While you’re waiting in line to cast your vote in today’s Election Day, meet Nick Troiano,
At 25-years-old, Troiano is running as an independent, citizen-funded candidate in Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District.
He’s young!
Over the past year, he’s campaigned in all fifteen counties in that district and although he is an independent, he strongly adheres to core Republican values of limited government and personal responsibility.
Check Him Out On MSNBC’s The Cycle
But why the independent route? “I think both parties are failing our country because they’re not working together,” Troiano told The Source by phone.
“They’re more concerned about winning their next election than doing what’s next for the next generation and they’re wed to old ideologies that haven’t changed.”
Troiano caught up with The Source, here’s THE SCOOP:
The Source: What got you into politics?
Nick Troiano: I really trace it back to being involved in student council in second grade. I continued that every year through college. That really involved some values in me and what it means to be a member of a community and what it means to leave your community better off than how you found it and the satisfaction of what leaving a positive difference does.
The Source: And that brings you to present day.
Nick Troiano: Yes. That brought me to when I was young and advocating for school lunches to my early 20s when I was advocating about our federal budget and national debt. I think we all have some sort of obligation to give back to our community and be involved specifically.
The Source: You’re listed as an Independent. Why?
Nick Troiano: I thought that now with 42% of American’s identifying as Independent’s, it’s time for the U.S. House to have its first elected Independent. Someone who can represent the people rather than the party leadership and I think because there’s such a tremendous distrust and dissatisfaction for Washington, people are ready for that change in politics.
The Source: Why should people take someone young like you seriously when voting?
Nick Troiano: Well, for voters in my district, they’ll have three voters on their ballot: me, the Republican and the Democrat. But they only have two choices: the first choice is to do what we’ve been doing and the second choice is to try something new. We know that we’ve tried every combination of party control in Washington over the last years or so and the results keep getting worse. So, flip-flopping between one party and another isn’t going to change things. We need to fundamentally fix our politics and that’s the option I’m giving to all voters.
The Source: You’re also an Independent candidate that is both young and not taking special interest money. How difficult is it to run a campaign without financial backing?
Nick Troiano: It’s very challenging and much more challenging as a citizen-funded independent candidate. But the pay off at the end of the campaign, if I should win is much greater in the sense that I won’t have to worry about toeing the line of the special interest that have contributed to me. And I also won’t have to worry about what Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner have to say. All I’ll have to worry about is what’s best for my would-be constituents. That ability to be free to lead is worth a more challenging campaign in my view.
The Source: Dude, you’re young. When you’re not busy and not campaigning what do you do for fun and what music do you listen to?
Nick Troiano: We try to do fun things as a campaign team. We all actually happen to be living and working together. We live in a house in Williamsport, PA. We try to take Friday’s light to keep each other happy. I’m not a big music guy, but I am a top 40 guy on the radio or on my Pandora.
The Source: Are you a video gamer by chance?
Nick Troiano: No. The last game I played was Goldeneye.
The Source: On Nintendo 64? That game was legendary.
Nick Troiano: I think it’s all gone downhill since! So that’s why I haven’t kept it up.
For more info on Nick Troiano visit NickTroiano.com
