For forty years, Rep. Phyllis Kahn has faithfully and courageously served Minnesotans as a legislator in the Minnesota House of Representatives. However, a new face that promises to represent and mobilize the younger generation has emerged. It is the right time for the University of Minnesota community and its surrounding area to get out to the Democratic-Farmer-Labor caucus on Feb. 7 and vote to endorse Mike Griffin to be the DFL party nominee.

The lack of student representation is a vicious circle: Students often donâÄôt take the time to vote and in turn, we are not represented at the Capitol, which in turn makes us more disillusioned about the process. Now we see the consequences manifested in tuition rises and abysmal state funding of higher education. Griffin has a genuine devotion to studentsâÄô needs, along with the energy and zeal to fight tirelessly for them.

We need someone on the Higher Education Policy and Finance Committee who understands the plights of being young, saddled with debt and high living costs and facing a new economy. Things have changed considerably in the last decade, and no one on Capitol Hill has experienced those changes for young people as directly as Griffin.

Griffin has a great ability to energize and rally the currently stagnant University population to participate in the political process and be represented in St. Paul. The Central Corridor line will provide a direct connection between campus and the Capitol, and Griffin can mobilize students to go to St. Paul and fight for adequate representation. The University community needs a representative who will make students priority number one. It needs Griffin in St. Paul.