Potter To Challenge Harding For 30th District State Senate Seat

By Scott Benjamin

Justin Potter, the president of Kent Affordable Housing, has submitted campaign papers to run for the Democratic nomination in the diverse 30th state Senate District, which the party has not captured in more than a generation.

Potter, a native of Washington, is expected to garner the Democratic nomination at the district convention in May and would face first-term state Sen. Stephen Harding (R-30) of Brookfield, who on February 16 became the leader of the GOP caucus in the upper chamber.

Harding held a formal kickoff event on February 1 and reportedly will likely qualify for a Citizen Election program grant within weeks.

He served for nearly eight years in the state House before ascending to the Senate in 2022 after defeating Eva Bermudez Zimmerman of New Milford in the November election. The district has not elected a Democrat since Litchfield attorney Joe Ruggiero prevailed in 1978.

However, the Northwest Corner of Litchfield County has added more Democratic registration in recent years. Republican candidates have been able to win, in part, by posting healthy pluralities in southern portion of the district, which has 18 municipalities and stretches from Brookfield to Torrington to Salisbury.