News

A Huntingdon area man has announced he is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 81st Legislative District of the state House of Representatives.

Ian Kidd, a Huntingdon native and current long-term substitute at the Mount Union Area Junior/Senior High School, hopes to garner the nomination to challenge Republican incumbent state Rep. Rich Irvin in the general election.

Kidd is seeking signatures for petitions ahead of the Monday, Feb. 17, deadline from Democrats in the 81st Legislative District, which encompasses all of Huntingdon County and parts of Centre and Mifflin counties.

He was inspired to run after he worked on campaigns for Rick Rogers, who was a previous Democratic challenger for state representative.

“I started working on the campaign for Rick Rogers when he ran in 2014,” said Kidd. “I was 17 years old when I started to work in politics. I also worked on his 2016 campaign as a 19 year old.”

During this time, Kidd was studying and received a secondary education bachelor’s degree, with an emphasis in social studies, from Lock Haven University in 2019.

“There’s a push within the social studies industry not just to teach the names, dates and figures of historical figures, but to actually do the sort of civic engagement we’re teaching about,” he said. “When this cycle came about, and Rick decided not to run, and it looked like nobody else was anxious throw their hat into the ring, I saw this as a test of dedication to the civic duties that I try to get other people to do. If you look to the left and to your right and see nobody doing what’s important, I realized I have to do it myself.”

Kidd talked about some of the issues he feels people in the 81st Legislative District are facing.

“It’s a large geographical territory, and there are people here from all walks of life, (so the issues they face are) across the entire spectrum,” he said. “There’s homelessness, access to health care, particularly for veterans, employment issues and sustainable industries that will be here that aren’t just economically viable, but environmentally viable.

“We need to endorse job transition for industries that are becoming unviable, like the coal industry as one example,” Kidd added. “We need to support these people as they transition to another job. We also need to support education in all form. I think apprenticeships, higher education, or any sort of advancement based on interest and opportunities are things we need to support as much as we can.”

Having no previous experience holding a political office is something Kidd doesn’t see as a weakness, but as a strength, and he feels he’s uniquely qualified to understand the experiences of being a young professional in the 81st Legislative District — particularly Huntingdon County.

“Huntingdon County is the only area in the district that’s experiencing a negative population growth,” said Kidd. “We’re not only an aging population, but we’re losing population. There’s a reason why young people, like me, don’t stay in the area. It’s not only disappointing, but it’s not sustainable. It’s not a viable way to keep this area culturally relevant for our local and state economy and for our local political and for our social lives.

“If too many people leave here, there isn’t going to be anything left for us to preserve for our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren,” added Kidd.

He believes that he, along with his campaign team, has the energy to bring new and creative ideas to help the 81st Legislative District move forward.

“I believe there’s an energy we possess because of our age,” said Kidd. “It may be considered naive or ignorant in some people’s perspectives, but by not feeling limited by previous political, social or economic experiences or losses, I don’t have this need to water myself down, because I believe I have a lot to offer,” said Kidd. “We all have the judgment, disposition and passion and we don’t have the fear of missing out. We’re not doing it because it’s our career. Our team is a team of people that is doing this because we believe it’s the right thing to do, and we’re the people to do it. It doesn’t matter that I don’t have previous political experience. I think the problems have reached a point where I want to do something about them."