Jolian Kangas
Jolian Kangas (No party preference) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent California's 2nd Congressional District. He lost in the primary on March 5, 2024.
Kangas completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Jolian Kangas was born in Concord, New Hampshire. Kangas' professional experience includes working as a car dealer. He earned a bachelor's degree and a graduate degree from Humboldt State University in 2010 and 2021, respectively.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: California's 2nd Congressional District election, 2024
California's 2nd Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 top-two primary)
General election
General election for U.S. House California District 2
Incumbent Jared Huffman defeated Chris Coulombe in the general election for U.S. House California District 2 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Jared Huffman (D) | 71.9 | 272,883 |
 | Chris Coulombe (R)  | 28.1 | 106,734 | |
| Total votes: 379,617 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 2
Incumbent Jared Huffman and Chris Coulombe defeated Tief Gibbs, Jolian Kangas, and Jason Brisendine in the primary for U.S. House California District 2 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jared Huffman (D) | 73.4 | 170,271 |
| ✔ | | Chris Coulombe (R) | 16.4 | 38,039 |
 | Tief Gibbs (R) | 8.1 | 18,834 | |
 | Jolian Kangas (No party preference) | 1.4 | 3,276 | |
| Jason Brisendine (No party preference) | 0.6 | 1,411 | ||
| Total votes: 231,831 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Kangas in this election.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Jolian Kangas completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kangas' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- Eliminate hunger by expanding EBT, in breadth and scope, to cover more Americans with a more generous grocery allocation.
- Defund all overseas military "aid" and divert the savings to paying down the deficit and expanding health and wellness initiatives.
- Legalize cannabis on a federal level so that producers have access to financial products and interstate trade.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Kangas’s campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
IT’S TIME TO MOVE BEYOND PARTISAN POLITICS. LET’S ADDRESS REAL PRIORITIES.
MY POSITIONS AS AN INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE:
PEACE IS PROFITABLE Jared Huffman has expressed his full support for the President’s request to steal from the American Taxpayer to fund these forever wars. It appears that the Republican-controlled Congress is willing to authorize some of this ludicrous and wasteful spending. Which begs the question: what is the difference between D and R, when both parties completely disregard the well being of our People? There are atrocities being committed around the world on a regular basis. The ongoing civil war in Myanmar is one of those humanitarian disasters that is not being mentioned in the media. Pro-Democracy forces are rallying to defeat the military dictatorship that has seized power yet again. Are we rushing to send billions of dollars worth of guns and bombs to support their cause? No, because the elites don’t have a dog in that fight. We cannot maintain our delusion of being the “World’s Policeman.” Not when our national debt is quickly approaching $30 Trillion. Rather, we need to lean on our allies to intervene and resolve these conflicts that are closer to them, in both proximity and causality. Beyond the basic fact that we cannot afford to be financing foreign wars, we are risking global relationships and putting our troops in harm’s way by way of our interventions. We have nothing to gain, and everything to lose. I propose a different track. Let’s stop underwriting endless bloodshed, and start advocating for peace. I promise you it will be far more lucrative for the US to prioritize ceasefires, and provide American businesses the opportunity to sell the tools and supplies to rebuild infrastructure in former conflict zones. Doing so will restore our reputation and provide a positive counterbalance to China and other emerging powers on the world stage. In the grand scheme of things, our planet is just a small blue marble in space that we all must share. SUSTAINABILITY TODAY By contrast, Rep. Huffman seems to stick to his dogmatic view of “environmentalism” to the detriment of the public interest. The legacy of “zero carbon” has a problematic history, particularly here in Northern California. Two prominent examples come to mind:
