Klarides Seeks Covid Clarity, Eyes Higher Office

Themis Klarides didn’t duck the question.

Ever since she announced she will not seek a 12th term as state representative, talk has run rampant that she plans to run for governor in 2022. She didn’t deny that she’s seriously considering it.

“My time in public service is not over,” she said during an appearance this week on WNHH FM’s ​“Dateline New Haven.” ​“My love for the state of Connecticut has not waned.”

At the same time, it is too early to announce a candidacy for governor. Connecticut still has a set of state legislative races to run this year, a complicated task during a pandemic. Klarides, who would be considered a leading candidate for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, made clear that she plans to make a decision early, to offer clarity to the race.

“I’m going to be using the next eight months to do final due diligence” and make a decision about her next move by year’s end, she promised.

She has a lot to do in the meantime. Klarides, who represents Derby, Orange and Woodbridge in the legislature, serves as minority leader of the state House of Representatives. She’s in on the daily calls with other legislative leaders and the Lamont administration about how to handle the Covid-19 pandemic.

Connecticut has avoided some of the partisan fighting in other states. Like her fellow Republican leader in the State Senate, Len Fasano, Klarides has agreed with Democratic counterparts on major decisions like shutting down much of the state, supporting Gov. Ned Lamont’s exercise of emergency powers, and suspending the legislative session.

She also defers to scientists about the basis for next-step decisions. She said top advisers serving on Lamont’s Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group, like Yale’s Dr. Albert Ko, are ​“clearly very accomplished people in the field.”

That said, Klarides called for more clarity from Lamont’s task force about how Connecticut will proceed to reopen.

“People understand it’s not time for Connecticut to open. Connecticut is not Georgia. We are right next to New York. But we need to to see a plan of what it looks like,” she said.

She said she suspects that different regions of the state may reopen different sectors of their local economies based on different Covid-19 case loads, and that seniors like her parents may need to shelter at home longer than other people.

Klarides has also called for the Reopening Council to be subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

Klarides has served as Republican leader of the state House of Representatives for the past six years. She said her proudest moment in office was the legislature’s passage of a Republican-crafted budget in 2017 even though her party was in the minority, and final passage of a veto-proof bipartisan budget.

During those six years, she has served as the only woman in leadership ranks at the Capitol. The legislature remains a male-dominated bastion just as it was when she entered in 22 years ago, she said; women hold only about 20 percent of the seats.

She spoke about how men are often more confident than women are to pursue elected office when they lack experience. She described her own trajectory from a shy, uncertain first-term legislator to ​“a loudmouthed Greek girl who doesn’t take crap from anybody” as a party leader.

If she does run for governor, it’s possible she would face Democrat Susan Bysiewicz if Ned Lamont chooses not to pursue a second term — and then a woman would be back in the governor’s mansion for the third time in state history. (Veteran political columnist Colin McEnroe wrote recently that he hopes to avoid contracting Covid-19 so he can cover a Klarides-Bysiewicz match-up.)

“This has been my life for 22 years,” Klarides, who is engaged to be married, said of her time as a state representative. ​“Enough is enough; you want to move on. I would to like to see what else is out there.”

Click on the video to watch the full interview with Themis Klarides on WNHH FM’s ​“Dateline New Haven.”