In the weeks leading up to the 2014 midterm elections, Red Alert Politics will be profiling select candidates that are either a part of the so-called millennial generation or have a strong connection and inclination toward policies that will primarily impact Gen Y.
We’ll be talking about student loan debt, the high unemployment and underemployment rates for this age group, and just how important it is for the largest generation in history to be represented in Congress.
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Nationally touted as the new face of the Republican Party, Congressional candidate Marilinda Garcia is running on a platform of “opportunity for all.”
“That’s the essence of my message. The more government grows, the less options and opportunity we all have,” the Hispanic 31-year-old said. “We must make decisions to change that.”
Garcia is facing Democratic incumbent Ann Kuster in the New Hampshire’s competitive 2nd Congressional District.
Kuster has voted on the party line and with President Obama a majority of the time, Garcia said. The biggest thing she has heard on the campaign trail is that people want someone in office who will listen to them.
“How do you learn if you don’t listen? If you don’t have all the information possible?” Garcia said in a phone interview with Red Alert Politics. “People feel like she is just a political rubber stamp and feel like they aren’t represented.”
Kuster has never held a town hall, a fact Garcia is quick to point out, though Garcia has invited her to several.
If she had, Garcia said, she would know what her constituents worried about, like the impending bankruptcy of programs like Medicare and Social Security and job growth.
Garcia would like to see regulations rolled back to allow businesses to create more jobs on their own terms. She is also concerned about the minimum wage debate that has been raging on, with Democrats clamoring for a raise to more than $10 an hour.
“It sounds good. But frankly, it’s so shortsighted. I can see approving an increase if it is marginal, but economists have said that this rate means businesses will have to lay people off,” she said.
Garcia has been involved in politics at the state level since she was 23 and believes her young age has been advantageous to her, something she thinks will continue if elected to Congress.
“A broad array of perspectives is important. The older generation looks at issues differently. We have more of a sense of urgency on some of these problems because we are the ones inheriting them,” Garcia said, mentioning the entitlement programs.
The country’s massive student loan debt is another issue that her age gives her a unique perspective on.
While student loans haven’t come up a lot on the campaign trail, she said watching so many people her age have to deal with these issues has kept it on her mind and she has a few ideas on the topic.
She believes the country should move away from the government subsidized loan. It would help lower the cost of college overall, she said.
Garcia would also like to see a shift in the way the country views education. She wants to see more of a focus on career training.
“As a culture we have been promoting education and demeaning trades and technical skills even though there is a huge segment of the economy that relies on those skills. People have been made to feel like they need liberal arts degrees. When I talk to employers, some of them have jobs, but can’t find skilled labor to fill them. We need to refocus and make those choices based on the jobs that are available and necessary,” she said.
This shift in thinking on education and other issues can only be accomplished with a millennial perspective in Congress, she said.
“We are more in touch with the global economy. We care more about social and economic impacts,” Garcia said. “My generation is concerned about the destiny of the country and we want to be a part of shaping it.”
