Your School. Your Paper. Since 1936.

The Suffolk Journal

Your School. Your Paper. Since 1936.

The Suffolk Journal

Your School. Your Paper. Since 1936.

The Suffolk Journal

Suffolk alum runs for state senate in home district

Courtesy of Alex Mendez
Courtesy of Alex Mendez

Regardless of the culmination of events that have transpired from the chaotic election season, all of it will come down to numbers as numbers decide elections. In the Presidential Election, the candidate who will  receive 270 electoral votes will become President, but in local elections, it comes down to raw vote count. To win at the local level, one simply has to do the math.

Alex Mendez has done the math, and said that he believes that he has a high chance of being the next State Senator for the Norfolk-Plymouth district. The 28-year-old recently earned his J.D., adding another achievement to an already extensive resume that includes an undergraduate degree in Sociology, a Master’s in Criminal Justice, and a Master’s in Public Administration, all of which he received at Suffolk University. While it might look like Mendez is playing the odds, given that he’s running as an Independent against the Democratic incumbent John Keenan, Mendez said that he believes he can pull together a coalition of Republican, Independent, and Democrats to unseat Keenan.

By not running as a member of any party, Mendez told The Suffolk Journal in an interview that he believes that it suits him better for running in Massachusetts.

“To be an independent is to be representative of the state,” said Mendez. “It is not technically a risk, Quincy is the biggest city in my district, and if I can win my hometown, I win.”

Additionally, Mendez said that he wanted to be a “change agent,” and also said that “The more progressive end is getting shut out”.

While holding progressive views, there are a few libertarian views entwined into Mendez’s ideology, such as the idea that an individual should be able to smoke marijuana if they choose too.

One staple of Mendez’s platform is cutting down the cost of a college education, which Mendez said is more than just an economic hindrance. He said the high costs of medical school causes doctors to take out numerous loans that leave them in immense student debt. In order to pay off these loans, he said that doctors demand higher salaries, which could lead to higher insurance costs.

Additionally, Mendez called for extensive campaign financing reform and said that Keenan is part of this problem. Mendez questioned Keenan’s donations from lobbyists, attorneys and other parties that may profit financially from certain policies. Mendez said that of the $20,965 that Keenan fundraised in 2015, only $2,000 came from citizens not financially interested in his policies. Mendez said that he thinks in order to fix this problem, big money should be kept out of campaign finance and politicians should focus primarily on representing the average citizen.

The issue that Mendez mostly criticizes Keenan for is on opioids. He said that Keenan has been influential in changing laws to deal with the opioids crises, but Mendez claims that all Keenan has done is minuscule.

“[Keenan] takes pride in using the tragedy of people’s death from drug addiction to capitalize politically,” said Mendez. “[Keenan] is simply undoing the policies that Democrats did to start this.”

Delving further into the issue, Mendez stated that in the past, if one was merely in the same room as someone doing heroin, they would be arrested. This prevented people calling 911 if individuals in the same room as them overdosed out of fear of going to jail. Mendez said that problematic laws like the one described are the laws Keenan has worked to get rid of, laws that Mendez argues should not have been on the books in the first place. Moreover, Mendez argued that Keenan is actually a part of the problem because he is perpetuating a system that puts more kids on drugs than ever before.

The differences in policy opinions that Keenan and Alex Mendez have will be at the center of their debate on Oct. 19, which will be aired by Quincy Access Television. While Keenan has experience in debating in previous elections, this will be Mendez’s first debate.

Given the two candidate’s focus on the issues, it’s likely that the debate will feature a heavy dosage of policy discussions. For Keenan, the election is a chance for him to extend his political career, while for Mendez, this election is a chance for him to start his career.

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Suffolk alum runs for state senate in home district