Congressman Mike Thompson, from the 5th district of California, will be interviewed by David McCuan, Professor of political science at Sonoma State University, about hot political topics on Sept. 10 in Ballroom A on the top floor of the student center from 12:30pm to 2:00pm. The Emeritus and Retired Faculty and Staff Association (ERFA) at Sonoma State — a group of retirees who maintain an interest in the well-being of the campus — is excited to host this event to bring attention the major election coming in November. “This election could result in control of both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate passing from Republicans to Democrats,” said Rick Luttman a representative from ERFA. The forum will be important for students because there will be topics, such as, student debt, governmentpaid higher education, DACA, climate change and voter suppression. Professor McCuan will interview Congressman Thompson on a variety of issues facing our campus community. “As citizens, voters, and taxpayers, we should all be concerned with all these issues,” said Luttman Thompson has served as one of the 435 members of the House of Representatives since 1999 and is known as a relatively centrist Democrat. His district includes SSU, the eastern part of Sonoma County, Napa, Lake and Solano Counties. Thompson served as an aide to Democrat Jackie Speier before winning election to the California State Senate in 1990. He has served on various committees and caucuses including, Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Health, and Congressional Arts Caucus. “There is a possibility of impeachment hearings against Trump. There is a possibility of halting his takeover of the Supreme Court for his extremist pro-business and pro-Christian agenda. There are very serious and significant differences in the platforms of the Republicans and the Democrats, so a change in control of Congress will have a major effect on the policy directions of our country.” said Luttman. There has been a lot of buzz about this event and has resulted in changing to a bigger room to be able to hold more people. All SSU students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend this event. “Our representatives in Congress need to hear from us, the people they represent and whose interests they are supposed to serve,” said Luttman. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask Congressman Thompson questions on a variety of issues.