By Tara Turner

Sonia Chang-Diaz, the Democratic nominee for senator for the Second Suffolk state district, said she will advocate for every group in her district, including students, if elected.

Chang-Diaz beat the incumbent, former state Senator Dianne Wilkerson in the Sept. 16 primary, something Chang-Diaz is especially proud of, she said in an interview with The News.

Wilkerson beat Chang-Diaz for the seat in 2006, after a close primary ended in a recount.

The Second Suffolk senate district stretches across Boston from Beacon Hill to Mattapan, including the Back Bay, Jamaica Plain and Mission Hill. Chang-Diaz will be running against Republican Ellen Rooney in the Nov. 4 election.

“As an outsider, to beat a 15-year incumbent is incredible,” she said. “I’m very proud of that. But I couldn’t have done it without all the campaign volunteers.”

Some of those campaign volunteers are Northeastern students.

“I’ve had some tremendous Northeastern students who have been volunteers,” she said. “This is the closest relationship I have with the university and it’s the most special to me. They will be the best resources in the future to find and know student needs.”

After Wilkerson lost a close vote and subsequent recount, she announced Sept. 23 she will run a write-in and sticker campaign for the seat.

Political Director of the Northeastern University College Democrats Josh Robin, a senior political science major, called Chang-Diaz “dynamite.”

“Campaigns take a lot of time and energy,” Robin said. “She ran again after losing,which shows she cares about what she’s running for. It shows how committed she is.”

Chang-Diaz has an active history in the district as an educator, a legislative aide, a political advisor and an active member of MassVotes, a state-wide voting rights and election reform organization.

She taught in the urban public middle school system and in public high schools, according to her Web site. Her background as an educator strongly shapes her mindset in the political world, she said.

“My experience as a teacher looms large in my perspective as a candidate and policy maker,” Chang-Diaz said.

Seeing first-hand how the public school system struggles is what drives her, she said.

If students are worried about being represented, Robin said he thinks they will have someone in their corner with Chang-Diaz.

“Because she was a teacher and is fairly young, I think she’s pretty open to the issues of young people,” Robin said. “She’s an excellent listener. She would not only be a good candidate for students but for the entire district.”

Being represented seems to be important to both students and faculty at Northeastern.

Senior English major Michael Baullier said he wants someone who will make college more financially feasible during these difficult economic times.

“I am interested in a representative who will advocate for more government spending on scholarships, grants and new forms of financial assistance to lessen the burden on students,” he said.

Professor John Portz, chair of the political science department, said he believes the Northeastern community needs a representative who is responsive and listens to the concerns of all the district’s residents.

“From a Northeastern perspective, it is particularly important that she play a role in the unfolding master plan for the university that will help to define the relationship between NU and its surrounding community,” Portz said. “She needs to be knowledgeable of this plan and play a role in its development.”

While Chang-Diaz said she is an advocate for students, she said she also wants to make sure everyone is represented, despite differences in race, class or gender.

Chang-Diaz said she believes in an “open, transparent and accountable” government.

She said she wants to make the budget process more transparent so that “anyone can pick it [the budget] up and understand it.”

Campaigns should be clean, she said, and the system should be more accessible and accountable to voters, including students.

One tense subject mentioned by other local politicians is that of the relationship between the Northeastern student community and the surrounding residential neighborhoods.

Chang-Diaz said she has talked to Northeastern students in the past and gives students credit for wanting to improve the relationship with the community.

“It was wonderful to hear how excited they were and how they wanted to be proactive and build bridges there,” she said.

She still admits “there will always be pressures” but remains positive about the future of neighborhood relations.

For Chang-Diaz, politics can be boiled down to the basics, she said.

“Both campaigns were huge affirmations of the power of getting out and talking to voters one on one,” she said. “That’s how you win elections. In the end it’s the voters who decide. In the end it isn’t the big money and big endorsements.”

Despite the grind of a grueling campaign, she said she believes in what she is doing.

“There are a lot of frustrating things about politics but I do really believe in the process,” she said.

For now she said she is pushing toward November, just as she did in 2006.