U.S. Representative Mike Honda. Twitter, @RepMikeHonda.

Khanna hopes that his young age, vibrant personality and familiarity with the tech industry will make him an attractive candidate for Silicon Valley voters.  

But some aren’t convinced that they will need a new representative.

 “Why choose someone new when Honda’s already well-established here?” asks Carol Lin, owner of Referral Realty.

Lin says she simply does not have time in her busy schedule to thoroughly research new candidates like Khanna. Because of this, she says she will “play it safe” and stick with what has been working. 

Honda campaign spokesman Vivek Kembaiyan says Honda believes he will retain his seat since “Khanna has had a lot of trouble having his message actually gain traction with the voters in the district.” 

After serving the district for over a decade, Honda’s name has become cemented among the constituents. 

“Last week was the first time I had actually heard of anyone campaigning for Ro Khanna,” Lin said.

Larry Gerston, professor of American politics at San Jose State University, also predicts that Honda will stay in power. Khanna may understand how to grow Silicon Valley’s tech industry, but “how much can someone as a 435th ranking member of the House do?” asks Gerston. “You’re trading in a lot for seniority, which can go very far.” 

Honda’s seniority has definitely shown its perks. In 2005, he helped secure $900 million in federal funding to extend the Bay Area Rapid Transit system into Silicon Valley. This also helped create 10,000 new construction jobs for the Valley. 

Even though Khanna has spent around $2.6 million on his campaign compared to the $1.1 million from the Honda side, he was unable to seriously dent Honda’s standing in the district. During the primary elections in June, Honda won with 49 percent, a healthy 22 points ahead of Khanna at 27. 

While Khanna argues that he is a younger, more vibrant character for the region, voters do not really have a strong incentive to choose Khanna. Voters like Lin tend to stick with incumbents since they already know the inner government workings. According to Gerston, Honda would really have to neglect his constituents or get involved in a scandal before voters would begin considering Khanna. Honda simply has not done anything that would warrant his replacement. 

Khanna has created a campaign focused on supporting local tech companies; however, most of the district simply is not a very tech focused area. True, you can find major companies like Yahoo! in Sunnyvale, but most of the big players like Google, Symatec, and Microsoft are located in neighboring Mountain View. 

As Gerston put it, the tech companies in Honda’s district “are not like the Mark Zuckerbergs of the world.”

Kembaiyan called Khanna’s argument that he is more in touch with the tech industry “bogus.”

“If you look at the deliverables that matter, Congressman Honda has proved that he is very in touch with the techies.”

Kembaiyan cites the Nanotechnology Research and Development Act which Honda authorized in 2003 to bring $3.7 billion in federal funds for nanotechnology research at local universities and companies. 

Honda and Khanna are scheduled to hold a debate at San Jose State University on Oct. 6, the day that vote-by-mail ballots will be sent out. The Huffington Post will moderate the debate and livestream the debate online. 

Ro Khanna’s campaign could not be reached. The phone number listed on his website was disconnected and emails were not returned. 

Reach Web Producer/Staff Photographer Benjamin Dunn here.