Huffman, Levine in November

Voters should return Jared Huffman to Congress and Marc Levine to the State Assembly|

The November election is full of important races locally, statewide and nationally. In Petaluma, all of the action is down-ballot, where a competent group of seven city council candidates and a competitive three-way mayoral race will be exciting to follow through the fall.

Our state and federal races, however, have garnered little attention, although Petalumans will still see on their ballot candidates for State Assembly and Congress.

The reason these contests have flown under the radar is partly because the incumbents have done such a commendable job that no viable challenger has emerged in these solidly left-leaning districts. Nonetheless, each incumbent faces nominal challengers, so it is incumbent upon the voters to turn out and support them for reelection.

Jared Huffman for Congress

Rep. Jared Huffman has been a reliable ally for Petaluma causes, despite the increasingly caustic atmosphere in Washington. Huffman has made headway on local issues, like securing initial funding to study dredging the Petaluma River and finding money for the SMART commuter train.

But Huffman’s main raison d’etre has emerged as being a leader of the movement to resist the Trump administration, which is a necessary role given the utter train wreck of this administration.

Huffman, an environmental lawyer and former state assemblyman, cringes with the rest of us in his blue district at the gutting of Obama-era environmental regulations and the rolling back of the Affordable Care Act. If Democrats win the House in November, Huffman will have even more tools to help curb the carnage.

Huffman faces a perennial candidate from Humboldt County who has never held elected office. Dale Mensing, a Republican grocery store clerk, lost to Huffman in each of the past two elections, getting around 25 percent of the vote.

Voters looking to be part of the predicted electoral wave that sends a strong rebuke to President Trump this November should send Huffman back to Washington to continue his fight.

The Argus-Courier recommends Jared Huffman for Congress.

Marc Levine for Assembly

Marc Levine has started to find his footing as a mature legislator as he seeks his fourth term in the State Assembly. The San Rafael Democrat spent much of the beginning of his first six years in office authoring gimmicky legislation addressing niche problems. Bills allowing selfies at the ballot box and ensuring models are not underweight certainly received attention and raised Levine’s profile, but it is the work he has done in the past two years, especially since the October wildfires, that has had a bigger impact.

Levine has authored 62 bills signed into law, and has recently authored bills that combat underinsurance issues revealed by 2017 North Bay wildfires. He organized an Assembly committee on natural disaster response after the October North Bay wildfires.

Levine has worked on mental health issues to prevent suicides, taken on the National Rifle Association by making some assault weapons harder to purchase and championed environmental legislation.

Levine’s challenger, Dan Monte, is a San Rafael Democrat who is positioned to Levine’s left. While he champions progressive causes, Monte, a former contractor and paratransit bus driver, lacks legislative experience or the centrism needed to work with all sides of the political spectrum.

We like to see Levine hit his stride in Sacramento, and we think he can be effective if given another two-year term.

For these reasons, the Argus-Courier recommends Marc Levine for State Assembly.

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.