Matt Rayo carries a list of registered Republicans and independents as he goes door-to-door talking to voters in the northern part of Syracuse.

“Some people are very responsive and interested and some people aren’t,” Rayo said “But you still need to try to make as much contact with voters as you can.”

As a first-time candidate, he’s on a mission to have daily face-to-face chats with voters in Syracuse’s Common Council District 1 before the general election on Nov. 3.

Rayo, 23, is the Republican challenger in the race for the District 1 seat. He’s also on the ballot as the candidate of the Independence and Conservative Parties. The incumbent is businessman Michael Heagerty, who was elected as a Democrat in 2007. But Heagerty failed to get the required number of petition signatures to retain the Democratic ballot line. This time, he’s running as the Working Families Party candidate.

For his part, Rayo is campaigning against his baby-faced looks and with his credentials as Republican volunteer and young entrepreneur.

“He’s young and he looks the part,” says Rayo’s aunt, Joan Rio Adams. But, she added,  “He’s been part of a family where he’s seen some of the hard work it takes to be successful.”

Rayo was born and raised in Syracuse by his single mother and grandparents. He stayed close to home even in college, attending Syracuse University’s ESF program and majoring in environmental biology.

Politics is a family habit. His grandfather ran in DeWitt for town board and county legislator. He lost both of those elections. And young Rayo recalls being largely apathetic to anything political throughout high school.

But all of his feelings about politics changed in 2006 when he volunteered to work on the re-election campaign of then-U.S. Rep. Jim Walsh (R-N.Y.). “I always liked Jim Walsh,” Rayo said. “He had been my congressman for my entire life — the only one that I knew. I thought he was a really good guy and I wanted to help with his campaign.”

He did busy work. Went door-to-door. Made phone calls. And just got the word out about Jim Walsh. Walsh won in a squeaker with the young Democrat Dan Maffei, who would succeed him in 2008 when Walsh retired.

And Matt Rayo was hooked. He joined the Syracuse University chapter of College Republicans. By the time he graduated from the university in 2008, he was the club’s president — and considering his own political ambitions.

Also in 2008, he volunteered full-time for the campaign of Republican Dale Sweetland, a longtime member of the Onondaga County Legislature who was running against the Democrat, Maffei, to succeed Walsh in Congress. Rayo coordinated of all of Sweetland’s volunteers. Sweetland lost. But Rayo won connections with people who eventually encouraged him to run for Common Council.

Among them was Kristen Rounds, the chair of the Syracuse Republican Committee. She and Rayo worked together on the Sweetland campaign. She was impressed, she said, with his ability to sit, listen and pick up little tips while doing important work on the campaign.

“One of my quips is that there’s a reason God gave you two ears and one mouth,” Rounds said. “For a young man, I was always impressed with someone who listens more than they talk, and who picks the right moments to talk.”

Fellow Republican Ryan McMahon, the Common Councilor from District 3, sympathizes with Rayo’s dilemma of youthfulness. McMahon also first ran for office at 23 and won in 2005 at age 25. Like Rayo, he heard the questions about his experience. But, he says, he sees more polish in Rayo already than he remembers in himself six years ago.

“He’s got a lot of energy,” McMahon said. “And that’s a good thing to have here.”

One example McMahon cites is Rayo’s discovery of incumbent Councilor Michael Heagerty’s misstep in collecting the required number of petition signatures to retain the Democratic nomination. Rayo sifted through his opponent’s petitions five times and discovered that many of Heagerty’s signatures were from out of the district. That left him short of the required number. Heagerty was dropped from the Democratic Party on the ballot and can now only run on the Working Families ballot line.

Of Rayo’s persistence, McMahon said, “It just shows a lot of work ethic in going the extra mile like that. You can apply that kind of attitude to tackling an issue and trying to find solutions.”

Beyond his interest in politics, Rayo has started a small business with two of his close friends that integrates his political and personal passion for  “green” technology. Rayo and his partners take waste oil from restaurants and convert it into biodiesel fuel. “Different restaurants were paying companies to take their oil,” Rayo said. “So we offered to take it for free.”

One of his partners in the project, Garth Charpentier, describes Rayo as dedicated to the project. All three partners have other commitments, so they usually meet a couple times a week from about 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. to work. “Anyone who’s going to work all day and then come here for four hours of more hard work is very devoted,” Charpentier said. “He believes in it.”

The project is part of Rayo’s larger goal to make Syracuse a model “green” city. Rayo calls for creating “green” jobs to ease the city’s 8.1 percent unemployment rate. He also calls for converting all Centro buses to run on natural gas.

“The city has to get its foot in the door for some of these areas that have potential growth, particularly green technology,” Rayo said. “We need to move forward, we need to focus on jobs of the future, and we need to get our foot in the door now.”

(Brett LoGiurato is a junior with dual majors in political science and newspaper journalism.)

-30-