Peter Mathews

Peter Mathews has decided to run for Congress again after several unsuccessful attempts in past years. The college professor is running for the Democratic primaries scheduled for March 2. The candidate for the U.S. Congress from California’s 37th District will be decided at that time.

Chair of the Political Science Department at Cypress College, Los Angeles, Mathews has of late been a political commentator on KNBC Channel 4 in Los Angeles. Mathews hopes his TV stint and his initiative to reduce class size in California will bring him the attention needed to compete against incumbent Representative Juanita Millender-McDonald.

He says his class-size initiative has received the endorsement of the UTLA (United Teachers of Los Angeles) and been signed by public figures like Antonio Villariagosa, former candidate for Los Angeles Mayor and current Los Angeles City Council member, and Elito Santerina, current Carson City Council member.

“The main reason I am running for U.S. Congress is that America is at a crossroads. The U.S. is involved in an expensive quagmire in Iraq. Some $150 billion has already been spent. I want us to have more multilateral, new and responsible foreign policy,” Mathews told News India-Times. “I also want to bring funds back into my district which is heavily minority now after the redistricting.”

Mathews, who has run before claims this is his best chance at winning to date. He said the district of more than 200,000 is 65 percent Democrat, 12 percent Republican, 80 percent African American, Latino, and Asian American, groups with whom his message resonates. “My message resonates because it is progressive and populist. There’s lots of unemployment, overcrowded classrooms. I want to give incentives to business to locate here.”