seat?” Khanna told the crowd.

Many in the crowd asked about the future of the party’s leadership. Khanna said the next Democratic president will have a “Herculean” task after four years of Trump. And when some in the crowd expressed a desire for a transcendent, Barack Obama-like figure to arise within the party, Khanna told them not to count on it.

“Wishing for another Obama is like wishing for another King or Douglass,” he said. “He was once-in-a-generation.”

Still, Khanna said there is room for strong pushback from Democrats and institutions. He praised Harvard University President Alan Garber, whose institution is suing the president over a funding freeze. He also said there cannot be just one leader in the Democratic resistance to Trump, but rather a mass mobilization with many leaders, similar to the Civil Rights Movement.

“We have an amazing capacity when we veer off to come back.”

This post was updated to clarify the attendance total.