PARSIPPANY - Ro Khanna says he knows and likes Tom Malinowski.

But that's not good enough.

Khanna, a progressive congressman from California and a one time House colleague of Malinowski, popped into an Indian restaurant on Monday to speak on behalf of CD-11 candidate Analilia Mejia.

In doing so, he said it's time for Democrats to be bold.

Simply "shaping the narrative" is not good enough, he said. "You need to win."

This race, he said, is not a popularity contest. Issues matter.
Khanna ticked off a number of issues where he said Mejia was the best of 11 candidates running for the party's nod in Thursday's primary.

He said she opposes unrestricted military sales to Israel, wants to "tear down ICE," and supports Medicare for all and taxing the wealthy.

As he put it:

"Yes, we can tax billionaires more. We can tax ultra-wealth more so that working class families have the right shot at life."

To do that, he said Mejia is needed in Congress, telling about 25 supporters:

"If we get out, she's going to win."

Maybe.

In an 11-person field, you do not need a lot of votes to win, relatively speaking.

Mejia is clearly aiming at the party's left wing. Bernie Sanders was in Wayne two weeks ago on her behalf. Elizabeth Warren endorsed her on Sunday.

And Khanna was in the district today.

Regardless of politics, this was quite the commitment for Khanna, whose district includes Silicon Valley.

Khanna took a train from Washington to Newark and was driven to Parsippany to speak.

After 15 minutes or so, he was back in the car and on his way to catch a train back to D.C.