This is the first of 3 stories highlighting available seats on the South Shore in this year’s state election vote. Click here for an article on state House of Representatives races, and here to see an article on U. S. House of Representatives applicants. UU. la voting begins on Saturday, October 22.
QUINCY — Whether it’s focusing on voters or expanding educational opportunities, applicants for seats in the local state Senate have a diversity of priorities.
South Shore has 3 races for state Senate in the November 8 elections: in the districts of Norfolk and Plymouth; the district of Plymouth and Norfolk; and the districts of Norfolk, Bristol and Plymouth.
Republican Gary Innes is the incumbent John Keenan, a Quincy Democrat, for his state Senate seat.
Innes works in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning industry and has lived in Hanover for 37 years. Earlier this year, he created a citizens’ petition to rename Hanover Middle School after the fall of Weymouth Police Sergeant. Michel Chesna. Il withdrew the petition at the request of the Chesna family. He said the procedure worried him in local politics and prompted him to run for office.
Innes said his No. 1 priority if elected would be to advertise and more vocational education for top academics. He said about 50,000 academics are enrolled in professional programs, but the call is even higher.
“You have to be an honor roll student, whereas before there were more B or C scholars, and now scholars can’t get in,” he said. “These are high-paying jobs, and we want more plumbers and electricians, so it’s a massive problem. “
Innes said he and his wife have owned a flower shop for 3 decades, so he knows the plight of small businesses. He said he would like to see the state see some of the excessive taxes and charges imposed on those businesses.
“The state government loves to step foot on small businesses and make them survive,” he said.
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Keenan is his seventh term in Senado. Es chairman of the Senate Joint Housing Committee and vice chairman of the Joint Transportation Committee, and has focused on substance use and intellectual fitness policy.
“Although we were making great strides (in intellectual fitness and addiction treatment) before the pandemic, the lack of access to the pandemic has slowed our efforts, so we are racing to link other people to essential services,” he said.
“We get calls every day from other people in need, and that’s their only contact with the government, so it’s vital that you’re positive and that they know someone is running on your behalf,” he said.
Keenan said his other, more sensible precedent was to continue advocating for local assistance to help communities pay for projects they otherwise couldn’t afford.
“It can be an investment for senior centers and playgrounds, or appliances for fire departments and police vehicles,” he said. “This is money that is used to reduce the burden of the asset tax while offering local services. “
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In the districts of Plymouth and Norfolk, incumbent Patrick O’Connor, a Weymouth Republican, led Marshfield Democrat Robert Stephens.
O’Connor was elected to the state Senate in May 2016 in a special election to update Robert Hedlund, who left his post to the mayor of Weymouth. O’Connor is a senior member of the House Legislature’s Joint Ways and Means Committee, which negotiates the state’s annual budget.
He said one of his most sensible priorities is to continue to create opportunities for others through employment and education.
“These are the biggest foundations on which we can build a community, so I continue to prioritize creating opportunities for people,” he said.
Another priority is to continue to focus on the voter and directly help the others they represent.
“During the pandemic, there were a lot more conditions where other people had to interact directly with state government, and that was a privilege,” he said.
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Robert Stephens lives in Marshfield and has lived in Hanson and Abington, where he served on the Abington Green Energy Committee. She is a member of Miꞌkmaq Nation and has worked in gardening.
Stephens said she grew up in the foster care formula and believes she would have been successful if she hadn’t lived in a progressive state like Massachusetts, so she needs to give back through public service.
“We send someone who has been there and knows the smart and bad sides of the system,” he said.
If elected, Stephens has said he would like to address homelessness in the state. He would also like to see the state take on electoral reform. For example, you need Massachusetts to enforce same-day voter registration that it will have in other states.
“Massachusetts defends itself as a democratic state, but we’re falling into the way we conduct elections,” he said.
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In the districts of Norfolk, Bristol and Plymouth, incumbent Walter Timilty, Democrat of Milton, challenger Brian Muello, Republican of Braintree.
Muellelo is a veteran of the U. S. Navy. He is a U. S. citizen who works as a limousine driver and is studying for a master’s degree in consulting. Their goal is to work with veterans.
He said increasing public protection is one of his priorities, citing the shooting at South Shore Plaza in Braintree earlier this year as an example of emerging crime.
“We’re not in a smart space. A lot of other people want to defund the police and that’s not smart,” he said. “We want to make sure the investment is in the right position to make other people feel safe.
Muellelo also said he would like to have tactics to make life in the state more affordable.
“With the costs of things, it becomes difficult for other people to get ahead,” he said.
Timilty is his fourth term in the Senate and is co-chair of the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, which oversees everything from fire coverage and motor vehicle legislation to the Department of Correction and similar issues to national security and cybersecurity.
Timility said one of his priorities is to pass a law that would create a public protection structure authority, reflect the state’s school structure authority and help fund public protection structure projects.
“There is no single authority to help communities with public protection infrastructure, so an entity would be created to advocate for state funding,” he said. protection, generation and construction systems, and all of them require significant expenses. “
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Timility said another priority is continuing to provide intelligence to voters, which he says is about 50 percent of his work.
“I spend a lot of nights at meetings and events, and if you’ve helped someone in any way, it’s a very satisfying day,” he said. “My job is to help other people and I love public service. “
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