Winfield Spurs Diversity Debate

Hartford—As state Democrats prepare for a convention day that promises a robust debate about the value and practice of diversity within the party, the most sought-after politician in the room is not even looking to get on the ballot.

On Saturday morning, New Haven State Sen. Gary Winfield received a steady stream of handshakes and hugs from delegates and politicos from throughout the state as they circled by the coffee table at the state Democratic Party nominating convention at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford.

Winfield, who has represented parts of New Haven and West Haven in the state senate since 2014, is not running for any statewide office this year. Instead, he has served as the chief catalyst for an intraparty debate about why Democrats, who claim to be the party of racial and cultural diversity, continually fail to nominate candidates of color to any statewide position except state treasurer. The Democrats have included an African-American nominee for treasurer on every ticket since 1962, but have never had a person of color serve in any other state or federal office.

Earlier this month, Winfield, who is African-American, publicly announced that he was considering breaking that white streak by running for lieutenant governor. When gubernatorial frontrunner Ned Lamont chose his rival-turned-teammate Susan Bysiewicz, who is white, to run on his ticket instead, Winfield and a number of New Haven Democrats offered a public rebuke of a state party that continually makes verbal commitments to diversity.

On Saturday morning, Winfield reaffirmed his commitment to support Eva Bermudez Zimmerman, a 30-year-old Newtown labor organizer who is of Puerto Rican descent, in her bid to become lieutenant governor.

He said he is still undecided on whom he will support for governor at today’s convention. [UPDATE: Winfield said he ultimately voted for Lamont.]

He confirmed that he does not plan to seek the nomination for lieutenant governor on the floor of the convention today. But, he said, he has no regrets about prodding the state party to act on its commitment to being truly representative of its constituents.

“I am not allowing you to do what you always do,” Winfield said about state party habit of nominating only white candidates at the top of the ticket. ​“You guys say you want diversity, but you never have a candidate of color other than state treasurer.”

“You say, ​‘we care about diversity, but maybe next time,’” he said about the attitude of the statewide party. ​“That’s nonsense. You can’t do that.”

He said that he would be less upset with the racial makeup of the ticket if it were all white. But considering how the Democrats always nominate an African-American treasurer, he said he feels like that position, however, qualified the candidate, has become a token spot for the party to support a person of color.

When asked why he didn’t start a more formal campaign for lieutenant governor earlier than just a few days before the convention, Winfield said he had been in talks with state Comptroller Kevin Lembo at the end of last year about running on his ticket if he chose to pursue the governor’s mansion. He also said that he decided to curtail his statewide ambitions earlier this year when his wife gave birth to twins who spent several weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Once he realized that his kids were going to be fine, he said, he resumed his interest in running for statewide office.

“I came up here to change the future for them,” he said about his twins. He said he wanted to leave a political world for them where they know that anything is possible not just because people talk about their convictions, but because they actually act on them.

Lamont and Bysiewicz briefly greeted Winfield with a smile.

“We’ll be on the same team soon, right?” Lamont asked.

“Maybe,” Winfield replied.

Marlene Zuckerbrod, the events coordinator for the Lamont campaign, approached Winfield with a Lamont sticker and asked for his support. He demurred, saying that he was concerned about Lamont’s failure to pick a person of color as his unofficial running mate come November.

Zuckerbrod asked Winfield to reconsider his hesitation on supporting Lamont. ​“Do you believe in second chances?” she asked.

“I’m intimately associated with second chances,” he replied.

He said that he was supporting Bermudez Zimmerman for lieutenant governor because he thought she was the best qualified to be in the position and because he wanted to demonstrate his commitment to a diverse ticket, regardless of whether or not he is on it.

“I’ve been at the forefront of every progressive issue in the past decade,” he said in defense of his own qualifications when he was considering a run. But, he said, he was happy to support Bermudez Zimmerman from the sidelines this year.

Kenneth McClary, a 29-year-old African-American town councilman from Bloomfield, greeted Winfield with a handshake and asked if he could nominate Winfield for lieutenant governor on the floor of the convention.

“You could,” Winfield replied, ​“but you shouldn’t.” He said sometimes the best way to support a cause is to remove yourself from it.

McClary said that he too would be supporting Bermudez Zimmerman for lieutenant governor.

“We need diversity on that ticket,” he said.

When asked if he would have voted for Winfield if he had run, McClary responded with enthusiasm.

“He’s one of the African-American leaders in our community,” he said. He said Winfield has been at the forefront of progressive and racial justice causes that he cares deeply about, from pushing for the repeal of the death penalty to supporting minority teacher recruitment.

“What is the state party doing to engage people of color?” McClary asked.