Samuel Alvarenga

NS Nation Name: BanijaCharacter Name: Samuel AlvarengaCharacter Gender: MaleCharacter Age: 62Character Height: 6'4Character Weight: 170 poundsCharacter Position/Role/Job: Senator from MichiganAppearance: (Image)Character State of Origin: MichiganCharacter State of Residence: MichiganCharacter Party Affiliation: DemocraticMain Strengths: Energetic, Experienced, Good Speaker. Main Weaknesses: Is terrible at Campaigning. He is way too hard-headed. Biography: 
Education: Samuel Alvarenga graduated from Henry Ford High School in 1973, and graduated from Wayne State University in 1978 with a bachelor's degree in political science. He was President of the Wayne State Democrats organization in his senior year of high school, as well as being a standing member of Alpha Phi Alpha for all 5 years of college, and becoming an active member in the Detroit Chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha alumni association. After graduating, he was hired to work on the line at the Ford River Rouge complex, becoming a card-carrying proud member of the United Auto Workers. His mother was a teacher and his Father had worked at the same plant since coming home from World War II. 
Political History:
State Senate:
In 1986, the local State Senator retired, leaving an opening. With his passion always being politics, Alvarenga decided to run for the State Senate. With 4 candidates running, he was able to reach out to friends at places like Wayne State to have a strong ground campaign, and was able to win the primary with 43% of the vote. He went on to serve for 6 years, being a staunch supporter of Governor Blanchard for 4 years, and a staunch opponent of Governor Engler in his second term, although he ended up being heavy supporter of the 1994 campaign to equalize education funding by shifting funding away from property taxes to sales taxes. 
He rose to be the Ranking Member on the State Committee for Appropriations in 1991-1993.
1986 DNC Primary: 43%(1st out of 4)
1986 General: 88%, GOP 10%
1990 DNC Primary: 59%(1st out of 2)
1990 General: 75%
U.S. House of Representatives: 
Redistricting was always going to be tough after the 1990 census, with Michigan scheduled to lose 2 Congressional Districts. John Conyers, who had represented Michigan's 1st District since 1965, was redistricted to the 14th. With Mayor Coleman Young retiring, he decided to retire from Congress to focus on a Mayoral candidacy in the upcoming race for Mayor in 1993. Many aspiring politicians, including the card-carrying UAW member State Senator Alvarenga decided to declare their candidacies for the District that would represent the West side of Detroit plus areas like Highland Park and some inner-ring suburbs like Redford. He was able to win the 1992 4 way primary with himself, 2 State Reps, and a County Commissioner to advance to the general election. 
He was challenged by Sheila Cockrel in the 2002 primary after redistricting, and even though the District continued to add suburbs in areas like Downriver and added Hamtramck, he was still able to win the primary with 54% of the vote. In this heavily Democratic, majority African-American District, he has never gotten less than 75% of the vote in a general election.
1992 DNC Primary: 44%
1992 General: 86%
1994 General: 75%, GOP 23%
1996 General: 82%
1998 General: 80%
2000 General: 85%
2002 DNC Primary: 54%, Cockrel 40%
2002 General: 82%
2004 General: 87%
2006 General: 91%
2008 General: 85%
2010 General: 77%
2012 General: 78%
Detroit Mayoral Election:
In 2001, Mayor Dennis Archer retired, and Representative Alvarenga announced his decision to declare his candidacy for the Mayor of Detroit. He ran against City Council President Hill and a young Kwame Kilpatrick. City elections in Detroit are traditionally non-partisan, and with the Mayoralty under a Top-Two system, all three main candidates campaigned hard. After a long campaign, in August, Kwame Kilpatrick finished first, and Alvarenga finished within 1/2 of a percentage point of Hill for the second spot- but not close enough to make it to the November ballot. He thanked citizens for working on his campaign, and has said he will focus on helping out Detroiters by being their best people representative in Congress, and doing what he can for them on the Hill while establishing a good relationship with local leaders. Kwame Kilpatrick went onto win the general election with 55% of the vote.
2001 Detroit Mayoral non-partisan primary:
Kwame Kilpatrick: 38%
Gill Hill: 30.1%
Samuel Alvarenga: 29.8%
2014 MI Senate Election:
With Carl Levin's retirement, Congressman Alvarenga decided to take a stab at and run for the seat. A representative of Detroit for many years, and many suburban areas, he was already a household name in the vote rich Tri-County area, which is where the vast majority of the state's Democrats lived, and 40% of the overall population. He easily coasted through the primary, and he won the General election by 3 points, beating the GOP wave of the year. With the rise of the Progressive Party, he has stayed loyal to the Democratic Party. 
2014 Primary: 67%
2014 General: 51%GOP 47%
Key VotesWAC- NaySafely Neutering Illegal Persons Act- NaySecond Amendment Originality Defense Act- AyeRestoring Local Authority to Services Act- NayAmerican's Safety Act- AyeDignifying and Edifying Female Accomplishments in Currency for Extended Duration- AyeTaylor Force Act- NayBudget Act of 2017- AyeSexual Assault Categorization Act- Aye Declaration of War against the Islamic State- NayBalanced Budget Amendment- Nay
Family:
Parents: DeAndre and Lily. Only child.
Married to Sarah on April 14th, 1984. 
Children: Samuel Jr.(b. 5/16/1985), Grant(b. 4/30/1988), and Catherine(b. 11/15/1991)
Other Info: N/A