UNC spawns young politicos

Former and current UNC students are jumping headfirst into the world of politics — managing campaigns, leading political organizations and volunteering with grassroots efforts.

Three of them — Jeff DeLuca, Matt Hughes and Greg Steele — are helping to maintain University students’ reputation for political activism throughout the state.

Jeff DeLuca, a recent UNC graduate, is the campaign manager for N.C. House candidate Jim Messina, a Democrat who is seeking to represent part of Wake County. While DeLuca has been volunteering since the age of 13, he said advocacy work at UNC sparked his political career.

As a freshman, he was a member of Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt’s 2009 campaign. He actively campaigned against the state’s constitutional ban on gay marriages last spring.

“The big involvement comes from networking, which was born out of my activism with Amendment One,” said DeLuca.

After graduation, DeLuca was able to network with politicians while lobbying for activist groups.

In Raleigh, DeLuca met Messina, a first-time candidate running against Republican incumbent Tom Murry. DeLuca went on to become Messina’s campaign manager.

DeLuca said he would like to get involved in Orange County politics, if the time is right.

“Running for office is something you can never plan for, you’ve got to play it by ear and make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons,” DeLuca said.

Matt Hughes, a UNC graduate student, got his political start outside of the University.

In high school, he worked on the campaigns of U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., and Gov. Bev Perdue.

“It was strange not starting out with Young Democrats or College Democrats, but I felt as if I had a diverse experience working with candidates and the party,” Hughes said.

Hughes went on to become the youngest Orange County Democratic Party chairman at 21 years old.

As for the future, Hughes is planning on serving another term as chairman.

“It’s wherever the forewinds take me. I’d like to run for office, but who knows what office that is,” Hughes said.

Even undergraduates are finding time for significant political involvement.

Greg Steele, a UNC senior, is chairman of the N.C. Federation of College Republicans.

As chairman, he spreads campaign information to the state’s College Republicans chapters.

“We have to make sure college students are represented, and they have the information they need,” Steele said.

He has also been working with Pat McCrory’s N.C. gubernatorial campaign and Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign this year.

“I hope to keep up this passion for politics after graduation,” Steele said.

Contact the desk editor at state@dailytarheel.com.