Student seeks N.D. House of Reps. seat
Junior Zachary Ista, 20, announced Monday that he seek the Democratic-NPL endorsement for the North Dakota House of Representatives from District 13.
Ista, a social science education junior, said he wants to run to embrace one of his passions — community involvement.
“ (Students) keep hearing that we’re the future leaders — let’s take action on that,” he said.
District 13 encompasses much of West Fargo, Ista’s hometown.
“ There have been Istas involved in N.D. politics for many years,” he said. “Growing up, current events, politics and government were always discussed at home.”
While Ista spent the first year and a half of his undergraduate career at UND, he transferred to NDSU in January 2005.
“ In North Dakota, our universities and colleges are really great,” he said. “I think they can compete with any school in the nation.”
He went on to say his experiences at the college level lead to one of his major platform ideas — curbing rising tuition costs for students.
“ At the collegiate level, it’s all about tuition increases — how do we stem the tide of 10 percent increases every year?” he said. “The state is really the best source to help fund education.”
Ista also said he will focus on K-12 education issues during his campaign, like increasing teachers’ pay and relieving the burden of escalating property taxes in funding education.
Outside of running for office, Ista interns in Sen. Byron Dorgan’s office and works at his church, Faith Lutheran of West Fargo.
He said his favorite role, though, is coaching a seventh-grade basketball team, an experience he calls “amazing.”
“ I absolutely love it,” he said.
Ista said he encourages all students to get involved in their communities.
“ No matter your political party views, there are ways to get involved, and it’s bigger than partisan politics,” he said.
Ista said he wants to teach high school government after graduation.
Currently, the two youngest state legislators are Sen. Nick Hacker and Rep. Stacey Horter, both in their early 20s and from Grand Forks’ District 42.