Huffman Cruises to Victory in Congressional Race

Did you know Jared Huffman was once an international caliber volleyball player?

One of the prime statistics measured in that sport is the "kill," or using a more tame term, the spike.

On Tuesday night, Huffman emphatically spiked Dan Roberts for a seat in the U.S. Congress, replacing the retiring longtime Democratic stalwart Lynn Woolsey. And the blue-backers of Marin dig it.

The Democrat from San Rafael, who has spent six years representing Marin and southern Sonoma counties in the state Assembly, easily beat the Tiburon Republican 76.6 percent (62,279 votes) to 23.4 percent (19,032 votes) to represent the newsly drawn 2nd Congressional District in California.

The two were "diametrically opposed" on several key issues, Huffman said, including women's rights and energy policies. Huffman rolled by emphasizing his Assembly record for authoring and co-authoring many successful pieces of legislation, and Roberts failed to convince the Independents and "Reagan Democrats" that a change was needed.

Huffman, 48, will take over for Woolsey, a Democrat from Petaluma who spent 20 years representing Marin in Congress.

Nearly 300 people crammed into Marin Democratic Headquarters in downtown San Rafael to watch televised election returns and congratulate Huffman, an environmental attorney by trade, on his victory.

"It is a great night to be a Democrat in Marin County, isn't it?" Huffman asked the raucous crowd. "I gotta tell you, it feels great to be your next member of Congress-elect."

Huffman said he and his wife, Susan, had been through an "an incredible 18-month odyssey" that consumed their lives. He credited a tough test in a "wild" primary for preparing him for the showdown with Roberts.

"... That tested us and challenged us, and that's a good thing because it made me a better candidate," he said, "and I think it will make me a better member of Congress."

Huffman promised he would not change his Democratic values and vowed to "bring a better tone and better results" to Washington. "We're going to start solving problems in Congress instead of just fighting about them," he said.

Huffman said it will help Congress to have a second-term Democratic president in office and to have "knocked a few extreme right-wing whack jobs out of the U.S. Senate" during Tuesday's elections.

Roberts, a Vietnam veteran who fought for smaller government, was not available by phone Tuesday. He told the Marin Independent Journal that Huffman, who raised more than six times the financial support during the campaign, delivered a message that resonated with the voters.