Matthew Varvaro

Varvaro said he is running for the Assembly because “Albany politics are fundamentally broken and in serious need of reform.” Varvaro said that, if elected, he would advocate for “comprehensive ethics reform that includes term limits, tougher penalties for corrupt politicians, a strong ethics board, and an overhaul of the broken contract and grant system.” Varvaro said he would “introduce tax and regulatory reforms that lower rates, eliminate handouts to special interests, make the property tax cap permanent, and lower the cost of living and doing business on Long Island.” He said he would work to introduce more 21st century technology in school classrooms, to reform Common Core, and to enact “common-sense tenure and compensation reform so that we have the best teachers in the classroom at all times.” Varvaro said he would “push for new ways to protect the environment, waterways and natural resources of Long Island’s North Shore.” He said he would push initiatives for investments in alternative energy “to address the threat that climate change poses to our shores, and an expansion of our sewage treatment system to combat nitrogen pollution of our groundwater.”

Varvaro, 25, who is making his first run for public office, is on the Republican, Conservative and Reform party lines. The lifelong resident of Port Washington graduated in 2009 from Port Washington’s Paul D. Schreiber High School. Varvaro graduated from Johns Hopkins University. Varvaro worked from 2014 to 2015 as a legislative aide to Town of North Hempstead Councilwoman Dina De Giorgio. He served as the research director last year on former New York State Gov. George Pataki’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.