Howard Dean group backs Honda in primary

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean’s (D) organization is backing Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) against a more centrist primary challenger.

The endorsement is Democracy for America’s first of the 2014 election cycle. Honda is being challenged by former Commerce Department official Ro Khanna (D).

{mosads}”I rarely endorse candidates in primaries, but Mike Honda is a progressive leader and we need him in Congress,” Dean wrote in a letter to the liberal group’s supporters.

Honda has the backing of much of the Democratic establishment, including President Obama, but Khanna has been able to raise millions of dollars from Silicon Valley and has support from big-name tech gurus like Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer and Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg.

Dean criticizes Khanna’s support from the tech businesses, calling him “a corporate-backed challenger whose big money donors are intent on buying Mike’s seat in Congress.”

California’s unusual all-party primary system means the two are likely to face off in the general election in the heavily Democratic district. Honda’s internal polling suggests he has a big lead, but Khanna is hoping he can stitch together a coalition of centrist Democrats, independents and Republicans to win the seat.

Khanna’s campaign fired back.

“Regardless of these baseless attacks from Congressman Hond’s allies, people here in the district know that Ro is the only candidate that has pledged never to take a single dollar from corporations,” Khanna spokesman Tyler Law says. “Unfortunately, this is just another example of the divisive rhetoric that has left hardworking families disillusioned by Congress and yearning for real solutions.”

This post was updated at 2:20 p.m.