Representative Ro Khanna

Representative Ro Khanna is a leading progressive voice in the House working to restore American manufacturing and technology leadership, improve the lives of working people, and advance U.S. leadership on climate, human rights, and diplomacy around the world. Khanna represents California's 17th Congressional District, located in the heart of Silicon Valley, and is serving his fourth term. 

Prior to serving in Congress, he taught economics at Stanford University and served as deputy assistant secretary of commerce in the Obama administration. He has written two books: Entrepreneurial Nation: Why Manufacturing is Still Key to America's Future and Dignity in a Digital Age.

Khanna graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in Economics from the University of Chicago and received a law degree from Yale University. As a student at the University of Chicago, he walked precincts during Barack Obama's first campaign for the Illinois Senate in 1996.

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[t.j.]

@11:00 You again state the anti-democratic nature of the Electoral College as fact without accounting for the mounting negative effects we've been witnessing over the last century caused by the Reapportionment Act of 1929 on the Electoral College. The Electoral College would be far more representative, and tied more closely with the popular vote, if we simply repealed this unconstitutional law (or get it overturned in the courts). It may not be the perfect transition to direct democracy you want right now, but it's attainable now without a Constitutional Amendment. 435 House members is not and was never meant in the Constitution to be a static number. Prior to 1910 the House grew with each Census. The current artificial cap on the House (that by extension artifically caps the Electoral College at 538 votes) aligns with the U.S. Census population from, you guessed it, 1910. Regardless of the Apportionment method you use we need to have the House and Electoral College align with the most recent 2020 Census as required by the Constitution (e.g. the square root rule outlined by the unratified Madison Apportionment Amendment would set the House size = 1723 and EC size = 1826; my preferred Cube Root Rule would set House Size = 692 and EC size = 795), with room to grow over time as already outlined in the Constitution.

PS I prefer the Cube Root Rule since it would make the growth of House Representative infrastructure (new buildings/offices, hiring of new staff, etc.) more predictable, and aligns with the national legislative body sizes of other representative democracies around the world. Also, even in the event that the U.S. population reached 1 billion people, the House would sit at a manageable 1000 members.