ATHOL – The next election for congress is still over a year away but Jeffrey Sossa-Paquette has already spent five months trying to build support for an attempt to unseat U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern.
Since announcing his candidacy in May, no other Republicans have come forward to announce a challenge to the Worcester Democrat. According to Sossa-Paquette, the time is long overdue for a change in representation for residents of Massachusetts’ 2nd congressional district, which includes all of North Quabbin.
“He’s been in the seat for 24 years,” Sossa-Paquette told the Athol Daily News, “and at the end of this cycle it will be 26. And when we really look at him, he got to D.C. in 1977 to go to college, became a staffer, and then our congressman. So, Jim has never left Washington, D.C. since 1977.”
Despite the difficulties inherent in trying to unseat a longtime incumbent, Sossa-Paquette says he plans on engineering an upset. His campaign, he explained, has been a long time coming — delayed by serious medical issues.
“I was supposed to run in the last cycle,” he said, “but unfortunately I had to suspend my campaign. I learned I had three brain aneurysms, so I had to go through a year and half of brain surgery to get them removed. I had four surgeries and it took a year to learn how to speak again.”
His final surgery was in December 2020, and two months later he decided the race was on.
Among his reasons for running is a desire to address the problem of the country’s debt.
“We need to recognize, from the standpoint of millennials, if we’re going to be honest” he said, “is that we stole that generation’s future as far as the debt went. They have every right to be as angry as what we’re witnessing today. And we can’t just pile on that debt.
“I think there’s plenty of blame to go around — both Republican and Democrat.”
Sossa-Paquette also wants to make changes in the programs designed to help the poor, especially single mothers. He explained that he’d like to see single mothers continue to receive some level of assistance, even if they’re able to get an education and move into the workforce.
“Just because they’re working, they may not be making enough to meet the needs of their family,” he explained. “So, you can’t pull the rug out from under her.
“I’m focused on a step-down program that basically says ‘leave that mother alone. Let her income rise. Don’t pull the rug out from underneath her and let her rise into the middle class. Give her children the ability to go to college on a voucher program.
“When we do that, we’re lifting both generations. We’re lifting mom up, and we’re holding her kids up, hopefully breaking that cycle of three or four generations being tied up in different social programs.”
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