Yash Roy photo
Mayor Elicker (second from left) and Town Chair Vincent Mauro Jr. (far right) with entire statewide Democratic slate at BAR Monday evening.
Top Democrats from across Connecticut descended on a Crown Street pizzeria the night before Election Day to make their final case to voters in the “political capital of the state” that their party is the one to trust to protect democracy for the long term.
That was the scene Monday night at BAR at 254 Crown St. as Gov. Ned Lamont joined Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewiecz, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, U.S. Rep Rosa DeLauro, Secretary of the State candidate Stephanie Thomas, state Treasurer candidate Erick Russell, state Comptroller candidate Sean Scanlon, and many other Dems for one last rally before the polls opened at 6 a.m. Tuesday.
Among other arguments, including that Democrats have boosted the economy with billions upon billions of dollars thanks to various federal pandemic-relief and infrastructure bills, the the elected officials and candidates on Monday also stressed that theirs is the party committed to protecting free and fair elections — while Republicans are much less committed to that core democratic principle.
“Democrats support democracy, we support working families, we support labor, we support science, we support reproductive rights,” Lt. Gov. Bysiewicz told the crowd Monday night. “Gov. Lamont and I stand for fiscal stability, for protecting people’s rights, for fighting for families, and we stand for good government where we serve the people of Connecticut.”
Click here to read more about who’s on the ballot and why on Tuesday. And click here to read about Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowksi’s closing campaign pitch in Hartford Monday.
At Monday's BAR-hosted event.
Even as Democrats across the country are bracing for potentially losing control of both houses of Congress, the Connecticut Democrats in the room on Monday were confident many top state elected offices will remain blue. Polls have shown Lamont and Blumenthal consistently leading their respective Republican challengers, Bob Stefanowksi and Leora Levy, by double digits.
And yet, as each candidate took to the stage Monday night, they reminded the roughly 100 voters and campaign staff, many of whom will spend Tuesday canvassing in New Haven, that in 2016 Democrats across the nation went to bed the night before the election convinced that Hillary Clinton would prevail over Donald Trump in the presidential election.
U.S. Sen. Blumenthanl.
“I remember 2016 vividly,” Blumenthal said. “I remember everyone saying that Hillary was going to win that Trump could never win, and then I remember the horror of that night and the horror that we’ve now lived through for six years. This year’s election can be the beginning of the end of that horror.”
U.S. Rep. DeLauro.
Every Democratic candidate who took the stage hit home the importance of New Haven’s votes in the election.
“Mayor Bronin, your city might be the capital of Connecticut, but New Haven is the political capital of the state,” Scanlon told the mayor of Hartford and the many gathered in the room before him.
New Haven Democratic Town Committee Chair Vinnie Maure told the Independent that New Haven produces a strong plurality of votes for Democratic candidates in almost every election.
“Getting out the vote and driving up votes for Democrats is what is expected of us and it’s what we’ll do,” he said. “And, we know that it counts later on because these elected officials know how important New Haven was to their election and they keep coming back to do more for us.”
New Haven Rising organizer Eddie Camp told the Independent Monday night that his local labor advocacy group plans on knocking on doors all day Tuesday to ensure as many voters get out and have their voices heard as possible.
And Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison told the Independent that the election is a way for New Haveners to ensure that the state continues to increase funding to the city and provide support to communities that have traditionally been ignored by the government.
State Sen. President Martin Looney (right).
Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, who is running alongside Lamont against Republican gubernatorial candidate Stefanowski and Lt. Gov. candidate Laura Devlin, added that getting out and voting was the best way to ensure that Democrats win up and down the ballot. She argued that “if something is good, Democrats have either done it or support it in Connecticut.”
Lamont added that under Democratic governance for the last four years, his administration and Democrats in the state and federal legislatures have provided steady leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic and have since shepherded the state’s economy through opening back up again.
Lamont and many others Monday night also lauded DeLauro, New Haven’s long-time congresswoman who is running for her 17th two-year term and serves at the powerful chair of the House Appropriations Committee. They praised her for bringing federal dollars to the state in the form of the federal infrastructure bill, the CARES Act, the American Rescue Plan Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act.
“Connecticut punches above its weight in Congress,” Lamont said. “But, Rosa, she’s like having seven extra representatives. Every president is an infrastructure president, but Rosa worked with Joe Biden and got it done.”
The Democrats at BAR on Monday also put the election in a broader context of preventing democratic backsliding in the country.
“I don’t like saying democracy is on the line in this election,” said Secretary of the State candidate Thomas, who’s running against Republican challenger Dominic Rapini. The secretary of the state’s office oversees elections in the state. Thomas said that her opponent has been the chair of an organization that has filed unproven voter fraud claims to Connecticut’s state election enforcement commission.
“If elected I will work to support our state’s democratic institutions and not hollow them out,” Thomas promised.
The election is today. Polls are open from 6 am to 8 pm. To find your polling place, go to this website. Residents can register to vote at City Hall through the close of polls at 8 p.m.
Since Connecticut is a one party state the “Democracy is at risk” is a self serving one when politicians have nothing else to say. Everyone pictured in the article pics are entrenched politicians who haven’t done much to improve anyones lives.
An inept President who has trouble with saying anything coherent leads the way.
The real issues should be high inflation, grocery and home heating oil prices and crime out of control.
One party rule is stagnant and ineffective and we will not see any of these politicians until the next election cycle.
Have a nice day and vote today