On Thursday April 16, 2026, Congressman John Garamendi sat down for a phone interview with The Solano Pulse to discuss his start in politics, appreciation for community colleges and Solano in particular, work with local industries, and words of wisdom for students.
Garamendi grew up on a cattle ranch a couple miles outside of Mokelumne Hill, a small town in Northern California. “I went to … the elementary school that my grandfather, great grandfather, had built in the 1800s. I had five people, five boys, in my graduating class in the eighth grade… It was different,” said the Congressman.
He later went to UC Berkeley, and right afterwards to Ethiopia to join the Peace Corps with his wife Patti. Love inspired his life of service, as he proposed to Patti their senior year at UC Berkeley, and her priorities became his.
“I’d actually asked her to marry me my senior year, and she said, ‘Well, I’d love to marry you, but you’re gonna go play professional ball with the Oakland Raiders or the Cowboys, and I’m gonna go in the Peace Corps, so I don’t think this is gonna work.’ And I said, ‘Well, let’s go in the Peace Corps,’” explained Garamendi.
When they came back to the States two years later, the change and conflict of the 60’s was in full swing. They were living in Boston at the time while he was going to Graduate School, but they soon returned to California.
“We just made a decision after our return to California that we just had to get involved. We just could not stay on the outside and run away from the reality that the United States was engaged in a bad, long war… and handling it very badly. And, of course, the Civil Rights Movement.”
It was then, in the 70’s, that he began his career in Politics, and ran for California State Assembly “to change the world” as Garamendi put it.
Garamendi has been representing Solano County, and therefore Solano College, since 2009. During a town hall in January, he said that community colleges are “exceedingly important.”
When asked to elaborate, he explained that community colleges “can and often” teach core classes like Economics, “far better” than four year universities, because of smaller class sizes, and teachers who can focus more on students.
“It has the potential of providing a better education than you would get at a four year school, and it’s a whole, whole lot cheaper.”
Solano College’s programs also open up a lot of career opportunities in the area, particularly with legislation and opportunities the Congressman has been working on for years, such as the bio-agriculture research and manufacturing corridor off of I-80, and the Maritime industry in Vallejo.
The bio-ag research and manufacturing corridor is an area that includes Solano County, where surrounding schools with research facilities including UC Davis, UC Berkeley, and UC San Francisco, do research about all sorts of biotech advancements. Research involves advancements in energy, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and more.
New businesses can then emerge from the research, and use manufacturing facilities, hopefully in the area, to create products. Pharmaceuticals are a main focus in the Solano County area, because Vacaville has the largest bio-pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in the world, according to the Congressman.
Garamendi said that he and other officials responsible for research funding realized the emerging biotech industry and its opportunity back in the 80’s, and started funding research out of the previously mentioned schools.
“The biotech industry has emerged as a result of the research that was funded in the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s. So we look at that and say, ‘So this is an incredible opportunity.’ New startups are emerging as a result of that, in pharmaceuticals, energy, materials, and the like,” says Garamendi.
“Solano Community College is a really good example of a community college that has focused on biotech, biology and science.”
Solano students can use the specific biotech skills learned here to be a part of this growing industry. Transfer students could end up researching at a school, working in manufacturing locally, or even creating new businesses.
The SHIPS for America Act, which Garamendi co-authored and was recently passed by Congress, focuses on revitalizing the Maritime Industry, which includes Vallejo’s Mare Island, historically a key player for the West Coast’s Naval operations.
Garamendi says that Solano College and its students can be “a key piece” of the project.
“Everything from electronics to electricity to welding and you name it. Community College is now, and can in the future, be a critical element as we rebuild the maritime industry.”
With whatever field students are going into after their time at Solano, the Congressman reminds them that “the future is theirs to mold, to form, and to direct.”
“The future is theirs, and if they want to sit by and moan and groan, they can certainly do that, but if they want to get engaged… they can have a significant impact on their own future,” says the Congressman.
He urges students, and particularly young people, to “be involved politically. Pay attention to politics.”
“I think many young people are just plain turned off by the controversy. Trump has certainly been a disruptor, and his… penchant for lying and obfuscating … really turned people off, particularly young people. But nonetheless, this is their future life.”
Garimendi urged students to get involved politically whether that looks like working for a campaign, running for the school or college board, working at the state level, or nationally.
“‘This has got to change.’ Okay, what are you gonna do about it?” asks the Congressman.
“They can have a voice… one or another of them may wind up Governor of California, or a President of the United States, if they are engaged. It’s all possible.”
