Dan Matthews moved to Athens as a student in 1981 and now wants to bring student voices to lawmakers in Atlanta.

On July 19, Matthews will be running as the Democratic candidate in the special run-off election for Georgia House District 113. His opponent, Republican Chuck Williams, is predicted to have more support in the historically Republican county — Matthews hopes he can persuade constituents to vote according to issues and not partisan lines.

Dan Matthews

Matthews, a University graduate, portrays himself as the student’s candidate. He was raised in Iowa and upon moving to Athens, he majored in telecommunications arts major and minored in history, music business and political science.

“I think I’m more in touch with the students, having been a University of Georgia student back in the 80s,” Matthews said, “I have a better appreciation for what the students are going through in terms of trying to find jobs.”

One of his biggest priorities is to attract high paying, high-tech jobs to District 113 through industries such as biofuel, competitive cycling, research and tourism. But, Matthews said attracting businesses would take a lot of work from the local and state governments to improve infrastructure such as the safety of Highway 316.

“We don’t have the infrastructure, we don’t have sewage, and it’d be nice if we had a train that could take people between Athens and Atlanta,” Matthews said.

In addition to stimulating the 113th district’s economy by improving infrastructure, Matthews is also concerned with the recently changed HOPE criteria. Ideally, he would lower the grade point average back to 3.2 to prevent grade inflation. He said this would maintain the quality of education provided by public schools in Georgia.

Matthews would also like to make the HOPE scholarship more accessible to lower-income students by setting a parental income cap for the scholarship – “if [the parents are] making $140,000 each, I don’t think that they need to necessarily be eligible for the HOPE scholarship,” he said.

Rising senior and political science major Onica Matsika volunteered on Matthews’s campaign – “HOPE is a big issue, being able to grandfather in the tuition guarantee.”

Matsika expressed her biggest incentive for supporting Matthews was his representation of students at the capitol.

Matthew’s campaign has focused on local issues that predominantly affect University students and recent graduates who want to live in the Athens area.

Matsika, campaign chair for Young Democrats of Georgia, acts as a liaison between students and Matthews’s campaign. She connects the Young Democrats with campaigns so they can gain real political experience.

“I think we’ve had as many as ten to fifteen different [students working on the campaign], and every day I meet someone new and different,” Matthews said. “The Young Democrats have done a great job.”

According to polls, Matthews will be at a disadvantage in the election for District 113, but he is hoping that his special connection with students will be what wins this election.