By Saira Bajwa
With midterm elections approaching, politicians across the nation are tapping into a frequently overlooked group of voters: college students. Long Island’s very own congressional democratic candidate is no exception.
Dave Mejias is the Democratic Party candidate running against the seven-term incumbent, Republican Congressman Peter King. Recent polls show an extremely close race between the two candidates from the third Congressional District, which is composed of the eastern half of Nassau County.
College students have long been underestimated and are not usually expected to make large impacts at the polls. However, a recent survey taken by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics predicts an unusually high voting expectancy for 18 to 24 year olds at the polls on Nov. 7.
Dave Mejias has said that he believes that young people will vote for him because his policies are more in tune with their needs, unlike his opponent Peter King who voted to cut federal student aid by $12.7 billion.
“The Federal Pell grant has risen only 3 percent in the past few years as the cost of education has increased drastically,” Mejias said, sitting behind his desk at the campaign headquarters in Farmingdale. He insisted that a change must take place in order to provide more students with a college education.
Mejias also recognized student concerns on the state of the economy, saying, “I believe we need to invest in alternative energy technology.”
He also discussed the importance of education, which, according to him, was the only way for American students to hold jobs currently being held by educated immigrants.
“Who do you think will be paying off the huge budget deficit that America has now?” Mejias asked. “The next generation, of course.”
Mejias added that tax increases were unnecessary. Rather the “richest 1 percent of America needs to stop receiving the kinds of tax breaks that put more than $50,000 back into their pockets at the expense of the middle class working family.”
A recent poll, also from the Harvard University Institute of Politics, indicated that 60 percent of youths believe that our country is headed in the wrong direction in regards to our foreign policy. Mejias agrees with the poll results and believes that the terror threat in Iraq is not substantial.
“Our military strength needs to be re-directed towards Afghanistan where the terrorists are growing in numbers and the opium trade is flourishing,” Mejias said. He said that the best plan of action would be to bring some of the troops home, deploy some to Afghanistan and keep the rest in Iraq until stability ensues.
Another hot topic which has caused frustration among all Americans, but especially commuting students, is the issue of gas prices. Despite the slight increases people are seeing at the gas pumps recently, students remain worried about the future of their gas expenses.
Mejias said that his opponent, Peter King, “voted against cracking down on the oil and gas industries price gauging and voted for the GOP bill that gave billions to oil and gas industries.”
Dave Mejias has targeted the college student demographic through an online campaign filled with satirical videos on YouTube.com, liberal blogs and a Facebook.com profile listing his achievements, endorsements and latest campaign news.
Dave Mejias is the Democratic Party candidate running against Republican Congressman Peter King in the Nov. 7 election.