A former Indian-American official of the Obama Administration, Ro Khanna, has raised nearly USD 2 million for his campaign to enter the US Congress from Silicon Valley.
Fighting against senior Democratic leader, Mike Honda, who has been endorsed by top party leaders including President Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi, the leader in the House of Representatives, Khanna has managed to get substantial amount from top Silicon Valley big wigs.
Khanna has collected USD 1,744,761 till June 30 according to figures released by his campaign.
He added that USD 1,034,022 haul in the ensuing three months makes him the first-ever House challenger to raise seven figures in an "out-of-the-gate" quarter without self-funding.
Prominent among them include the Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, Salesforce.Com CEO Marc Benioff, Napster founder Sean Parker, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and technology entrepreneur Mike McCue, who last month hosted Obama for a fund raiser at his home.
71-year-old Honda, who has been endorsed by top party leaders, raised USD 345,000 in the second quarter ending June 30.
With this Honda, the seven term Congressman, has USD 375,000 in his kitty, as against a whopping USD 1.75 million in the bank accounts of Khanna.
"What's clear from the early support I've received is that Bay Area voters are frustrated with Congress and they agree we need to bring Silicon Valley thinking to Washington," said Khanna.
"What's especially exciting is that we're attracting so many new, young voters and Asian Americans who are not only supporting my campaign but will be involved in the Democratic Party for years to come," he said.
Khanna has roped in top members of Obama's re-election campaign team. Prominent among them are Jeremy Bird, Obama's 2012 national field director, Steve Spinner, a top Obama campaign fundraiser who is chairing Khanna's campaign, and Larry Grisolano, who ran Obama's paid media efforts in both 2008 and 2012.
Elections for the Congressional seat would be held in November 2014.
