WASHINGTON, Nov 8: Indian-American Ro Khanna today conceded defeat after giving the seven-term Congressman and incumbent Mike Honda the toughest fight of his life for the Silicon Valley Congressional seat.
The 38-year-old patent attorney, Khanna, conceded to his opponent from Democratic party, Honda, acknowledging the 73-year-old lawmaker has an insurmountable lead in a race that gained national attention.
Honda was leading with 4,000-plus vote lead and both candidates agreed it would be impossible to reverse it, even though counting of postal and absentee ballots were still going on.
“I just called Congressman Honda to congratulate him on his victory after a hard-fought campaign. I wished him well as he returns to Washington for another term,” Khanna told his supporters in Fremont.
Honda has been elected to the US House of Representatives for the eighth-term, but not before getting battered with the toughest race of his congressional career.
Slamming Khanna at his victory speech, Honda said, “We sent out a message that the voters of this district value a lifetime of service to the community more than a lifetime of serving oneself.”
“You cannot buy grass roots. You could not buy it this year, and you will not be able to buy it next year, either. This district and our democracy is not for sale,” Honda said.
Khanna thanked his staff and supporters, saying, “This long campaign has come to a close. I believe, more than ever, that our district has so much to offer in building a fair and prosperous economic future for our nation in the 21st century. Our work is just beginning.”
Khanna enjoyed significant support among Silicon Valley’s high-profile political donors including Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg and Google’s Eric Schmidt, and was able to narrow down Honda’s more than 20-point lead at the beginning of the campaign to less than five-points, as the counting of votes was still going on.
Meanwhile, Indian-American Congressman Ami Bera continued to pin his hopes on the counting of more than 70,000 ballots, hoping that he would be able to take the lead and retain his seat in House of Representatives.
In a statement today, Bera staff alleged that Republican Doug Ose has been challenging legal votes to impact the outcome of this election.
“We have every expectation and complete faith that the registrar’s office will count every single legal vote,” said Bera’s attorney Chris Sautter, adding, “our efforts will be exclusively focused on ensuring every single legal vote in California’s 7th Congressional District is counted.” (PTI)
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