The Race To Unseat Roskam: Millennial Democrat Enters Hotly Contested Race

DOWNERS GROVE, IL — The 6th Congressional District of Illinois is eager to unseat Rep. Peter Roskam (R). So eager in fact that yet another Democrat has announced his candidacy in the hopes of challenging Roskam in 2018. Ryan Huffman, 31, of Palatine, is approaching the race from a different perspective: he's highlighting the fact that he's a millennial.

Huffman, who graduated in 2008 from Medill School of Journalism and then went on to earn a Masters Degree in Public Policy from the University of Chicago, with honors, introduces himself as someone who knows the struggles of a millennial firsthand. The first paragraph you encounter on his campaign website is geared to strike a chord with disillusioned millennials out there.

"Like so many of his generation, Ryan found gainful employment almost impossible to come by in the aftermath of the Great Recession. He carries six figures of student loan debt that he won’t pay off until 2045. He knows what it means to struggle, and he will fight tooth and nail to build a new economy that includes millennials too," the website states.

Since announcing his candidacy, Huffman, who has campaigned for Barack Obama and worked as a journalist for Crain's Chicago, has been vocal with his support of Bernie Sanders' recently introduced single-payer "Medicare For All" bill. On his campaign's Facebook page, Huffman calls it, "a vision [he] could get behind." Huffman's healthcare stance even seems to take a few cues from Bernie's playbook.

Huffman's political platform also focuses on student loan reform, climate change, and economic inequality. As he stated on Twitter, Huffman's hoping that'll be a running start toward flipping the 6th district blue.

>>Image via Huffman for Congress