‘Go On There!’ Ro Khanna Tells Mediaite Why Appearing on Fox News Is Worthwhile for Democrats

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) makes frequent appearances on Fox News, and he shared with Mediaite his strategy for positive outreach to the network’s audience and the advice he gives to his fellow Democrats.

Khanna was in Orlando Tuesday evening to attend a rally at the University of Central Florida to support Angie Nixon, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate. Prior to the event, Mediaite was able to get a brief exclusive interview with him.

The congressman, whose district includes Silicon Valley, has been a frequent sight on television programs and podcasts, advocating for his bill with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to release the Epstein files, criticizing President Donald Trump’s administration, voicing support for Democratic candidates, and other topics.

Not all of those television hits have been on liberal-leaning outlets; Khanna is well-known for being willing to go on numerous Fox News programs. Mediaite asked Khanna about why he was “so willing as a Democrat” to appear on programs people might assume are not as friendly for members of his party, and what advice and strategies he would offer to other Democrats about how to be “successful on that platform.”

Khanna remarked that he had been on Fox News just that morning, and then explained how growing up in the Philadelphia suburbs in Bucks County, Pennsylvania led him to feel comfortable around Republicans and also to see the benefit in trying to reach out to them as a Democrat.

Bucks County was a GOP stronghold during Khanna’s childhood and then shifted to more of a swing state, going from voting for Republican presidential candidates by wide margins to narrowly voting for Democrats starting with Bill Clinton’s first election in 1992, then picking Trump by less than 300 votes (a 0.07% margin) in 2024.

“I grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania,” said Khanna. “I grew up with people who watch Fox News or were Republicans. And I always think about how would I communicate to them, because a lot of things I believe in are common sense.”

The Fox News audience was “patriotic,” the congressman continued, and said that tied in well to his message of “economic patriotism, to be for every American having healthcare, with Medicare for all, to saying that we should be taxing billionaires when they’ve lived the American dream so that the rest of Americans have a chance as well, to be for free child care in this country.”

“And by going on Fox News, I get to share my ideas and not be demonized,” he said.

Khanna then shared his advice for his fellow Democrats:

And what my advice would be — go on there, be yourself! Don’t be judgmental or preachy. Try to make your case, and come at it with good faith that the people you’re trying to convince are millions of our fellow citizens. And, by making an argument about why their lives would be better, we can win them over.

Mediaite also asked Khanna about why he was in Orlando and why he felt Florida was winnable for Democrats this year, even though “a lot of Democrats at the national level, and even here in Florida, have written off this state” for several election cycles.

“Well, Angie Nixon hasn’t,” Khanna replied.

“I know she has not,” I said. “What is it that about this moment that is making you say that is worth spending time and money in the Sunshine State?”

Replied Khanna:

Well, people here are frustrated, with the gas prices, with diesel prices, with the corruption in government. They’re looking for something new. And this is a state that Barack Obama won twice. This is a state that [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis barely squeaked through the first time he ran. This is a state that will elect a Democrat like Angie Nixon, someone who knows what they believe in, who is speaking to working and middle class concerns, and who is saying we need something new, because the system isn’t working for us.

In 2018, DeSantis squeaked by Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum (D) by only 0.4%, 4,076,186 votes (49.59%) to Gillum’s 4,043,723 (49.19%), and a recount was needed to get it finalized. DeSantis racked up a stronger win in 2022, clobbering former Republican-former Independent-former Governor-now Democrat Charlie Crist (currently the front runner in the race for mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida), 4,614,210 votes (59.37%) to 3,106,313 votes (39.97%) f0r Crist. A previous deep-dive Mediaite analysis of that race noted the overwhelming financial disparity between DeSantis and Crist and cited several Florida political experts who concluded the GOP establishment had sought to “run up the score” for DeSantis to boost his chances in knocking out Trump in the 2024 presidential primary.

In 2026, Florida Republicans still retain a financial advantage, but it is nowhere near as lopsided as in 2022, and multiple polls have shown Nixon, gubernatorial candidate David Jolly, and other Democrats running statewide within the margin of error with their GOP opponents.

Watch the video above via YouTube.

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