Mateo Sanabria

Mateo Sanabria was born in Atlanta, Georgia. Sanabria earned a high school diploma from Forsyth Central High School and a bachelor's degree from Georgia State University in 2023.

His career experience includes working as a programmer. As of 2025, Sanabria was affiliated with Young Democrats of Georgia, Forsyth County Democrats, and Hall County Democrats.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a 23 year old candidate wanting to make sure Georgia is an affordable place to live for the current and future generations. I am the son of two Colombian immigrant business owners. I have always been interested in politics as a way to protect people from corporate interests and ensure our government actually fights for its people. I am a software developer and have always loved technology. I also enjoy building computers and repairing anything. Aside from this I also enjoy musical theater and have been known to perform at my highschool graduation, local performing arts in Cumming/Forsyth, and my middle school. Finally I also enjoy tabletop as well as computer gaming.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Bringing your voices to light. Georgians have incredible ideas and thoughts on how their government should be serving them. Our legislature should be focused on representing our personal interests. This is why I will be holding consistent town hall meetings where everyday Georgians can come to me with issues they would like remedied. I promise to listen to my people.We need more young people in government. With issues like Artificial Intelligence, surveillance technology, as well attacks on our scientific future as a country we are loosing our future. For this reason less and less young people are interested in voting much less running for office. I want to encourage younger voters to come out and ensure they do not feel powerless to affect their own future.We need to stand united against corporate interests. When working within politics we need to make sure we aren't taking money from corporations. Our focus should be on individuals not million or billion dollar corporate interests. If we are taking money from them we are representing them. We should take a stand against this. Thats why I will not be accepting any corporate donations.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Right to repair is one of my strongest interests. We can't keep letting corporations make garbage and expecting us to pay for new garbage every year. We need to legislate and ensure that all software and hardware is made with reparability in mind. If we can't fix what we own, we don't own it. If a live service that we paid for shuts down they need to open source that service.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Integrity, if your people are going through something you should be in the same situation with them. When our people suffer we suffer. When we say something we need to be honest about what we are doing to fix it and not promise things we cannot accomplish.

Being a good listener, we can so easily be caught in echo chambers and as elected officials it is our duty to ensure this doesn't happen. We need to take to the streets and reach out to constituents where they are.

Transparency, the more information we keep private the less trustworthy we seem. Our people deserve to know how our government is run. We should never work within the shadows or use shady tactics. When we do we are seen as though we don't support what we are doing.

Lack of greed, if you are in government to line your own pockets or ensure that you yourself have power; You are a failure. Government exist to protect its citizens against those with the money to influence the world. We must fight back.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

We need to build legislation that aims to make Georgia equitable. We need our people to be on the same footing in a legal, educational, and healthcare sense. Using our budget we should enable our constituents to use the legal system to tackle injustice.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I would like to be someone my children and grandchildren aspire to be. Someone who shows you should follow all of your dreams and not restrict yourself to just one thing. We need to seek out all we can in this life.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

Obama being elected the second time, I was 9 and remember my classmates commenting on how he would just slip out of prison bars if put in jail. Looking back you can see the senseless negative rhetoric towards our first bit of minority representation in the highest office in the nation.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

The first place I worked was Kroger as a courtesy clerk (Bagger). It was an alright job, I was 15 and wanted some extra cash. I had to bike to work after school. Had it for a few months before the next school musical came.

What is your favorite book? Why?

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. It has the most accurate depictions of mental health struggles I've ever seen put into words. A master piece.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Right now I'm leaning towards the Flash. Thinking in superspeed would be unbelievably useful. I would never delay anyone with my thoughts and would be able to do research in record time. It would let me know the right answer and be able to reach people with incredible pace.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

I have always wanted to branch out and do everything. I have a wide array of interests and want to get the most out of my life. Sadly I have had to come to terms with the fact that if I only ever skim the surface of every topic I will not get the same level of payoff as someone who delves deeply. I'm working to achieve focus and prioritize my deepest desires first.

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between the governor and state legislature?

The legislature should make laws and the governor should retain veto power. Overall they should work symbiotically but we need to make sure that the governor as one person does not maintain more control over our government than the representatives in the house and senate.

What do you perceive to be your state's greatest challenges over the next decade?

We have been the biggest state for businesses and we are experiencing massive economic growth. This growth however is leading to more focus in supporting businesses than the individuals that make up Georgia. We will be fighting an uphill battle against the corporations we have given great power to ensure Georgia protects its citizens. Data centers in particular I see as a major point of contention with the lack of fresh water in Georgia and lack of proper power infrastructure.

Do you believe that it’s beneficial for state legislators to have previous experience in government or politics?

Absolutely, legislators should do the most they can to gain experience. For this reason I have been actively attending almost every political event I can since announcing my run. I want to be informed and actively ask other legislators what I can study or do to learn more. I have even been watching sessions in the house to see more of what actively happens.

Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.

This is one of the most important things to do. If we always act like enemies or individuals we do not hold any power to fight back. Working as a collective should be our main goal and we do that by building comradery.

Is there a particular legislator, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

Bernie Sanders, he is always fighting for the people not the corporations. A model representative.

Are you interested in running for a different political office (for example, the U.S. Congress or governor) in the future?

I would be more than happy to, anywhere I could be to help more people.

Both sitting legislators and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful?

I recently heard a story at a town hall for Rich McCormick that he refused to even attend. Where a woman spoke of taking her transgender child to seek treatment and having CPS called on her. This is a horrible misuse of an incredibly important system. We need to fight for all Americans to not be villainized or disadvantaged through our own systems of government.

Should the legislature oversee or grant the use of emergency powers?

Absolutely, with the way the national guard has been tossed around during this presidency we need to ensure emergency powers are not controlled by one person.

What is the first bill you would introduce if elected?

I would like to introduce a bill ensuring that all corporations when releasing a product that gets over a million sales needs to have a process for repair and recycling set up to ensure their products do not pollute our state. This also ensures Georgians do not spend money replacing their products each year.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

None so far officially as the election is next year. Hopefully [the profile publisher] allows me to fix this later.

Would a state ballot initiative process be good or bad for your state?

I would love for that to be a part of Georgia's legislature. Any way to bring the people more power is good in my book.

Candidates hear many personal stories from voters. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching or memorable?

When I first announced my candidacy I went to a happy hour with the Forsyth County Dems. Here a woman walked up to me and outlined a plan for how we could make our state more accessible for people like her child. He struggles with his mental health and requires additional care. Having someone come up to me with such a complex and nuanced problem and wondering what I could do to solve it took me aback. It reminds me what I'm running for and what I am ready to tackle.

What is an accomplishment that you are proud of?

I won my 11th grade coding league and didn't have to take my programming midterm. I was beyond proud to do it and glad to have my friend Will by my side when it happened.

What legislation would you enact related to election administration in your state?

Ensuring strong voter protections, building more ways for people being able to vote at home, making sure we keep a non partisan group in charge of elections.