# United States Representative, District 17 Compare records and positions simply between Ro Khanna or Ritesh Tandon for United States Representative, District 17 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives (2-year term). - Jurisdiction: Federal - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/us-rep-17 - Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/ - Sources last retrieved: September 24, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 93 out of 100 (Very strong), across 9 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Ro Khanna** — United States Congressmember · Democratic - **Ritesh Tandon** — CEO/Entrepreneur/Researcher · Republican Representative Ro Khanna took 62.3% of the June 2 vote and Republican Ritesh Tandon took 14.8% to claim the second slot. Khanna has raised $13,761,491 — the largest campaign fund of any candidate on this ballot, state or federal. The district covers Fremont, Santa Clara and part of Silicon Valley. The winner holds one of 435 seats in the U.S. House for a two-year term. A member introduces bills, sits on committees that shape federal legislation, votes on the federal budget and on war powers, and handles casework between constituents and federal agencies. Seniority governs committee standing, so a longer-serving member carries influence a newcomer cannot. One number here is worth pausing on. The incumbent raised $13.76 million and took $1,000 of it from PACs and committees — effectively none. Of every candidate on this ballot he has both the largest campaign and the smallest institutional share of it, at roughly seven thousandths of one percent. Whatever you make of the scale, the composition is unusual and verifiable. ## Ro Khanna Ro Khanna, a Democrat, is serving his fifth term representing this Silicon Valley district. He is ranking member of a House Armed Services subcommittee on cyber and information technology (khanna.house.gov). He also sits on the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and the Oversight and Accountability Committee (khanna.house.gov). His office describes his work as "restoring American manufacturing and technology leadership" and improving "the lives of working people" (khanna.house.gov). On immigration he says "immigrants help strengthen our economy and enrich our culture." He says he will "fight to protect immigrants' rights while ending abuses of the system," including legal status for DREAMers and reform of the H-1B visa program (khanna.house.gov). In September 2026 he introduced the Illegal War Refund Act. He says it would "refund Americans for the economic costs they have borne" from what he calls an unauthorized war with Iran, using funds redirected from the Defense Department budget (khanna.house.gov). He has also introduced a Data Center Bill of Rights. It would give "communities greater control over the construction and operation" of AI data centers near homes and schools. He backed Yale research finding Medicare for All could save more than a trillion dollars a year in health spending (khanna.house.gov). **Strengths:** Fifth-term seniority with ranking positions on tech, security and China-focused committees, and a documented record of introducing bills across health care, AI and foreign policy. **Trade-offs:** A heavily Democratic district means this race offers little independent scrutiny, and how much of his high volume of proposed bills becomes law is not something this profile counts. **Keep in mind:** His agenda spans national and international issues like AI ethics and war powers as much as local ones, which is worth weighing against a district seat focused on Silicon Valley. ## Ritesh Tandon Ritesh Tandon, a Republican, has "proudly called the Bay Area home" for 26 years. He holds a master's degree in computer engineering (2001) and an MBA (2007). He is a Research Fellow at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, with a career in nonprofit leadership, business and entrepreneurship (tandonforcongress.com). He traces his motivation to his grandfather, "Kanhaiyalal Tandon," who "fought for India's independence." That taught him, he says, that "freedom is never free," and he argues many politicians "take liberty for granted" (tandonforcongress.com). He has not held elected office, so there is no voting record, lawsuit or other documented conduct to weigh here beyond his own campaign statements. He promises to "cut taxes for working families," simplify small-business taxes, and put "AI in Every School" (tandonforcongress.com). On immigration he calls to "secure the border," reform asylum processing, and prioritize "skills-based legal immigration" (tandonforcongress.com). **Strengths:** He gives the district a contested general election and has an independent professional and academic background outside politics. **Trade-offs:** No record in elected office to judge, and coverage of this race carries little beyond his own campaign materials. **Keep in mind:** His platform borrows national Republican themes like border security and tax cuts more than issues specific to this Silicon Valley district. ## Record in office Ro Khanna (Democratic) has served in the U.S. House since 2017 and has sponsored 50 bills in the 119th Congress; 8 of their career bills have become law. Ritesh Tandon has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress; these records cover only those offices. Per Congress.gov and the public-domain congress-legislators roster, retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Record details Khanna — Committees: Armed Services; Oversight and Government Reform; House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party Khanna — HR 4405 (2025): Epstein Files Transparency Act Khanna — HR 5887 (2025): Government Service Delivery Improvement Act Khanna — HR 7535 (2022): Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record. ## Financial info - **Ro Khanna** — $13,761,491 raised (Individuals: $12,735,790; PACs & committees: $1,000) - **Ritesh Tandon** — $37,653 raised (Individuals: $37,628; Self-funding: $25) Total raised is all receipts for the 2026 cycle; the breakdown lists direct contributions, so the pieces can sum below the total. Figures are FEC filings through June 30, 2026, per the FEC bulk campaign-finance summaries, retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Review notes - Ritesh Tandon for Congress may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources. ## Sources 1. [CA Secretary of State — Statement of Vote, June 2, 2026 primary (certified 2026-07-10)](https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/prior-elections/statewide-election-results/primary-election-june-2-2026/statement-vote) 2. [Ballotpedia — June 2026 California primary](https://ballotpedia.org) 3. [Congressman Ro Khanna — About](https://khanna.house.gov/about) 4. [Congressman Ro Khanna — Issues: Immigration](https://khanna.house.gov/issues/immigration) 5. [Congressman Ro Khanna — Press Releases (Illegal War Refund Act and other 2026 legislation)](https://khanna.house.gov/media/press-releases) 6. [Ritesh Tandon for Congress — Home](https://www.tandonforcongress.com/) 7. [congress-legislators — current members of Congress (unitedstates project)](https://unitedstates.github.io/congress-legislators/legislators-current.json) 8. [Congress.gov — member sponsored legislation (Library of Congress)](https://api.congress.gov/) 9. [FEC — 2026 House & Senate current-campaign financial summaries (bulk data)](https://www.fec.gov/files/bulk-downloads/2026/webl26.zip) ## The rest of the ballot United States Representative, District 17 is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/ ## How to cite this page Vote or Else, "United States Representative, District 17 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/us-rep-17 (sources last retrieved September 24, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.