OBA unveil new general election candidate
Terry Hodgson has been announced as the latest One Bermuda Alliance election candidate, to challenge the Progressive Labour Party’s Michael Weeks for Pembroke East Central.Mr Hodgson cited crime, education and the economy as the top concerns on the doorsteps of Constituency 16.The 31-year-old, a cousin to the PLP’s Arthur Hodgson and to race activist Eva Hodgson, promised to run as an agent of change.“I decided to run as a candidate for the OBA because I want Bermuda to do better,” Mr Hodgson said, following his introduction by OBA Leader Craig Cannonier.“In a few short years, I have seen it become a place of gang violence, a place of jobs disappearing and a place where Government debt is being pushed more and more into future generations.”He said the OBA was a party of diversity that listened to the people, and he intended to take what is widely viewed as a strong seat for the PLP, as someone who was “looking to change the Government”.“I will reach out to the young men in the area,” the new candidate vowed, adding: “I feel, and they feel, there is no voice in the House and in Government that supports young people.”A former chef and bartender, Mr Hodgson works for Butterfield and Vallis importers as an account executive, and belongs to the OBA’s Committee for Social Affairs, as well as its youth wing, the Future Bermuda Alliance.“People are worried. I hear that every day in the workplace, on the street and at the doorstep. People know we can’t keep going the way we’re going,” he said.“They want safe communities. They want jobs. They want more opportunities for their families, and they want responsible management of the public purse.”A graduate of Bermuda College and CedarBridge Academy, Mr Hodgson also completed his Bermuda Regiment service to the rank of corporal.Asked for his views of conscription, Mr Hodgson, said he hoped the Regiment could move away from the practice and become a full-time service with a wider maritime role.In a Party biography, the new candidate is described as someone who is “particularly interested in using his leadership skills to bring people together, and to end the divisiveness that has hurt the Island’s ability to progress”.