Jared Huffman

Early life, education, and legal career

Huffman graduated from William Chrisman High School in 1982 and later received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science magna cum laude from University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. At UCSB, Huffman was a three-time All-American volleyball player. Huffman was a member of USA Volleyball Team in 1987 when the team was ranked #1 in the world and had recently won the World Championship. He went on to graduate cum laude from Boston College Law School in 1990.

Huffman became a consumer attorney specializing in public interest cases. Among his court victories was a case on behalf of the National Organization for Women, which required all California State University campuses to comply with Title IX. Huffman was a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. He was also a publicly elected director of the Marin Municipal Water District for twelve years, including three terms as board president.

Elections

Huffman won the Democratic nomination for the 6th district in a hotly contested primary in June 2006 in which he surprised the political establishment with a victory over opponents Pamela Torliatt, a Petaluma city councilwoman, and Cynthia Murray, a Marin County Supervisor who was initially considered the frontrunner. Huffman also defeated Assistant State Attorney General Damon Connelly, Marin County Democratic Chairman John Alden, and sociologist Alex Easton-Brown.

Huffman defeated Republican opponent Dr. Michael Hartnett by a more than 2:1 margin in the general election on November 7, 2006.

Huffman faced two opponents in the November 2008 general election: Republican Paul Lavery and Libertarian Timothy Hannan. He won with 70% of the vote and the 137,873 votes he received were among the most by any California Assembly candidate in 2008. In the Democratic primary, Huffman was unopposed and received 57,213 votes—the most of any California Assemblymember in that election.

In the June 2010 California primary, Huffman easily defeated a fellow Democratic challenger Patrick Connally. Huffman faced Republican nominee Robert Stephens in the November 2010 general election. He won overwhelmingly with more than 70% of the vote—the highest winning margin of any candidate on the ballot in the North Bay that year. Due to California term limits, Huffman would have been unable to seek a fourth Assembly term in 2012.

Tenure

In his first four years as a legislator, Huffman authored and passed more than 40 pieces of legislation.

In 2008, Huffman sponsored a bill (AB 2950), which he wrote with internet attorney Daniel Balsam that aimed to close what its proponents characterized as loopholes in the CAN-SPAM Act which made it more difficult to bring lawsuits against deceptive spammers. Although the bill passed the State Assembly and Senate, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill. On February 14, 2011, Jared Huffman cosponsored a bill with Paul Fong, California Assembly Bill 376, to make it illegal to possess, distribute, or sell shark fins, unless for research or commercial purposes.

Committee assignments

Upon his swearing-in on December 4, 2006, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez immediately named Huffman the Chairman of the Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials. In August 2008, the new Assembly Speaker Karen Bass named Huffman to Chair the Water, Parks & Wildlife Committee.

2012 election

After 20-year Democratic incumbent Lynn Woolsey announced her retirement, Huffman entered the race to run for her seat in the 2nd District, which had been renumbered from the 6th in redistricting. California's 2nd congressional district now covers six counties: Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino, Trinity, Humboldt, and Del Norte.

Huffman finished first in the top-two primary with 37% of the vote. In November, Huffman defeated Republican candidate Dan Roberts 71%–29%.

Subsequent elections

In his first re-election campaign in 2014, Huffman dominated the open primary, receiving 67.9% of the vote against 22.3% for second-place finisher Dale Mensing, a Republican. Huffman went on to defeat Mensing in the fall general election by 75 to 25%. The 2016 results were similar, with Huffman receiving 68.3% of the primary vote against 15.7% for Mensing, who again finished second, and defeating Mensing in the general election by 76.5% to 23.5%.

Committee assignments

Caucus memberships

Proposed legislation

The following is a partial list of legislation introduced by Huffman.

Opposed legislation

Personal life

Before he was elected, Huffman lived in San Rafael with his wife Susan and their two children, a daughter, Abigail (born c. 2000) and a son, Nathan (born c. 2003).

Hoffman's hobby is winemaking.