JOSH DAVIS/BAYSIDE GAZETTE
Sen. Jim Mathias sponsors a flag in honor of his father-in-law Edward O. Petry, a career U.S. Army man, during the inaugural Flags for Heroes display at the Worcester County Veteran’s Memorial in Ocean Pines.

By Rachel Ravina, Staff Writer

(Nov. 1, 2018) Politics could be considered a calling for 67-year-old Sen. Jim Mathias, who has been involved in them since his pre-teen years.

Mathias spoke fondly of Election Day, 1960, when he handed out flyers for candidates as voters made their way to the polls.

His fascination with politics followed him through the end of the decade, the time of “social awareness” during the Vietnam War, and into the University of Maryland Baltimore County, where he earned his degree in political science.

Locally, he began as a member on Ocean City’s Board of Zoning Appeals, followed by service on the Ocean City Council and then was elected mayor of Ocean City. He served for 10 years, before making the leap to the state level, where he held this district’s seat in the Maryland House of Delegates for several years before becoming the state senator for District 38.

He moved to this area from Baltimore when his father opened a business near the Boardwalk. Mathias said his father died in 1974, but he stayed with his family to work in different businesses.

In the meantime, he pursued his political aspirations, and believes he has a penchant for building relationships, which helped him along the way.

“You’re a senator for the entire state of Maryland, and how you do that, and the relationships that you build with your colleagues, and the governor is what deems you effective, and I work hard to make sure I illustrate that to my constituents,” Mathias said.

Now he’s fighting to keep his position as state senator against current Republican Del. Mary Beth Carozza. Mathias stressed the importance of being bipartisan and feels his record speaks for itself.

“We have that record of across the aisle,” he said. “We have that record of earned trust and relationship[s], and, respectfully, that’s what I bring to asking people for their continued trust and confidence.”

Throughout his terms in state government, Mathias said he has focused on the economy, the opioid crisis and education.

Mathias said if he is reelected, he’ll continue to take a preventative approach to confronting the epidemic, but would maintain the area’s rehabilitative resources

“Unfortunately, when the person is in the addictive phase of their situation, we [need to] have the rehabilitation and the therapy that is necessary,” he said.

Mathias added this opioid issue has a hefty price tag, and said, “As much of an asset as the poultry industry is … this opioid-heroin addiction dims that.”

Mathias said he follows the advice of his late mother, who said, “Jimmy take care of what you have first.” By his reckoning, that means “our cornerstone industries —farming, small business, tourism, agriculture, and commercial waterman — and then make sure to grow out,” he said.

To that end, he said has and supported and will continue to support efforts “to make sure that we have a very well trained and educated workforce for … the vocational opportunities that are here today.”