Why Students are Joining Others in Voting for Loni Hancock for State Senate

Loni also understands that fighting global warming does not have to be a drain on our state economy. In fact, it can lead to the kind of economic opportunity that the state has not seen in decades. As a legislator, Loni got to work on creating green jobs for the next generation. Her new law expanding hands-on learning and career technical education led to the establishment of a new academy in Richmond public schools that trains students for these kinds of jobs. Solving problems, achieving cleaner energy and creating opportunities for California's young people are what Loni is all about.

Loni has been tireless and unrelenting in her advocacy for clean money in California. She fights to take special interest money out of Sacramento and replace it with a public financing system similar to those in place in Maine and Arizona. This means legislators can spend more time talking to their constituents—the people of California—rather than big donors and lobbyists. Loni likes to call clean money the "mother of all reforms," because without it, many of the progressive policies we all want to see enacted will keep getting bottled up. In Maine, the first "clean" legislature was able to pass universal health care for the first time.

Furthermore, Loni has practiced what she preached by accepting the voluntary spending limits in the election, despite the fact that she entered the race late and was significantly behind in fundraising and is now the subject of direct mail attacks from a front group funded by gambling interests.

During my tenure as President of the Cal Berkeley Democrats, our members decided to endorse Loni because of her accessibility and commitment to student concerns at every educational level. We're proud to have her in representing us in Sacramento.

Loni's decades of experience and commitment to progressive results has earned her the sole endorsement of the Sierra Club, California Nurses Association, California Teachers Association and dozens of local and statewide unions. She is the only candidate endorsed by United States Senator Dianne Feinstein; East Bay Congress members Barbara Lee, George Miller and Ellen Tauscher; seven Democratic mayors in the ninth senate district; and the California Democratic Party.

In this contest between two accomplished and well-respected candidates, Loni Hancock has the edge—and gets my vote—because she makes us all proud to be progressives.

Sarah Gold, a senior at UC Berkeley, is the former President of the Cal Berkeley Democrats, the official wing of the Democratic Party on campus, and the largest college Democratic club in the state of California.