Our honorary congressman has not given up on Iowa

Iowa’s fifth congressman, Rep. Ro Khanna of Silicon Valley in California, noted that since the Iowa Caucuses have been abandoned by the Democratic National Committee it should be obvious that he was not campaigning for president in Ankeny last week.

The Democrat has been hanging around the Tall Corn State for several years promoting technology transfer to rural communities so a student in Jefferson or Slater does not have to leave home to get a decent job in the digital age.

Khanna was at Des Moines Community College to tout an effort with Google to train about 20 students per year in digital technology, with stipends to acquire specific computer skills so they can work remotely in the tech industry.

This follows on his work with DMACC and Iowa Central Community College to school students in digital coding in Jefferson. He said that program is going well, with about a half dozen students matriculating annually into jobs from Silicon Valley that do not require them to leave home.

Khanna also has helped Iowa State University get funding for sustainable ag research programs like planting prairie strips in row-crop fields to reduce nutrient loss by up to 90%.

Many of us who have observed him working the rural hustings assumed he was angling for a presidential, or at least a vice-presidential, bid. He was a national co-chairman for Bernie Sanders and spent a lot of time campaigning across the state.

He also has been working in Pennsylvania (his home state, where his parents immigrated from India), Appalachia and South Carolina trying to jump-start digital tech education in community colleges in underserved rural areas and in historically Black colleges.

U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna

He insists his work is not political. Khanna said he intends to spend the next decade trying to restore prosperity by bringing the digital revolution to the back roads of America. He is working in concert with Steve Case, the founder of AOL, whose Rise of the Rest venture capital fund aims to seed new businesses outside the bi-coastal tech hubs. They believe that letting everyone share in the prosperity created by technology is a principal way to bring people together and close the wealth gap.

“We need to empower people so they can believe that their kids have a shot at the American Dream,” Khanna told me. “The moment is ripe. Individuals can transform communities.”

For now, Khanna is working on 10 digital training programs nationally, including DMACC. He said that needs to quickly ramp up to 50 programs involving the federal government, community colleges and historically Black colleges. He said a natural next step would be to start such a program in Storm Lake through Iowa Central Community College.

“Storm Lake has the advantage of having so many immigrant students who want to stay close to their families, and Iowa Central is very innovative and open. I will continue to push to make that happen in Storm Lake,” he said.

Why Iowa, if not for politics?

Khanna plans for success, not failure. Iowa’s strong network of community colleges plugged into local school systems helps to ensure the effort does not fall on its face for lack of basic skills in language and math. That’s a challenge in some of the places he works. The state’s community colleges are focused on results. Gov. Kim Reynolds showed up for the ribbon cutting for the Jefferson program alongside Khanna. It’s good politics to be seen working with business in partnership to revitalize towns that are not already lost forever.

It doesn’t hurt Khanna’s political ambitions to be a Democrat who is received warmly in Greene County, Iowa. He is among the few Members of Congress who actually understand why Iowa switched from Obama to Trump: It’s all about the economy, stupid! The reason he understands is because he keeps showing up in Ankeny and Jefferson, and West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Which is why he should be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2028 — because he gave a damn about Iowa when the rest of the Democratic Party told us to get lost.

Art Cullen is the editor of the Storm Lake Times Pilot in Northwest Iowa, where this column appeared. For more columns and editorials, please consider a subscription to the Times Pilot. Or, if you wish, you can make a tax-deductible gift to the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation to support independent community journalism in rural Iowa. Thanks.

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