Epstein vote may elevate Dem lawmaker who claims he 'ripped MAGA apart': report

“It took him on his side and me on my side, and our working relationship before this, to be able to do this,” Massie said Tuesday morning, after a news conference with Epstein survivors. “Our chance of success was about 4 percent at the beginning, and we’re going to succeed. So I am a little bit surprised. I’m used to fighting battles and not winning.”

One of those survivors agreed after the vote.

“I think Ro Khanna is a brilliant human being," said survivor Haley Robson. "I think he stands for justice. He’s on the right side of history. If it wasn’t for Massie, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Ro Khanna, I don’t think any of this would have been possible. They are just incredible people who genuinely care.”

The 47-year-old Khanna, who served in the Commerce Department under Barack Obama, represents Silicon Valley and has earned a reputation as a self-promoter who often talks to right-wing media, but he said those tactics have allowed him to "make a difference in Congress."

“In the beginning – I’m not going to say who – but some of the folks in our own party were like, eyerolls, ‘There goes Ro on one of his issues…’ ‘Why aren’t we talking about the price of eggs?’ ‘Why aren’t we talking about the price of health care?’ ‘What’s up with this?’ And I said, ‘No, there is something legitimate here,'" Khanna told CNN.

Khanna is already talking with Greene, whom he barely knew before, about banning private equity firms from buying up single-family homes, and he'd like to get Republican support for extending Medicare to people starting at 55 years old, although he prefers the "Medicare for All" plan pushed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

“My point is, if your goal is just, ‘How do Democrats win,’ maybe anti-Trump is enough for a moment," he told CNN. "If your goal is, ‘How do we build an enduring majority, which is what progressive Democrats like me want to do?’ This is absolutely essential."

“This is a proof of concept that we need to actually figure out how we bring disaffected MAGA voters into our coalition, that we need to focus much more on railing against a system that has screwed Americans and offering a hopeful message about how we help them, more than just meme-ing against Donald Trump," Khanna added.