Huffman weighs in on wolves and ranches as frontrunner in race for reconfigured Northern California seat in Congress
The wolf is decidedly not at the door for Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, the seven-term incumbent whose campaign coffers are flush and whose frontrunner status appears solid going into the June 2 primary election for California’s 2nd Congressional District.
Yet, the North American gray wolf has been on Huffman’s mind of late — especially during trips to the northern reaches of his recently redrawn, 13,800-square-mile district, a kind of vertical Nike swoosh spanning from the Pacific Ocean to the Nevada border, at the top of the state, then dropping south as it long has in a narrower strip along the coast, down to the Golden Gate.
Once eradicated in California, canis lupus is bouncing back in 2nd District’s northernmost counties — Shasta, Modoc, Siskiyou — so much so that the predation losses for livestock producers have become a campaign issue.
While many of those rural, right-leaning residents aren’t likely to ever see eye-to-eye with him on issues like gun rights, abortion and cli…