Matthew Patrick of Falmouth is the Democrat in the running for the Plymouth and Barnstable Senate seat being vacated by Senate President Therese Murray.
He served as a state representative for 10 years in the Third Barnstable District.
The Republican in the race is State Representative Vinny deMacedo.
The Plymouth and Barnstable State Senate District includes Falmouth, Sandwich and Bourne on Cape and Plymouth, Kingston and Pembroke off Cape.
Listen below for an interview with him in advance of the November 4 election.
The following is information about the candidate as provided on his website.
Matthew Patrick is the son of a Mayor and a public school teacher. He served two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana teaching masonry and brick-making. It was there that he met his wife, Louise. Upon their return to the United States, they settled in Falmouth where they raised two children and became involved in their community.
Before he was a legislator, Matt Patrick worked closely with his statewide delegation to help write the municipal aggregation component of the State Restructuring Act, which was designed to save consumers money and making energy conservation programs more accessible and better designed.
Matthew Patrick served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 2000 to 2010.
He highlights the following legislation for which he played a role.
Matt Patrick wrote components of The Green Communities Act. Proponents say the act made Massachusetts the national leader in clean energy job creation with over 70,000 people working in the green energy economy.
He said he led the effort to close loopholes that some corporations used to avoid paying their fair share. As a result, taxes are lowered on corporations that were playing fair–making Massachusetts more attractive to businesses–and the Commonwealth raised $200 million to go toward local aid for schools without costing individual taxpayers a cent.
With regard to the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant, he pushed hard for legislation to bring potassium iodide pills to coastal communities on the Cape and North Shore.
As a small business owner, he designed and installed solar hot water systems leading to energy savings for families; many of these systems are still working today.
As a volunteer activist with Citizens for the Protection of Waquoit Bay and Quashnet Coalition, he lead the efforts to save the Quashnet River from development along the banks. The river today has a recovering population of native sea-run brook trout.
