Donovan Fenton, a candidate running for state senate in New Hampshire’s District 10, visited with the Keene State Democrats during their weekly meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 5.
Fenton has been a state representative for six years and is now running for N.H. State Senate. If he wins, he will be the youngest person on the Senate at 32 years old. “Legislature doesn’t represent all of us,” he said. “Not everyone has a loud voice or a microphone or a megaphone to scream from.” When asked what issues he thought were important to him personally, he drew from his own experience and struggles with childcare, noting that his wife’s full-time wage is less than the cost of childcare in the state, which he described as, “a backward system.” Along with childcare, affordable housing, and climate change, Fenton stressed the importance for the younger generation to start taking action and caring about what is happening in politics. “It’s our job as legislators to make life better,” he said. “Young people have a lot at stake at the election, you have the power to make change.”
Allison Newey, a senior at Keene state and the president of the KSC Democrats, remarked how important it is for candidates to visit students. “Especially for local candidates, it’s really important for students to see who’s representing them,” she said.
The KSC Democrats aims to let students participate and volunteer with the NH democrats, allowing KSC students get involved in the political scene, according to Newey, which is beneficial for students who are looking at a career in politics.
“If you’re interested in a career in politics, it’s a way to bridge that college student to eventually political career,” she said.
As well as keeping up with what’s happening in the world, one goal the group has is to get more of the younger generation interested in what’s going on around them. “I think young people really have a lot of potential to create change,” Newey said. One of the reasons Newey feels so strongly on this topic is because, “we can make a lot of difference.” Since New Hampshire is a purple state, either vote can swing it one way or the other, and by making, “… young people aware of what’s happening in the world,” everyone can make a difference.
Maia Round, Fenton’s campaign manager, does all the work behind the scenes to make the campaign run smoothly. When asked about the technicalities of the work, she said the hardest part of the job was balancing, “figuring out what needs [Round’s] attention and [Fenton’s] attention the most,” in order for the campaign to work. Whether aligned with the democratic or republican party, Newey, Fenton, and Round all agreed that students must, “vote on November 8th!” in the general election.
Molly Lu McKellar can be
contacted at mmckellar@kscequinox.com
