Editor's note: This is the third story in a series focusing on each of the five Democrats running for the vacant 5th Congressional District seat. Today's focus is on James "Jamie" Eldridge. The series will continue throughout the week, highlighting a different candidate each day. The two Republican candidates will be featured Saturday.

METHUEN - On an unseasonably crisp August evening, James Eldridge, a 34-year-old Acton Democrat running for the open 5th Congressional District seat, is at the former Malden Mills ready to greet workers getting off the 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. shift.

It's not going to be easy. Polartec LLC, as it's now called, won't let Eldridge inside. And the workers, after a 12-hour shift, want to go home. The race is on.

At 6 feet 5 inches tall, Eldridge's long strides help him to easily close the gap. Some of the workers live in New Hampshire or are Republicans, and so they can't vote for Eldridge in the Sept. 4 Democratic primary.

Others speak little English. Aided by a local union official and his Spanish-speaking girlfriend, Eldridge earnestly talks about universal health care, living wages and paid medical leave, and how to make those happen he needs their votes for Congress.

Edwin Leal of Methuen, a machinist at the company for 40 years, said he's impressed by Eldridge, the only candidate he said has come out to Polartec LLC.

"I'll vote for him, absolutely," Leal said. "I always vote Democrat."

Eldridge's pro-labor positions have secured the support of 18 unions. But can the liberal Democrat who's staked out so many left-of-center positions appeal to a largely centrist district? To Eldridge, that's not the issue. It's about standing up for what you believe in.

"Part of being an elected official," Eldridge said, "is being a leader and challenging the public on ideas."

Diversity embraced

Jamie Eldridge's principles were shaped growing up in Acton, an economically diverse MetroWest community, where he said he learned to embrace people's differences. His mother, meantime, was committed to community service through her church. For young Jamie, giving back became second nature - he co-founded Acton Boxborough Community Outreach.

Sports also played a critical role in shaping Eldridge.

In his senior year in high school, Eldridge was a center on an Acton-Boxborough Regional High School basketball team that went to the Eastern Conference finals in a game played in the old Boston Garden.

Eldridge jokes he was the 16th man on a 15-man team. But the head coach, the late Arthur Lambert, gave him a key life lesson.

"I wasn't a star," Eldridge recalled. "But he spent just as much time with me developing my skills as the starting five. Whatever job or wherever your place, it's critical to treat everyone with the same respect. That led to me getting into politics and doing something I am good at."

Politics was Eldridge's favorite extracurricular activity. As a junior in high school, he worked on Robert Durand's first state Senate campaign. Early on, Eldridge had firm beliefs.

"He has a good grasp of the issues and is not afraid to stand up to people," said Durand, who went on to become state Secretary of Environmental Affairs under two Republican governors. "That will serve him well."

To Boston College Law School classmate David Brown, it was clear Eldridge was going places.

"You see a lot of people in law school with lofty goals," said Brown, now a staff attorney at Merrimack Valley Legal Services in Lowell. "Jamie is one of the few who lived up to those goals."

Eldridge also worked at Merrimack Valley Legal Services, where he learned he had the power to change people's lives.

"I really saw up close and personal the economic desperation of so many families," Eldridge said. "Being in court with families that were evicted and had nowhere to go, or treated unfairly by employers denied benefits, ... I saw that government could support them in ways that would improve their standard of living."

In 2002, Eldridge ran for Acton state representative. He ran under the state's campaign finance law, gutted by former Speaker Thomas Finneran. Eldridge and others sued Finneran and won - furniture from Finneran's luxurious House office was sold to pay for Eldridge and others' campaigns. He remains the only lawmaker elected with public financing.

Frustrated by politicians

Only in his third term, Eldridge jumped at the chance to run for Congress when Martin Meehan stepped down in May. Eldridge saw the power federal office held for his district. But he also was frustrated by Congress.

"My frustration is not just with George Bush's disastrous policies but with Democrats who don't stand up for Democratic values," Eldridge said.

And so it is common to see Eldridge lash out at other Democrats for saying universal health care is not politically viable or that U.S. troops mustn't be withdrawn from Iraq immediately.

"The point I've always made is if you don't stand for principles you won't create change," Eldridge said. "Having a strong position creates change. If you're ready to accept compromise, you won't create real change."

Rather than a hindrance, Durand thinks Eldridge's positions are a plus. He said Eldridge reminds him of Congressman Edward Markey, the Malden Democrat who as a state representative so infuriated then House Speaker Thomas McGee that he one day found he'd lost his office and his furniture had been moved into the hall.

Markey rode that spat to Congress in 1976 with the slogan, "You can tell Ed Markey where to sit, but you can't tell him where to stand."

"That's a good moniker for Jamie," Durand said. "He's going to do the right thing."

Name: James "Jamie" Eldridge

Age: 34

Address: 195 Arlington St., Acton

Education: Johns Hopkins University, B.A., political science, 1995; Boston College Law School, 2000

Job: Legislator

Family: girlfriend, Yanina Gonzales Sifuentes; parents, Dave and Betsy Eldridge of Acton; sister, Amanda Eldridge of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Civic/political experience: State representative 2002 to present; public interest lawyer, Merrimack Valley Legal Services 2001 to 2002; chairman of Acton Housing Authority, 2001 to 2003; vice president of Acton Conservation Trust, 1998 to 2002; volunteer, Habitat for Humanity, 1994 to present

Last book read: "A Peace to End All Peace" by David Fromkin

Favorite movie: "The Shawshank Redemption"

Favorite TV show: "The Office"

Favorite recording artist or album: Neil Young "After the Gold Rush"

Favorite local place to grab dinner:;Scupper Jack's in Acton