Despite apparent defeat, teen candidate won't quit

WASILLA — Despite her apparent loss to George McKee in the race for a Mat-Su Borough Assembly seat, 19-year-old Maria Serrano isn’t giving up on her dream of a life in politics.

At her family home near Cottonwood Creek, Serrano has been party to discussions of current events all her life.

“We’re always listening to the news, and watching and reading,” said Maria’s father, Gil, a businessman and former land developer who ran for a state senate seat in 1970.

The political upstart’s mother, Beverly Serrano, also ran for office once, campaigning for a seat in the Alaska House of Representatives in 2008.

“We’ve always been politically active in the family,” Beverly said.

The youngest of three children, Maria Serrano spent much of her early years observing her older brother, Jody, and sister, Lindsay, interacting with their parents.

Though she was 41 years younger than the next-oldest person who ran for Mat-Su Borough Assembly this year, Serrano has had a vested interest in law and politics since she was in elementary school.

Her mother said Maria was nine or 10 years old when she pulled a book containing the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence off the shelf in her parents’ room.

“She was at it for a long time,” Beverly remembered.

Maria said she read the whole thing, cover to cover.

“We decided I was pretty weird at that point,” she joked over a plate of Election Day biscuits and gravy at Mat-Su Family Restaurant in Wasilla on Tuesday.

After that fateful reading, Serrano began to really soak in her history lessons in school, and jumped at every opportunity she got to volunteer. She became a Sunday School teacher at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Wasilla, worked with homeless prevention organizations like Family Promise and MY House, and at Burchell High School she got involved with Youth Court, Peer Helpers, Teens Against Tobacco Use and Teens for Healthy Relationships.

Alternative education

Gil Serrano said he “had a negative feeling” about Burchell when his daughter Lindsay first attended, but after watching her succeed (she recently returned to the states from deployment in the Navy overseas), he decided it was “a heck of a school” for his younger daughter.

It was at Burchell that Serrano learned to appreciate the perspectives of others, both in debate class and in social situations.

“I can work with both sides very easily,” she said, thinking of high school debates she won on topics opposite her personal views.

But Serrano was perhaps more influenced by the kindness of others at the Wasilla school. On one particular afternoon, she was sitting in class with a student she knew to be homeless. She hadn’t eaten that day, and without thinking complained out loud about being hungry. When the homeless student reached into his bag and offered her a granola bar, Serrano was humbled.

Serrano left Burchell a year early to participate in the early honors dual credit program at Alaska Pacific University (APU). The summer before she began her college classes, 2013, she was hired as an intern by former U.S. Senator Mark Begich. It was during her time in that position that she attended her first assembly meeting.

“It was a long meeting but I enjoyed it,” she said. “I thought it was really cool, the process, and the people … being able to talk directly to the person they were mad at.”

Later, as Serrano drove a few of Begich’s Anchorage staff members around Wasilla, she realized she wanted to play a more significant role in local politics. She wanted to run for assembly.

“I was like OK, no matter what I do in my life, I want to come back to politics,” Serrano said. “I didn’t think that’d be two years later, but you know I’ve been lucky.”

During the last two years, Serrano completed the honors program at APU. In July, she officially declared her candidacy.

The race

Serrano said she learned a lot from her first campaign.

One was time management — scheduling time to promote herself on social media, via phone, or by going door to door required more focus than she expected.

It’s been worth it, though, as the responses to such solicitations have been worthwhile.

“Some people weren’t as interested, and some people were really interested, but no one was mean,” Serrano said. “It was all really positive.”

Even her opponent, 78-year-old George McKee, was fairly gracious at an AARP candidate forum last month.

“He goes, ‘I love young people getting involved. I just wish she wouldn’t have done it this time,’” Serrano remembered.

All kidding aside, the candidate’s age did instill doubt in some people — including McKee, who in answer to a questionnaire printed in the Oct. 4 edition of the Frontiersman said he didn’t think his opponent had “lived long enough to comprehend the complexities of life.”

Serrano countered that more years in the world doesn’t necessarily equal more experience in the areas that count.

“It doesn’t matter how old you are, ” she said.

At least one supporter was inspired by Serrano’s age.

“It’s a good day for the youth of America,” said John Anderson, a Vern Halter for Mayor campaign volunteer who spotted Serrano during Tuesday’s breakfast.

Whatever a candidate’s age, there’s something to be said for enthusiasm, Serrano said.

“I notice with a lot of people in politics, that’s their side job, but this is something I wanna do and pursue my life in,” she said. “I wanna stay in the Valley, I wanna ultimately raise my kids here. I love Alaska, I love Wasilla, I loved growing up here, so it’s really in my best interest to keep this place as best as I can keep it going.”

After learning of the disappointing vote totals Wednesday — McKee garnered 535 votes to her 418, though 368 questioned and absentee votes remained outstanding — Serrano said the experience hadn’t dimmed her enthusiasm for politics in the least.

“This has been an experience beyond all belief … and it will not be the last time I’m running,” Serrano said.

Until then, she’ll be working on getting a paralegal license from Mat-Su College and keeping an eye out for another opportunity in local politics.

“Next seat that’s open that’s in my area, you can count me in.”

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.