Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California said he would be opposed to letting violent felons like the Boston Marathon bomber vote in federal elections, on CNN’s “New Day” Wednesday.
Khanna’s statement is at odds with Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who said felons should retain the right to vote during a CNN town hall Monday.
“We have a country which has gone from incarcerating 500,000 people to 2.2 million people, and this is disenfranchising for many people of color,” Khanna said. “I think California has a compromise where felony convictions, those who are nonviolent in county jails, have the right to vote, but those who have committed violent felonies like the Boston Marathon [bombers] don’t have the right to vote.”
“That to me seems like a reasonable way forward where you’re enfranchising people, but not giving someone like the Boston Marathon bomber the right to vote,” he continued. “I think it’s a compromise position going forward and one that has worked in my home state of California.”
Host John Berman asked if Khanna thought it would be wrong to give Dzhokhar Tsarnaev the right to vote and he stood by his previous statement.
“Obviously he should have the right to be treated if he has cancer … and he should have certain human rights, but I wouldn’t go that far in terms of giving him a right to vote,” he replied.
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