The plot thickens.
In the week since Khizr Khan, the father of an Army captain killed in Iraq in 2004, made an impassioned call to elect Hillary Clinton, some of her supporters have found another person they’d like to see in public office: Khan.
The Charlottesville, Virginia, lawyer and his wife, Ghazala, rose to national prominence after he challenged Trump’s rhetoric on Muslim Americans in a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
Thomas Keefe, a Vietnam veteran and longtime Democratic activist, watched the Khans from backstage at the convention and thought of his son’s friend who died while serving in Afghanistan five years ago this month. Northern Virginia native Douglas J. Green was 23.
“There were a lot of things that were swirling around my head when Mr. Khan was speaking,” he said in a phone interview, his voice cracking.
By the time Keefe, 67, had returned home to Knoxville, Tennessee, he had resolved to send a message to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump about the kind of leadership he believes Americans deserve.
So he started a digital crowdfunding campaign intended to recruit Khan to run for the Virginia House of Delegates, complete with a bumper-sticker-ready slogan: “Yes We Khan!”
Through the platform Crowdpac, 123 individuals pledged more than $13,000 in less than two days. Keefe hopes to reach $20,000 by Monday.
As of Thursday afternoon, a typical pledge to Khan was $111, more than the site-wide average of $70, according to the company. Promises to give have come from people who identify as Republicans as well as Democrats.