The midterm elections are next week, and Democrat Jared Huffman of California’s 2nd Congressional District deserves your vote.

Huffman has served as U.S. Representative for Marin, Humboldt, Del Norte and Trinity counties, plus portions of Sonoma since 2013, and he has consistently voted the district’s best interests.

Huffman fights for students, and continues to voice support for expanded financial aid programs at community colleges statewide.

“The Republican Congress has tried to cut them many times,” Huffman said. “I would like to significantly expand the Pell Grant program.”

Equally as important is his attention to K-12 education, affording more students a chance at higher education. In 2015, he voted for bipartisan legislation to replace No Child Left Behind with the Every Student Succeeds Act aimed at maintaining civil protection for younger students.

His work on education alone should appeal to students enough to vote for him, but his stance on several other issues improves his stock.

In March 2017, President Trump signed an executive order designed to expand coal, oil and gas leasing on public lands. Shortly after, Huffman reintroduced the Stop Arctic Ocean Drilling Act, designed to ban any new or renewed leases for exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas in the Arctic Ocean. The bill remains in committee for consideration in the House.  

The Global Commission on Economy and Climate’s September study said global emissions will only be reversible until 2030; the time to act is now on environmental issues.

“You can’t even sustain life on this planet if you don’t do something in the next 10-12 years to reduce our emissions,” Huffman said. “It’s a real call to action, and if we miss it, if we screw it up, your generation is going to suffer.”

Huffman has expressed concern for the status of Roe v. Wade after Republican Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court.

“I think you’ll continue to see conservative so-called pro-life states push the envelope with parental notification and late-term abortion bans that will now find their way to the Supreme Court with a very friendly potential 5-4 vote,” Huffman said. “California will continue to respect a woman’s right to choose, but it’s a whole bunch of other states that won’t be fine.”

Huffman’s stance on these important issues and his continued activity in the House of Representatives make him an invaluable member of Congress.

On behalf of the Santa Rosa Junior College Oak Leaf, vote Jared Huffman for House of Representatives Nov. 6.