Aug 13, 2026 · 49 min
Ro Khanna pitches a multiracial New Deal for 2028
Democrat Ro Khanna’s 2028 pitch: tax the rich, regulate tech | NPR's Newsmakers
Khanna’s possible presidential bid tests whether Democrats can turn economic renewal, tech accountability, and democratic reform into a governing agenda.
- 1Khanna proposes taxing billionaire wealth while rebuilding manufacturing and expanding jobs, healthcare, childcare, and worker protections.
- 2He argues Democrats should prioritize economic substance over political labels, while acknowledging the challenges posed by debates over transgender rights.
- 3His reform agenda extends from data-center community consent to congressional blind trusts, campaign finance changes, and accountability for Epstein-related failures.
Don't miss
Khanna lays out his Data Center Bill of Rights, tying local consent and water transparency to a broader industrial policy.
The brief
Ro Khanna uses a possible 2028 presidential campaign to argue that Democrats need a substantive economic agenda, not political branding, built around manufacturing, jobs, healthcare, childcare, and worker protections.
His proposed realignment targets billionaire wealth and Silicon Valley’s influence while seeking private-sector participation in industrial policy and a stronger role for communities facing deindustrialization.
Khanna says debates over labels and transgender rights can eclipse economic concerns, but he also acknowledges Democrats’ failure to make economic renewal their central message.
The interview turns concrete with Khanna’s Data Center Bill of Rights, which would require community consent, water-use transparency, and limits on where data centers can be built.
He extends the same accountability argument to Congress, proposing blind or diversified trusts for members while calling for campaign-finance reform and further review of Epstein-related files.
Khanna closes by invoking Franklin D. Roosevelt as a model for confronting concentrated wealth, while insisting that a new social contract must be multiracial and inclusive.
Featuring
Rohit Khanna
Steve Inskeep
Elon Reeve Musk
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Newsmakers
Abdul El-SayedListen to the full episode and explore every guest, topic, and moment on PodLume.