WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – With New York’s redrawn congressional districts, political hopefuls are throwing their name in for the new 24th District which would encompass some of the North Country.
We meet Mario Fratto who announced his candidacy Friday.
New York’s 24th Congressional District now includes Watertown and most of Jefferson County, and is stretched all the way to Niagara County.
Friday, Geneva native Mario Fratto, a Republican, joined the race for the seat.
“This is a massive district and it’s gonna be a challenge for anybody, but I’m gonna put in the time and look forward to meeting everybody,” said Fratto.
He says this is his first jump into politics and says fresh eyes are a good thing.
“I think there’s too many career politicians. I think the founders intended for people who weren’t too politically inclined to get involved,” said Fratto.
He feels he can relate to the people of the North Country.
“I grew up in a working class blue collar family, taught that you need to work for everything, I believe that’s like most people in this district,” said Fratto.
His top three values are listening to constituents, reducing inflation, and ending the U.S.’s dependence on China.
“We’re not making anything here, we gotta get those jobs back, we gotta get those industries back,” said Fratto.
He says he values law enforcement and calls for respect for police.
“So, I think there needs to be a policy in place to say we’re not going to give any federal funding to communities that voted to defund the police on their budget,” said Fratto.
As for the economy:
“My grandfather used to tell me if you wanna know about economics, don’t spend more than you make! And he has a third grade education and he knows better. You can’t spend money you don’t have, and we just keep pressing the button and printing more. That’s how I would stop inflation,” said Fratto.
And current Buffalo Area Congressman, Chris Jacobs, has also told 7 News he’s running for the 24th district.
Copyright 2022 WWNY. All rights reserved.
