Early contender for best-edited high-impact social-media post in 2022 campaigns: Instagram video from Steve Orosco's State Senate campaign.
Steve Orosco is hitting barber shops and knocking on strangers’ doors — and he’s having a blast, except when he gets to the part of asking for money.
Orosco, a mixed-martial arts entrepreneur who lives in Morris Cove, is the Republican candidate challenging Democratic State Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney this year for the 11th District seat.
In doing so, Orosco is making a point, he said, of connecting with people who might not be used to seeing elected officials and candidates. He meets with “grassroots” leaders in New Haven and Hamden (the district covers portions of both municipalities) to spark conversations about how to solve pressing problems like crime.
In a conversation on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven,” Orosco said he plans to continue to focus more on those in-the-community conversations than on policy discussions with other politicians if he is elected in November.
“Lawmaking and policy is failing people now. Our politicians have stopped relating to the people and spending time to find real solutions,” Orosco said.
“Legislators don’t spend time with community leaders like they used to. Community leaders are telling me this. It can’t be, ‘Let me sit behind a desk and make assumptions about what we should do and hopefully get funding …’ ”
He spoke in particular about a conversations he had with Ali Glass, who owns Hamden Barber Shop. They met a police-community event in Hamden. Glass told him about one of his sons, who plays for the New York Jets. Then he was Facetiming with his other son — who it turns out was in the hospital after getting shot in the neck.
Orosco followed up with a broader conversation with Glass inside the barber shop. His campaign brought a video camera and produced videos in the style of Bernie Sanders’ 2016 straight-talk campaign chats with Killer Mike. Click on the video at the top of the story to watch one of the crisply-edited high-impact clips Orosco posted on social media.
“Cut a a kid’s hair. Next thing you know he’s gone. Somebody shot and killed him for no reason,” Glass remarks while cutting a customer’s hair. “You don’t realize the gravity of it until it hits home” — as it does for Glass not just when his customers end up shot, but when then his own son was, too.
Orosco’s takeaway from his conversations in the community: “Everything starts with the youth. These kids have nothing to do. That’s why crime is up, coupled with the failing education system. It’s a disaster ready to happen.” He said he supports creating more youth programs.
Orosco at WNHH FM.
Orosco said he has also spent a lot of times knocking on doors to speak with individual voters in the district.
He brings along paperwork so people can make donations that count toward qualifying him for a public-financing grant under the state’s Citizens’ Election Program.
“I love door-knocking. I love talking to people. But I do hate knocking on the door with my form: ‘Hey can I get your signature? And I need at least $5 in donations, because if I raise $17 grand, the state will give me over $100,000 for my campaign.
“It feels very disingenuous. If I’m the person opening the door, it seems like I’m only knocking on the door for money and I don’t really care about what the person’s needs are.”
So why not ditch the money pitch and forgo public financing?
Because “I’m not in this to lose. I think New Haven needs a change,” Orosco responded. “I have not heard a single person say they’re completely content with the way New Haven has been run. A complete overhaul, a complete paradigm shift needs to happen.”
Click on the video to watch the full interview with State Senate candidate Steve Orosco on WNHH FM's "Dateline New Haven," which included discussion of how he went from competing in mixed-martial arts events to building his own business, and his model for a "Republican 2.0."
I worked with hundreds of elected officials over 30 years in CT, including Sen. Looney. The bulk of them, Republicans as well as Democrats, are conscientious. They spend much of their time listening to their constituents, including community leaders.