Ryan Huffman, Illinois House 54th District Democratic candidate profile

Candidate profile

Ryan Huffman

Running for: State Representative (District 54)

Political/civic background: I interned under President Obama twice, once on his 2008 presidential campaign, and once in the White House Council on Environmental Quality in 2009. After earning my Master of Public Policy degree from the University of Chicago in 2015, I worked with the Department of Energy and Argonne National Laboratory to research alternative-fuel vehicles. In 2018, I ran for Congress in Illinois’ 6th Congressional district, and went on to join the campaign team of my former rival Democrat Sean Casten in his successful bid to flip the district blue.

Occupation: Data Analyst

Education: Bachelor of Science in Journalism – Northwestern University (2008)
Master of Public Policy – University of Chicago (2015)
--Graduated with Honors and a Certificate in Political Campaigns

Campaign website: huffmanforil54.com

Facebook: @HuffmanforIL54

Twitter: @HuffmanforIL54

Instagram: @huffmanforil54

The Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board sent candidates for the Illinois House of Representatives a list of questions to find out their views on a range of important issues facing the state of Illinois and their districts. Ryan Huffman submitted the following responses:

Please tell us about your civic work in the last two years, whether it’s legislation you have sponsored or work you have done in other ways to improve your community.

Like so many Americans, I felt compelled to step up after the 2016 election and take a more active role in creating the future I wanted to see in America. I poured my efforts into flipping the U.S House blue, with a focus on the 6th District of Illinois. After my campaign came up short in the primary, I decided to continue the fight by joining the campaign team of Sean Casten, the Democrat who had beaten me in the primary. I’m proud that we flipped that seat, and the House.

Please list three concerns that are specific to your district, such as a project that should be undertaken or a state policy related to an important local issue that should be revised. *

One of the main concerns of residents of the 54th district is the high property taxes, a problem that is exacerbated by both a corrupt assessment system and the fact that the state takes some of what’s collected. I plan to work on both of those issues in Springfield. Two other pressing concerns are the implementation of the state’s new cannabis laws, and the potential that Arlington International Racecourse could close down as a result of new gaming laws, which would be very detrimental to the local economy. I will focus on these problems to ensure that our local communities are getting the resources they need.

What are your other top legislative priorities?

One of my top campaign platforms is passing the Clean Energy Jobs Act, which will provide critical investments to creating clean energy jobs and beginning Illinois’ conversion away from a carbon-dependent economy. I also hope to introduce legislation to create a carbon fee and dividend system in Illinois, a critical step to ensuring our carbon footprint is reduced expeditiously without putting the burden on the backs of the middle class. Outside the realm of environmental policy, my primary area of interest is in election and campaign finance reform. I hope to introduce legislation to create a system of public financing for political campaigns, create a non-partisan redistricting commission, and make Election Day a statewide holiday.

What is your position on Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposed graduated income tax? Please explain.

I strongly support passage of the Gov. Pritzker’s graduated income tax plan.

Illinois continues to struggle financially, with a backlog of unpaid bills that tops $6 billion. In addition to a progressive state income tax — or in lieu of such a tax — what should the state do to pay its bills, meet its pension obligations and fund core services such as higher education?

In addition to the progressive income tax, I favor a plan to reamortize our debt, as recommended by the non-partisan Center for Tax and Budget Accountability.

Should Illinois consider taxing the retirement incomes of its very wealthiest residents, as most states do? And your argument is?

Yes, Illinois needs to tap into all sources of revenue that do not burden the middle class.

What can Illinois do to improve its elementary and high schools?

I would work to restructure our school funding plan so that it relies less on local property taxes. This would kill two birds with one stone - creating more equitable education opportunities while lowering property taxes. I also support a variety of measures to ensure that educators are given the freedom and resources they need, including de-emphasizing testing and increasing the number of mental health counselors and social workers in schools.

Mass shootings and gun violence plague America. What can or should the Legislature do, if anything, to address this problem in Illinois?

We need many new regulations to both make it harder for dangerous people to get their hands on dangerous weapons, and to make those dangerous weapons less capable of inflicting such severe damage. I support legislation to create universal background checks, closing loopholes that allow the sale of weapons to people who are likely to endanger others.

Do you favor or oppose term limits for any elected official in Illinois? Please explain.

I support term limits for political leadership positions, but not for elected office unless the limit is paired with a similar limit on lobbyists. I am concerned that if elected leaders are term-limited, this will increase the already enormous influence that long-serving lobbyists have over the legislative process.

Everybody says gerrymandering is bad, but the party in power in every state — Democrats in Illinois — resist doing anything about it. Or do we have that wrong? What should be done?

Eliminating gerrymandering is one of the most important things to do in order to fix our democracy, and there’s no question the Democrats in Illinois are to blame for letting the broken system endure. I will work to create a nonpartisan redistricting commission to redraw the state’s district lines in the future.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago is investigating possible official corruption by state and local officials. This prompted the Legislature to pass an ethics reform measure to amend the Lobbyist Registration Act (SB 1639). It was signed into law in December. What’s your take on this and what more should be done?

Corruption has become ubiquitous with Illinois politics, and that must change if we’re ever going to get this state moving in the right direction. In addition to stronger penalties for corruption, I strongly support reforms that will crack down on the unethical influence of lobbyists and eliminate perverse incentives among elected officials by prohibiting them from enriching themselves through side businesses.

When people use the internet and wireless devices, companies collect data about us. Oftentimes, the information is sold to other companies, which can use it to track our movements or invade our privacy in other ways. When companies share this data, we also face a greater risk of identity theft. What should the Legislature do, if anything?

Data privacy is one of the most important political battles of the future. I support strong data privacy measures modeled off the recent legislation passed in California.

The number of Illinois public high school graduates who enroll in out-of-state universities continues to climb. What can Illinois do to make its state universities more attractive to Illinois high school students?

Illinois is blessed with excellent state universities, but their cost continues to skyrocket. The state should focus on lowering tuition costs and sponsoring more generous student loan terms (I support making all public universities tuition-free) as a way to make Illinois universities a destination not just for Illinois high school students, but those across the country.

What is your top legislative priority with respect to the environment?

As stated above, one of my top priorities in Springfield is introducing a statewide carbon fee and dividend program, which will help Illinois meet the goals of the Clean Energy Jobs Act (which I also hope to pass shortly after taking office, if it isn’t passed before).

What historical figure from Illinois, other than Abraham Lincoln (because everybody’s big on Abe), do you most admire or draw inspiration from? Please explain.

I have a tremendous amount of admiration for President Obama. His message of hope and change inspired me as a college student, and still inspires me today.

What’s your favorite TV, streaming or web-based show of all time. Why?

The Simpsons is my all-time favorite show. I’m a sucker for good satire, and no one has ever done it better than the Simpsons.