In 2008, Khenin was the mayoral candidate for the Ir Lekhulanu ("City for All") party. The party was supported by the Jaffa Jewish-Arab list Yafa (whose partners are Balad and Hadash) and endorsed by the Green Movement in Tel Aviv's 2008 municipal election. Khenin's platform was largely focused on improving civil infrastructure. Public transportation, housing, as well as education equality and ecology were focuses of his campaign. Khenin also ran on a concept of promoting communities within Tel Aviv, saying in an interview, "the most important thing in the city is not the streets and the buildings, but the people and the communities." Khenin lost the election with 34.3% of the vote to incumbent mayor Ron Huldai, who got 50.6% of the vote. Khenin vowed to continue battling Huldai's policies from the Knesset and Tel Aviv's opposition.
