NY-29 Candidate Matt Zeller Talks to News 8

Two weeks ago, we told you that Democrat Matt Zeller is running for Congress in New York's 29th District.

It's the seat that was held by Eric Massa until he resigned last month.

Since then Zeller has been a hard guy to find as he sets up his campaign.

At first, he refused to answer our questions.  A member of the Brighton Democratic party closed the door on us, even though the meeting was open to the public.

But after some convincing, Matt Zeller agreed to talk to us about why he was running.

"It's time for people, folks of my generation to start taking the mantle of leadership in our country.  I'm a 28 year old Army officer who held the hand of men in combat.  I've done more as a 28-year-old than most folks do in a lifetime," said Zeller.

Like work for the CIA.  But it's against the law for him to talk about that.  Instead, we talked about the Army, and what happened when he came back from Afghanistan.

"People have moved away.  Jobs had been lost.  Neighbors who had been here all my life were suddenly gone.  I've wanted to raise my children here.  I've wanted to settle down, live here, die here, and I was afraid if I didn't come back and start fighting for the people of this district..."

Around here, most candidates run on jobs.  So what's his new idea?  He uses the term 'incubator,' which describes a relationship between local high schools and colleges with local businesses.

"They're able to do the research and development at substantially reduced costs.  They're also able to partner with those local schools to get interns and students to help them run those labs.  That when they graduate from those colleges and trade schools, become the employees of that company, want to see them succeed," said Zeller.

Just from a few moments, it's clear his military service will be a key theme in his campaign.

"I've got fresh perspective, fresh ideas.  New ideas, that's what we need up here, I'm an Army officer, leadership is bred into me," said Zeller.

We spoke to Tom Reed's campaign, the former Corning mayor who's the top Republican in the race right now.

They say they'll put Reed's record of a business owner and as someone who has actually created jobs up against anyone's.

They also say they salute his military service.