How Ro Khanna's support for a wealth tax earned him a tech-backed primary challenger

• Rep. Ro Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley, is facing a primary challenge backed by tech figures.
• It comes after Khanna publicly backed a wealth tax on billionaires.
• Here's what to know about the race.

Rep. Ro Khanna endorsed a billionaire wealth tax. Now, he's facing a new tech-backed challenge to his reelection bid.

Ethan Agarwal, a 40-year-old tech entrepreneur, announced earlier this month that he was abandoning a long-shot Democratic gubernatorial bid and would instead run against Khanna in California's 17th congressional district, which encompasses much of Silicon Valley.

And he's got the backing of some in the tech world who argue that Khanna has lost touch with his district, including Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan and venture capitalists Chamath Palihapitiya and Ron Conway.

"I wouldn't say it's central," Agarwal said of Khanna's embrace of the wealth tax in an interview with Business Insider. "But I would say it is the straw that broke the camel's back."

Khanna, for his part, said he's confident that he'll be able to easily hold together the same coalition that's carried him to comfortable victories five times in a row.

"I have a very strong coalition of progressives, and technology and business leaders who believe in my vision: that we need a new social contract in this country," Khanna said in an interview with Business Insider.

As of the end of 2025, Khanna had amassed nearly $15.5 million in his campaign account, and his national profile has risen after he championed a bill to compel the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files.

The Silicon Valley congressman also argued that Agarwal's tech backing isn't significant, calling it a "Twitter phenomenon." And he noted that Agarwal is just one of five candidates challenging him, including two other Democrats and two Republicans.

"I have competition every cycle," Khanna said. "We usually have four or five candidates, and it's great. I always welcome it."

The primary is set for Tuesday, June 2. Under California's top-two primary system, Khanna and his five challengers across both parties will all compete in the same race, with the top two vote-getters moving on to the general election in November.

'Time for a new member of Congress in Silicon Valley'

In December, Khanna defended a proposal for a ballot measure that would impose a one-time 5% wealth tax on individuals with assets exceeding $1 billion. Though it has a long way to go before becoming law, several billionaires have already taken steps to move out of the state.

Despite backlash from tech leaders, Khanna has leaned in further, introducing a bill this month with Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont that would apply a 5% wealth tax on billionaires nationwide and to make it annual, rather than just one-time.

Khanna has also ruffled some feathers by taking a critical stance toward AI, including calling for a "new tech social contract" that would see greater taxation and more robust federal regulation of the technology.

"To be anti-tech or anti-AI is actively campaigning against your own district," Agarwal said.

In backing Agarwal, venture capitalist Ron Conway wrote on X that it's "time for a new member of Congress in Silicon Valley who prioritizes the advancement of technology and the continuation of the amazing job creation that the Silicon Valley ecosystem has produced for the last 25 years."

Separately, Conway has contributed $500,000 to a super PAC backing pro-AI candidates in primaries around the country.

Tan argued that Khanna has "turned his back" on the district and is working to "destroy prosperity with national asset seizure."

And Palihapitiya, a co-host of the "All-In podcast," recently wrote on X that Khanna "doesn't deserve to represent Silicon Valley and I hope he loses badly in his re-election."

Palihapitiya is also hosting a fundraiser for Agarwal later this month.

The premise of Agarwal's candidacy is that Khanna has moved left ahead of a potential 2028 presidential bid, which the congressman has acknowledged he's considering.

But Khanna argues that his politics haven't changed since his 2016 campaign, noting that he endorsed Sanders that year and has long supported policies like Medicare for All.

"I've always been a progressive capitalist," Khanna said.

It remains to be seen how widespread Agarwal's appeal in the tech world is, and he declined to share preliminary campaign fundraising figures with Business Insider.

Khanna has historically received hundreds of thousands of dollars from individuals who work at tech companies like Google and Apple.

Beyond the wealth tax

To win, Agarwal will need to win more votes than just a coterie of disgruntled tech-world people — and he knows it.

"I'm not going to win if I just have the support of a bunch of like, rich tech bros," he said.

He's taken steps to tap into other potential sources of backlash against Khanna, including the sizable local Iranian-American community.

While Khanna recently led an ill-fated attempt to halt the Iran war via a War Powers Resolution, garnering the support of almost every House Democrat, Agarwal said he would've voted against it.

"Look, I'm not the Secretary of State, and neither is Ro Khanna," said Agarwal. "I know that removing Khamenei was the right thing to do. We'll see how it plays out."

Agarwal has also sought to make an issue out of stock trading in the race, dubbing Khanna "Trader Ro." While the congressman does not trade stocks himself, his wife and children hold millions of dollars worth of stocks in a series of trusts.

In his opening campaign video, Agarwal said that Khanna's family's portfolio beat the market last year, citing a report from Unusual Whales.

However, that report shows that the portfolio actually underperformed the market by several percentage points — it increased by 13% in 2025, while the S&P 500 increased by 16%.

Khanna has also long supported legislation to ban stock trading for lawmakers and spouses, though Agarwal said that the congressman's family should divest their stock holdings regardless of whether that legislation is enacted.