Benjamin Downing, a second-year Tufts graduate student, is on the ballot as a Democratic candidate for the Massachusetts State Senate for his home district of Berkshire/Franklin/Hampshire.
Downing, currently on a leave of absence from his studies in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, hopes to bring a fresh perspective to the Senate if elected today.
"The issues that I've heard voters express their concerns about over the course of the summer have primarily been jobs, education and health care. You also often hear about the environment," he told the Daily.
Downing said thes priorities would be important for him.
"The role of a state senator is to ensure that we're creating a positive environment for growth of economic opportunity," he said. "For education, it's ensuring that everyone has the skills and abilities they need to succeed in a global, knowledge-based economy. In healthcare, it's ensuring that everyone has access to high quality, affordable, patient-centered health care."
He also hopes to better the technology in smaller towns of his district. Some of the towns in his Western Massachusetts district do not have cell phone service or broadband Internet service, discouraging small business there.
Good communication for small firms is important, he said, because many employees work from home to help with family commitments.
"If people can't take advantage of that because we haven't provided the infrastructure for growth, then we don't build strong communities that everyone considers the real goal of all these policies," he said.
Downing prevailed in the Democratic primary with this plan, beating out four other candidates.
In today's general election, he is running against the Republican Matt Kinnaman and independent Dion Robbins-Zust.
According to Downing, his family played a significant role in his decision to run. "My family has always been involved in public service," he said.
Downing's father served as a District Attorney in Berkshire County from 1990-1993.
Downing worked in Washington, D.C. for three years, where he served as staff assistants for Rep. William Delahunt (D-Mass.) and Rep. Richarc Neil (D-Mass.). He also worked as a senior advisor to Rep. John Olver (D-Mass.).
Downing said that Tufts helped motivate him to run for office himself.
After the exhaustion of working in Washington, "going to Tufts sort of reinvigorated me," he said, and how many "creative, incredible things you can do to make people's lives better."
While campaigning for the primary, Downing got to know his public. He scanned the newspapers for community events, and held coffee hours to answer questions about his platform
"I even went door-to-door about two hours a day," he said.
Downing's former professors are thrilled about his candidacy.
"He's a wonderful ... student," Rachel Bratt, the Chairman of the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, said.
"He was very excited about [running] ... He felt that he had a huge uphill battle, and we all encouraged him."
Professor James Jennings, who taught Downing in two classes, agreed. "He would be a fabulous addition to the state house," he said. "He always expressed a strong affinity towards politics and was always very knowledgeable."
As the polls close at 8 p.m. tonight, Downing can count on the support from his Tufts fans, no matter what the results are.
"If I were to rank him among the graduate students I have taught," Jennings said, "he would certainly be well near the top."
Jenna Nissan contributed reporting to this article.
