Why Democrats with 2028 hopes are calling Lina Khan – and what she’s telling them about remaking the economy | CNN Politics

Elizabeth Warren, Steve Bannon, Pete Buttigieg and — at least as of a few years ago — JD Vance have agreed on this: A short, ultra-private antitrust lawyer plotting a war on tech companies and monopolies from her new office at Columbia Law School understands what Americans are demanding out of their government. When then-President Joe Biden named her chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan was too much for many leading Democrats. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer declined meetings when she was chair, people familiar with the matter tell CNN. Former Vice President Kamala Harris, once she took over as the 2024 nominee, conspicuously didn’t speak about Khan and avoided appearances with her on the campaign trail. Now, Khan is getting constant calls from Democrats, many of them thinking about presidential runs, who are sounding out problems or workshopping potential solutions. Schumer headlined a press conference in Washington to introduce a bill that would break up meat processing companies, inspired by Khan’s methods and with her input, but which a Schumer aide noted also drew on years of his own consumer advocacy. Khan, 37, hasn’t changed so much as the world