Bond Breaks 80K In Secretary Of The State Quest

David Sepulveda wrote a check for $73 Wednesday night — and Maritza Bond hit a round number bringing her closer to public financing for her bid for secretary of the state.

After receiving a $73 donation from New Havener David Sepulveda, Maritza Bond, New Haven director of health and candidate for state secretary of state, has now crossed $80,000 in donations for her campaign. 

He wrote it toward the end of a fundraiser held at Brazi’s restaurant on Long Wharf.

Bond announced that she was $73 short of hitting $80,000 for her campaign, so Sepulveda stood up to write the last check of the night to enable her to hit the goal.

Now Bond needs to hit $86,000 by July 15 to qualify for the state Citizen Election Program, which provides more than $400,000 in state funding for any candidate seeking office in Connecticut if they raise enough money in individual donations ranging from $5 to an individual max of $290.

Bond is challenging party-endorsed candidate Stephanie Thomas in an Aug. 9 primary for the Democratic nomination to succeed Denise Merrill as secretary of the state, a position in charge of running state elections and overseeing the state’s commercial business database.

“It’s overwhelming – I can’t even describe how grateful I am for all of my supporters,” Bond said after receiving the check. ​“For me, as soon as I qualify I’m going to focus on getting in front of as many voters as possible and get my message out there.”

Forty supporters attended the fundraiser, including New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker (for whom Bond works as city health director), Middlefield Democratic Town Committee Vice-Chair and former New Haven Democratic Town Chair Susan Voigt, Shelton DTC Chair Kevin Kosty, along with alders and union organizers.

“It’s really amazing,” Elicker said of public-financing, which he tapped in his own mayoral runs. ​“Once you qualify — boom — you don’t have to spend a lot of time fundraising and can instead spend a lot of time talking to voters, which is what we want to do. We want to be out there listening to people instead of soliciting donations especially from special interest groups or corporations.” 

Speaking to the attendees of the fundraiser, Bond said she looks forward to the next two months of campaigning before the primary.

“I want to be able to bring my case and campaign to the voters of Connecticut and win their support in this race,” she said.

Prior to the 2020 election, the office of secretary of state was rarely mentioned in state or national news. However, following controversies over the rules and vote-counting in 2020, secretaries of state took the national stage to reassure the public that their state’s election results were accurate, and races this year have become more prominent..

Reflecting on this national trend, Bond vowed to work to protect the ballot and expand the enfranchisement of voters in the state, specifically early voting.

Connecticut is one of six states that have no early voting. Bond promised to use the office of Secretary of State’s office to support a constitutional amendment that would authorize early voting.

“I want to work with local registrars, because trust has broken down between state officials and local election officials,” said Bond. ​“We need to restore that trust by working in partnership with, not dictating to local election officials.”

Once elected, she said, she plans on creating a commission of voter registrars and town clerks to study the best type of early voting and no-excuse absentee ballots (or universal mail-in voting), another proposal she supports in her campaign.

Stephanie Thomas’s campaign reported topping $60,000 in contributions back in April. The campaign failed to return requests for comment for this article about current fundraising totals.