A Silicon Valley Democrat takes town halls to enemy territory — but will it peel off any GOP votes in Congress?

Silicon Valley Rep. Ro Khanna was a long way from his district this weekend.

The Democrat trekked to Pennsylvania and answered unscripted questions in a pair of Republican-held congressional districts from liberal audiences outraged about President Donald Trump’s planned spending cuts and anxious about the Democratic Party’s future.

At a town hall in Allentown, a city about 50 miles from Philadelphia, where Khanna was born 48 years ago, he singled out Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, who narrowly won the area’s swing district in the U.S. House of Representatives last year. Khanna and local residents who are covered by Medicaid urged Mackenzie to break with his party and oppose Republicans’ planned cuts to the nearly free health care program for 70 million lower-earning Americans.

“I’m here to make sure that we stop it,” Khanna said from behind a podium, to cheers. “I want Congressman Mackenzie to oppose those Medicaid cuts.”

It was just the latest example of Khanna targeting Republican members of Congress in their own districts, on the heels of his town halls in GOP territory in southern California, New Jersey, Wisconsin and Nebraska.

For Khanna, the tactic is Democrats’ best strategy to protect Medicaid and other programs in Republicans’ crosshairs, he said in an interview with Bay Area News Group. He plans to do 10 more town halls.

“That’s the only practical way to stop them,” he said.

But Khanna’s cross-country tour may also serve another purpose: testing the waters for a possible run for president in 2028, political insiders said.

Though mum on his political future, the Democrat has signaled his ambitions for a bigger role in the future of the party. He has established himself as a mainstay of national TV news programs and often picks fights with conservative heavyweights such as Vice President JD Vance. In a recent interview, Khanna also spoke extensively about his vision to re-industrialize the Rust Belt, in states far from the Bay Area. In 2020, he was the co-chair of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign.

Larry Gerston, a political science professor at San Jose State University who is familiar with Khanna, said he’s probably considering a presidential bid but hasn’t made up his mind. Voters are less familiar with him that other likely Democratic contenders, such as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro or California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Gerston said.

Repeated trips to far-flung locales could help change that, he said.

“Right now, name recognition is not as important as it will be a year from now,” Gerston said. “But you don’t get there by swallowing a pill.”

Republican strategist Matt Shupe, who worked for one of Khanna’s opponents in his 2014 run for Congress, said the town halls are vessels for Khanna’s own ambition — not an authentic desire to help voters.

“What I see him doing is just elevating himself in this national dialogue of who is going to be the future of the Democratic party, in competition with Gavin Newsom,” Shupe said.

Khanna isn’t alone in crisscrossing the country. Nationally, Democrats are using town halls to whip up opposition against Republicans.

After Trump and Republicans’ decisive victory in November, Democrats hold too few seats in Congress to meaningfully oppose Trump’s budget proposal, which would extend tax breaks and cut $1.5 trillion in spending, mostly to Medicaid, while adding $3.3 trillion to the national debt over a decade. As of Monday afternoon, divided Republicans were trying to pass the bill in the House.

So far, the likes of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and a slew of other representatives have recently appeared in Republican districts.

Republicans’ own town halls saw a wave of angry protests, and in March, Speaker Mike Johnson advised his caucus not to hold any more in-person. Democrats jumped on the opportunity.

“If Republicans won’t talk to their own voters, then Democrats will,” the Democratic National Committee said in a recent fundraising email.

In an interview, Shupe did not directly answer when asked if Democrats’ town halls were making Republicans more vulnerable. Neither did Maureen O’Toole, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee. O’Toole declined an interview and emailed Bay Area News Group a written statement that called Khanna “a far-left lunatic.”

“It’s absolutely laughable if Democrats think sending extremists like Khanna is an effective campaign strategy against House Republicans,” O’Toole said.

Of the Bay Area’s many Democrats in Congress, none has leaned so heavily into town halls recently as Khanna, who represents a safe liberal district stretching from Fremont to Cupertino.

Khanna said his crusade has already yielded results. After he held a town hall in California’s 22nd congressional district in the Central Valley, Republican Rep. David Valadao publicly stated support for Medicaid and reportedly asked House Speaker Mike Johnson not to cut the program in a letter.

Valadao did not respond to a request for comment. He reportedly told The Washington Post that Khanna’s town hall didn’t influence his stance on Medicaid. In his district, which includes part of Bakersfield, 495,000 residents are Medicaid recipients, the most of any Republican district nationwide, according to the health news site KFF. Democratic activists have also heavily targeted the district with protests and fasts.