Interview by Meagan Day

Last month, more than a hundred elected officials in California signed a statement endorsing the idea of a public takeover of PG&E, the state’s multibillion dollar utilities behemoth. The company has long inspired popular frustration. Now the idea of taking PG&E under democratic control boasts significant popular support, official backing, and possibly real momentum.

Rep. Ro Khanna, who represents a slice of Silicon Valley, has stepped out as a leading proponent of a PG&E takeover. He’s been pushing the idea of transforming PG&E into a public utility since October, after power outages affected millions on short notice. The outages came on the heels of a spectacular display of corporate crookedness in the summer and multiple PG&E-caused fires in the fall.

Khanna also serves as national co-chair of Bernie Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign, which emphasizes public utilities in its plan for a Green New Deal. In December 2019, Jacobin’s Meagan Day spoke to him about the proposed PG&E takeover, the logic and advantages of public utilities, and the nature of Bernie’s coalition: ideologically diverse, but united in its commitment to the universal provision of essential social goods.