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Matthew Crescenzo
Matthew Crescenzo (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives to represent the 9th Essex District. He lost in the general election on November 6, 2018.
Crescenzo completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2018. Click here to read the survey answers.
Elections
2018
General election
General election for Massachusetts House of Representatives 9th Essex District
Incumbent Donald Wong defeated Matthew Crescenzo and Michael Coller in the general election for Massachusetts House of Representatives 9th Essex District on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Donald Wong (R) | 62.1 | 11,647 |
 | Matthew Crescenzo (D)  | 34.0 | 6,373 | |
 | Michael Coller (Independent) | 3.9 | 730 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 8 | ||
| Total votes: 18,758 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Massachusetts House of Representatives 9th Essex District
Matthew Crescenzo advanced from the Democratic primary for Massachusetts House of Representatives 9th Essex District on September 4, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Matthew Crescenzo | 100.0 | 2,370 |
| Total votes: 2,370 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Massachusetts House of Representatives 9th Essex District
Incumbent Donald Wong advanced from the Republican primary for Massachusetts House of Representatives 9th Essex District on September 4, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Donald Wong | 100.0 | 2,158 |
| Total votes: 2,158 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2018
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Matthew Crescenzo completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Crescenzo's responses.
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
If elected my top priorities will be addressing the opioid crisis, which has been hurting families in our district for far too long. I will focus on pushing the house to finally fix out chapter 70 education funding formula which has been just talked about for far too long. And I will push for our district to receive its fair share in state aid so we can work on improving our roads and the terrible traffic situation we experience every day.
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?
Veteran Services and assisting others. As a veteran I know firsthand the kind of assistance vets and their families need. Helping others in any capacity while serving was always my favorite part of the job. I've seen what civil rights violations and corruption can do to people while in Afghanistan. I live next to my grandmother, which has given me a great understanding of the needs of our senior citizens as well. We should be working to ensure seniors can retire with dignity in the communities they helped build. We must work to protect our vulnerable populations, like veterans and seniors.
Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?
My grandfather. He grew up in poverty and joined the Navy at 16 to serve in World War II. He owned his own business after the war. He worked hard for his family every day and instilled those values on to my father who then passed them down to myself and my brother (also a Navy veteran).
What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?
You want to see if your representatives have leadership capabilities and leadership experience. Have they been in stressful situations? Have they had to make difficult decisions with lives on the line? Are they willing to stand up for everyone and be vocal? Can they take stances on hard issues? We need our representatives to be available to everyone at all times, listen to those in the community, to have the courage and conviction to let people know where they stand, and have the drive to get their own legislation through to assist their district.
What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?
Compassion and a willingness to keep an open mind when Listening to others. Those traits helped me be a successful leader in the US Military. This also meant having to make tough decisions in stressful situations with lives on the line. These leadership experiences will make me a successful office holder.
What was your very first job? How long did you have it?
I worked at the local Stop and Shop grocery store as a customer service rep for five years until joining the US Army.
Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.
Yes, it is beneficial. We all have varied backgrounds, education levels, races, ethnic groups, and religions. That means you have to learn to work with people who have different views, experiences, positions, seniority. I worked with people from roughly a dozen different nations while in the military. I'll work with other legislators and the governor the same way I worked with them, together to accomplish the mission. In this case that's serving the people of the Commonwealth, recognizing that everyone's background brings a unique perspective to that goal. But that doesn't always mean being their friends. It's great to be friends with other legislators and if I can have an argument with someone and trust them with me life ten minutes later, I can not always agree with other representatives and still work with them. At the end of the day you have 40,000 bosses behind your back and you have a responsibility to them and their interests.
If you are not currently a member of your party’s leadership in the legislature, would you be interested in joining the leadership? If so, in what role?
Yes, in any role that will best assist my district, those I represent, and the state of Massachusetts.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
- State legislative elections, 2018
- Massachusetts House of Representatives elections, 2018
- Massachusetts House of Representatives
External links
Footnotes
