U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, met with Iowans after headlining Iowa state Rep. Sean Bagniewski’s annual Fish Fry dinner in Des Moines on October 11, 2026. Khanna told Iowa Democrats he believed Iowa Rep. Josh Turek could help bring a ‘moral renewal to America’ if he is elected to serve in the U.S. Senate.
Khanna was the headline speaker for state Rep. Sean Bagniewski’s annual Fish Fry dinner in Des, a fundraiser that has regularly brought influential national Democrats to the state. Last year, former President Barack Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel spoke at the event. Bagniewski referenced the potential implications of a figure like Khanna visiting Iowa even as the state lost its first-in-the-nation status for the Democratic presidential nominating calendar, saying, ‘I hope he has higher aspirations very soon. We’re not going to talk about those tonight.’
Though the California Democrat is considered a potential presidential contender in the 2028 election, he did not discuss any potential future runs. Instead, he focused on the upcoming Nov. 3, 2026 midterms, and his support for Turek and other Iowa Democrats heading into the election.
Alongside several Iowa U.S. House races, the U.S. Senate race between Turek and Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson is expected to be close – and one of a handful nationwide that could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.
Khanna held an event with Turek earlier in the day hosted by The Iowa Mercury about a ‘Conversation on Government Transparency & Accountability.’ Khanna said this event was focused on ‘the moral clarity that we need in our country.’
‘I think we need a moral renewal in America, a spiritual renewal in America, and that to me was what the Epstein fight was about,’ he said.
The California Democrat was a leading figure alongside Republican U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie in efforts over the past two years to compel the U.S. Department of Justice to publicize files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. After gathering enough signatures on a discharge petition to override leadership and force a vote in the House, the ‘Epstein Files Transparency Act’ passed both chambers in 2025.
Khanna said after this vote, ‘we showed that you can stand up to power when you have people on your side and you’re standing up for justice, and that the American people will respond.’
‘There was one person who didn’t get the memo – and I don’t say this in a partisan way – Ashley Hinson never getting on the original discharge petition,’ he said. Hinson voted in favor of the Epstein Files Transparency Act when it successfully made it to the U.S. House floor.
Though Hinson did not sign off on the initial discharge petition, he said there was a second discharge position she could support, on legislation titled the ‘Epstein Files Transparency Act II.’ This measure would allow state attorneys general, local prosecutors and victims to sue the U.S. attorney general ‘over alleged unlawful withholdings, redactions or failure to produce records,’ according to a news release, in addition to requiring the U.S. attorney general provide certain unredacted documents to victims when requested.
Other Republicans – U.S. Reps. Nancy Mace and Brian Fitzpatrick – have signed onto the petition. Khanna said at the event he wanted Hinson to join the effort.
‘Today, I’m calling on Ashley Hinson to text or call Thomas Massie and sign that discharge petition so we can get a vote and hold the Epstein class accountable,’ he said. ‘You can’t talk about bipartisanship and not act in a bipartisan way. I don’t know Iowa that well, but I know here people care more about what you do tha
