U.S. House of RepresentativesCandidate for District 2

Congressman Jared Huffman was elected in November, 2012 to represent California's 2nd Congressional District, which stretches from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border.  He serves as Ranking Member of the subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans in the House Natural Resources Committee, and has quickly emerged as a leader in Congress on environmental and climate change issues.

Before his election to Congress, Huffman represented the North Bay for six years in the California Assembly, where he distinguished himself as a legislator who works hard and gets results, often forging bipartisan consensus on difficult issues. Huffman authored well over 60 pieces of successful legislation in the Assembly and received numerous awards for his legislative leadership. He chaired the Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee and played a leading role in crafting and passing landmark water reforms in 2009. Other notable laws authored by Huffman include California’s pioneering lighting efficiency standards (AB 1109) which were subsequently adopted into federal law; the nation’s largest programs for solar hot water heating (AB 1470) and paint recycling (AB 1343); reforms that improve California’s State Parks system (AB 1589) and Department of Fish and Wildlife (AB 2402); and creation of a new voluntary type of corporation, California Benefit Corporations, to promote corporate social responsibility (AB 361).

Prior to his election to public office, Huffman was a Senior Attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). One of his proudest accomplishments at NRDC was helping forge an agreement to restore a 153-mile stretch of the San Joaquin River in California’s Central Valley.

Before he joined NRDC, Huffman was a successful public interest attorney whose victories included several major jury verdicts in gender discrimination and race discrimination trials. He also served 12 years in local government as a Director of the Marin Municipal Water District (MMWD), from 1994 to 2006.

Huffman graduated magna cum laudefrom the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he was also a three-time NCAA All-American volleyball player. He went on to play for the USA Volleyball Team in 1987 when the team was ranked #1 in the world, before attending and graduatingcum laudefrom Boston College Law School.  Huffman was recently inducted into the UC Santa Barbara Athletic Hall of Fame and presented with the "Distinghuished Gaucho" award.

Huffman lives in San Rafael with his wife Susan, a teacher, and their two children Abby (15) and Nathan (13). In his free time, Huffman enjoys all types of fishing, as well as tennis and home winemaking.

Huffman serves on the Natural Resources and Transportation Committees in the 114^thCongress.

I’ve been a strong, effective voice for California's 2nd district on national issues and critical local priorities.  

I’m fighting for an economic agenda that prioritizes middle class opportunities, better wages, college affordability and protections for working families.  That includes ending wasteful tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, and investing the savings in our future:  education, research and infrastructure.

As a leader on climate change and environmental protection, I’ve stood up to Big Oil by authoring bills to permanently protect our coast and public lands from drilling, and to accelerate our renewable energy transformation.  I’m also working across the aisle with a small, determined group of Republicans who accept climate science and understand that building a clean energy economy is a tremendous economic opportunity if we work together.  

Protecting North Coast rivers and fisheries is critical.  I’ve fought for additional flows in the Trinity River, authored legislation to protect the Smith River, and am working to expedite removal of Klamath River dams. 

I’ve also led the fight against continuous attacks on the Bay-Delta in Congress, and introduced comprehensive water legislation to make California drought-resilient without sacrificing environmental protections or pitting one region against another. 

I’ll keep fighting on local issues that matter – standing up for our sustainable local agriculture; securing funding to complete the SMART project; spearheading federal disaster relief for struggling Dungeness Crab fishermen; reforming the VA to improve veterans’ healthcare access, and more.

I’m fighting for values we share -- from increased funding for special education, to expanding rural broadband service, to supporting diplomatic solutions that can avoid costly wars in the Middle East.    

I would be honored by your vote.