CT Democratic Primary 2022: Meet The Candidates

CONNECTICUT — Primary day is here in Connecticut, and that means that Republican and Democratic voters will get to choose their preferred candidates for the November general election.

Democratic voters will get to nominate candidates for secretary of the state and state treasurer.

Here is more about the Democratic statewide candidates:

Secretary of the state

Stephanie Thomas

Thomas is the party-nominated candidate. She is currently serving her first term as a state representative for the 143rd House District, which covers parts of Norwalk, Wilton, and Westport.

She also served on the Norwalk Democratic Town Committee and the Norwalk Zoning Commission; she is also a strategy and fundraising consultant.

Thomas wants to make sure all towns have enough resources to properly run elections. She also wants to work with the General Assembly to implement early voting and no-excuse absentee ballot voting.

Maritza Bond

Bond is currently the director of health for the City of New Haven. She helped lead the city’s efforts to combat Covid-19 since the early days of the pandemic.

Like Thomas, Bond wants to help bring early voting to Connecticut, as well as no-excuse absentee ballot voting, according to her campaign biography.

Mending the relationship between the Secretary of State Office and local registrar of voter offices is also important, Bond said. The state needs to help fund the offices.

Treasurer

Erick Russell

Russell is the party nominee for state treasurer. He is a partner attorney at Pullman and Comley, where he focuses on public and private finances. He has represented municipalities and state agencies on projects including schools, affordable housing and restructuring pension obligations, according to his campaign biography.

Russell has been involved with the Democratic Party on the local, state and national level for 10 years.

He was born, raised and currently lives in New Haven with his husband, Chris.

Dita Bhargava

Bhargava ran for the Democratic nomination for state treasurer in 2018, but lost to now-Treasurer Sean Wooden. She has worked in finance for 25 years.

She wants to extend the teacher retirement full-funding date to 2045 instead of 2032 by refinancing the state’s pension obligation bonds, according to her campaign website. The move would alleviate some pressure on the state budget in the near-term.

Bhargava wants the state to invest its funds in company’s that support corporate diversity and responsible executive compensation.

Karen Dubois-Walton

Dubois-Walton is in charge of the Housing Authority of New Haven, and previously was the chief administrative officer and chief of staff to the mayor of New Haven. She was appointed to chair the State Board of Education this year.

She campaigned to be mayor of New Haven in 2021, but decided not to petition to get on the Democratic primary ballot, according to the New Haven Independent.

Priorities include growing Connecticut’s pension investments, helping enhance financial literacy for Connecticut families and guiding state investments to stimulate equitable growth, according to her campaign biography.

She lives in New Haven with her husband, Kevin, and her two sons.