Kimberly Wipfler Photo
Maritza Bond (center) with supporters this past Wednesday evening at a campaign fundraiser at mActivity.
New Haven’s health director Sunday became New Haven’s first declared candidate this year for secretary of the state.
Maritza Bond announced that she is converting her “exploratory” quest into an official campaign for the Democratic nomination for the post of top state elections official.
Bond made her campaign announcement on Sunday morning’s edition of WTNH’s “Capitol Report” program.
Bond will continue in her role as city health director, according to Mayor Justin Elicker. He said Bond has agreed to campaign only on off hours, including vacation time she accumulated directing New Haven’s day-to-day response to the Covid-19 epidemic.
“I am officially running for secretary of the state,” Bond said in the WTNH appearance. “People see me as a fresh face” with “government executive experience” relevant to the secretary of the state post.
During the appearance, she came out in opposition to a Republican proposal to require a picture voter ID at the polls. Bond argued that safeguards are already in pace against voter fraud, which has not been shown to be a problem. “It creates another barrier for people to have accessibility to voting,” she said of the proposal. “Anything that will create a barrier to voter I am against.”
Bond becomes the third Democrat to formally launch a campaign for the position, following State Rep. Stephanie Thomas of Norwalk and Meriden State Rep. Hilda Santiago. Hamden State Rep Joshua Elliott, New Haven Alder Darryl Brackeen, Middletown State Sen Matt Lesser, and Bond have also been making rounds of the state as “exploratory” candidates.
Like the other candidates, Bond is seeking support at local Democratic town committees in advance of the May party convention, at which she’ll seek to gather 15 percent of delegates’ votes in order to qualify for a spot on the primary ballot.
On the Republican side, Dominic Rapini and Brock Weber have formed candidate committees to seek the office.
Incumbent Denise Merrill is retiring this year after three terms in office.The secretary of the state is Connecticut’s top elections official. Besides overseeing elections, the secretary of the state is in charge of business filings and maintaining the commercial registry.
Although she lacks her competitors’ experience in elected office, Bond has made the argument at public events — including this fundraiser Wednesday at Nicoll Street’s mActivity Fitness Center — the she gained relevant for the secretary of the state job by helming New Haven’s health department during the worst pandemic in a century: She helped ensure that people could vote. She helped businesses navigate government rules in order to reopen. She worked to get solid information to the public: “I demonstrated that government could still work in the midst of a pandemic. I will be able to do that at the state level.”
If she wins what promises to be a heated contest for her party’s nomination, Bond would become the first Hispanic Democratic candidate ever on the November ballot for a statewide constitutional office.
Bond has attracted support from a veteran of statewide political campaigns, Roy Occhiogrosso, who helmed Dan Malloy’s successful gubernatorial quests. Occhiogrosso said he’s offering his advice to Bond on a volunteer, not a paid, basis. “I’m helping her because I think she’d be a huge asset to the ticket and because I think she’s got exactly the right experience to be a great secretary of the state,” he said.
In interviews, the Democratic hopefuls have all supported early voting and expanded absentee voting. They’ve differed on whether to institute ranked-choice voting in Connecticut.
Click here or below to watch Bond’s interview Sunday with “Capitol Report” host Tom Dudchik, during which she formally announced her candidacy.
Elicker should fire her. We need to restore respect and political neutrality to public health. Those who use it as a means to other ends should have no place in the field.