Ethan Agarwal, a 40-year-old tech entrepreneur with no political background, is running for California’s 17th congressional district against Representative Ro Khanna. This move is expected to set up one of the most lavishly funded primary challenges of the 2026 cycle. Khanna, a Democrat, has publicly supported a one-time wealth tax in California, which has infuriated some of the state's richest founders and investors, but has doubled down, proposing a national legislation with Senator Bernie Sanders that would impose a 5% annual wealth tax on all Americans worth $1 billion or more, which their offices estimate would raise $4.4 trillion over a decade. Agarwam is a graduate of Wharton and spent three years at McKinsey before founding audio fitness company Aaptiv. He most recently co-founded financial services startup Coterie.