The candidate that Silicon Valley built is now the one they want to tear down

Ethan Agarwal, a 40-year-old tech entrepreneur with no political background, told TechCrunch on Monday evening that he is running for California’s 17th congressional district.

For months, there has been talk that Silicon Valley’s billionaire class was recruiting a candidate to take on Representative Ro Khanna. Early Tuesday morning, that candidate made it official.

Ethan Agarwal (pictured above), a 40-year-old tech entrepreneur with no political background, told TechCrunch on Monday evening that he is running for California’s 17th congressional district. That process is likely to set up what may become one of the most lavishly funded primary challenges of the 2026 cycle.

The race puts a spotlight on Khanna, a 49-year-old Democrat widely seen as a possible 2028 presidential candidate, who has publicly backed a one-time wealth tax in California. His endorsement has infuriated some of the state’s richest founders and investors, but Khanna just doubled down anyway, introducing national legislation on Monday with Senator Bernie Sanders that would impose a 5% annual wealth tax on all Americans worth $1 billion or more — a proposal their offices estimate would raise $4.4 trillion over a decade.