BY CRAIG RICHARDSON // OCT. 28, 2014 //

Politics in this country has been in disfavor over the last decade. Government gets labeled as corrupt, inept and even useless. This surely results in considerably low voter turnout.

On Thursday, Oct. 23, Massachusetts Republican Party chairperson Kirsten Hughes came to Curry College and encouraged students not to lose faith. Hughes, addressing Professor Kathleen O’Donnell’s State and Local Politics class, spoke about how to get involved in politics and the importance of being politically active, especially at the local level. According to Hughes, younger voters, in particular, need to take their civic duties more seriously. At the least, they should vote.

Hughes had a strong passion for politics while growing up in Quincy, Mass. Although she was raised in a Democratic household, she said she chose to support the Republican Party.

“I do not feel as though I chose to be a Republican; they chose me,” she said.

Hughes, who earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from New York University in 2003, began her career singing and acting in New York City. She then moved into law, and moved back home, earning her law degree from the New England School of Law, located in Boston, in 2008.

As her participation and roles increased in local political campaigns, she found it very rewarding and turned it into a career. Hughes won election to the Quincy City Council in 2011, served as deputy finance director for Sen. Scott Brown in 2012, and in January 2013 was elected by the state Republican Party to serve as its chairperson.

These days, she’s traveling statewide in support of Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker. Ultimately, she told those in attendance at Curry, she wants people to vote.