With this track record, projects like the proposed offshore wind farm deserve the highest level of scrutiny. Yet it would appear that it’s a done deal, as Rep. Huffman pats himself on the back for selling a swath of our coastal waters to a private startup that’s already had publicly visible issues with its leadership. The Redwood Region Audubon Society recently hosted a presentation on the multiple negative impacts the wind farm may have, not just on bird populations but on all marine life and Human users of the sea. The few examples of offshore wind development that can be studied have demonstrated serious impacts to marine mammals, including Whales, by disrupting the electromagnetic fields these majestic creatures utilize for navigation. Marine traffic, both pleasure craft and commercial fishing vessels, can expect outages of critical communications channels, which can be catastrophic in an emergency. All of these negative effects will result from a project that provides precious little benefit to the North Coast. The power being generated won’t be consumed locally, but instead will be transmitted hundreds of miles to the South, losing charge through resistive heat loss along the way. Few if any long-term jobs will be created in the Humboldt Bay Region, as the developers will rely upon contractors from out of the area, and make every effort to minimize ongoing maintenance needs. Friends, I recognize the vital importance of moving away from fossil fuels. The economic and environmental costs are prohibitive. Yet I am also a strong advocate of “Local Production for Local Consumption.” Gargantuan projects such as this wind farm are inefficient and untested, and can lead to unseen consequences down the line. Instead, we should focus on “Microgrid” technologies that improve resilience in the face of natural disasters and translate to greater power conversion efficiency. We need to take the long view of the situation at hand, and work on well-reasoned and researched solutions, not simply a knee-jerk response that throws money at untested and unproven technologies. IMMIGRATION NOT EXPLOITATION This “crisis” has been completely manufactured by a longtime refusal by our policymakers to tackle comprehensive immigration reform. Meanwhile, state governments have been filling the void created by federal inaction. Governors in Texas and Florida have been grossly overstepping their roles, torturing migrants and using the issue to score political points with their base. The result is an absolute disaster. First, we need to recognize that there is both a large supply and a strong demand for migrant labor. During the last few years of record-low unemployment in particular, many sectors have been struggling to fill all their available jobs. America has always relied upon migrants to pick up this slack; yet we have remained completely in denial about this reality. Second, we need to acknowledge the fact that the vast majority of foreign nationals who are seeking a better life in the United States are not presenting a threat. Unfortunately, the Republican party seems infatuated by the delusion that migrants pose the biggest challenge to national security. Coupled with complete and utter inaction and incompetence by the Democrats, this toxic rhetoric has created an absolute quagmire on the southern border. Third, we need to come to terms with the economic upheavals of the past decades. The industrial workforce that created the American Middle Class in the mid-twentieth century is now of a bygone era. In its place, we have become reliant upon a service/consumption economic model. Severely restricting and penalizing immigration is not going to magically result in factories returning to our shores. Diversification is our best, and only, pathway for sustained growth, and migrants will have a key role to play in that goal. Let’s start by shoring up the regulatory failures that have led this ongoing humanitarian failure that is the border. Instead of offering “asylum” as the easiest option to enter the country, we need to rapidly scale up worker visas, particularly for unskilled labor. And this should be coupled by a reasonable fee for admission. Migrants already pay thousands to unscrupulous “coyotes” who abuse, rob, and leave them for dead out in the desert. The federal government could better use that money, to implement a comprehensive background check to ensure that that few bad actors attempting to gain entry are cut off at the pass. Fully authorizing migrant workers would then have the added benefits of reducing identity theft, and improving tax recovery by ensuring that these workers are on payroll. This would greatly improve transparency and protect the public’s and the migrants’ interests. LEGALIZE IT NOW The DEA continues to spend millions of taxpayer dollars on locating and eradicating cannabis plants. How is this still being funded when the majority of Americans live in a state with some form of legal marijuana? Cannabis can and should be taxed and regulated in the same manner as alcohol. Although its effects can lead to physical and mental health concerns, and it should not be freely accessible to children, pot is no more of a threat than booze. If elected, I will join the Cannabis Caucus to push for descheduling and full legalization on a national basis. Our producers in the North Country deserve a fair shot at having their products being made available to adults across the country. The scattershot patchwork of state-level regulations that currently exist provide no legal means for interstate commerce to boost our local economy. Our district deserves representation that reflects this reality.[2] |
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| —Jolian Kangas’s campaign website (2024)[3] | ||
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on November 2, 2023
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Kangas, Congress, “About,” accessed February 12, 2024
