Huffman leads challenger in bid for another congressional term
Rep. Jared Huffman appears to be on his way to winning a sixth term representing California’s 2nd Congressional District.
In preliminary results Tuesday night, Huffman, D-San Rafael, was running well ahead of his Republican opponent, Chris Coulombe, a Sebastopol businessman and retired Army captain who co-founded the Cannabis Distribution Association. Huffman had 147,791 votes districtwide, or 72.5%, compared to 55,961 for Coulombe.
The district spans the northern coast the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border, and includes Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino, Humboldt, Trinity, and Del Norte counties. There are three times as many registered Democrats in the district as Republicans.
During the campaign, Huffman said that the “climate crisis” was his highest priority.
“The situation is dire and we’re running out of time, but we can still limit the damage, preserve a livable planet for our kids, and do it in a way that sustains a strong economy and a healthier, more equitable and more peaceful world,” he said.
Coulombe floated the idea of suspending federal income taxes on the first $182,000 of a taxpayer’s income for five years.
“I don’t think Americans should end up homeless because our government doesn’t know how to control spending,” Coulombe said.
Huffman said there would be only three ways to pay for such an income tax holiday: a massive tax increase on incomes above $182,000; draconian cuts to defense spending; or gutting” safety net programs like Social Security and Medicare.
“In the unlikely event that my opponent believes his tax holiday will magically pay for itself by creating tax revenue from other sources,” Huffman said, “then he is truly peddling snake oil.”