Politics & Government
State Senate candidate says voters can’t afford health care, college
Watertown Democrat Desmarais left Republicans because of Trump
By Scott Benjamin
SOUTHBURY - - Jeff Desmarais says he laments that politics has become less local, more national and straight-ticket voting has increased.
“We live in very partisan times – probably anywhere in the country,” said Desmarais of Watertown, who is making his third bid to win a state Senate seat that no Democrat has captured since around the time the first automobiles were being built.
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“Everything is now guided by Trump,” said Desmarais of the Republican former president who is seeking to recapture the White House. “He is the party. He is the reason I left it. I couldn’t go down that road. Ten years ago I was a Republican. However, I found the Republican Party’s positions to be untenable.”
He explained, “The Democrats may not get everything right, but they are serious about governing.”
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Speaking of the top of the ticket, polls indicate that some voters think Democratic President Joe Biden is too old for another term.
Desmarais said that at the same age Paul McCartney just completed a world tour and Harrison Ford is doing some of his own stunts on a movie set.
Desmarais says the president has amassed an impressive portfolio of accomplishments.
Brookfield Democratic Town Committee Chairman Aaron Zimmer said if Trump is the Republican nominee he predicts a number of unaffiliated and moderate Republican voters will shift to the Democratic candidates.
However, regardless of how the top of the ticket has performed, no Democrat has prevailed in the 32nd District since Charles Lymon of Washington in 1891, which was generations before Woodbury became the capital of antiques in Connecticut.
Desmarais will again face state Sen. Eric Berthel (R-32) of Watertown, who served on the Watertown Board of Education, then in the state House for more than two years and then captured the Senate seat in a 2017 special election.
Berthel is the ranking Republican member of three committees and has served as a Henry Toll Fellow.
Berthel annexed more than 58 percent of the ballots two years ago. However, other than the 2017 special election, in the last decade, Desmarais – in both 2020 and 2022 – is the only Democrat to break 40 percent in the district. As recently as 2018, Berthel garnered more than 61 percent of the vote against Democrat Catherine DeCarli of Southbury.
“I think this is a year where we have a shot to actually pull it off,” Desmarais, a financial advisor, said in an interview with Patch.com. “You don’t close that gap in one cycle.”
Southbury Democratic Town Committee Chairman Michael Carrington said, “No one is saying, ‘Why is this guy [Desmarais] running again.’ He is smart, caring and compassionate.”
The district covers Bethlehem, Bridgewater, Oxford, Roxbury, Southbury, Washington, Watertown, Woodbury and parts of Bethel, Brookfield, Middlebury and Seymour. It cuts across three counties.
Berthel told Patch.com in 2022 that it is one of the most conservative districts in the state, and has a considerable older population. He noted that the Heritage Village section of Southbury is the largest retirement community in Connecticut.
In a recent e-mail message regarding Desmarais' third campaign in the district, he stated, “Participation is the foundation of democracy, welcome to the race.”
However, Connecticut has been undergoing political identification changes. Greenwich, for example – the ninth largest population in the state - has three Democratic state representatives for the first time in history.
Professor Gary Rose of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, who last year wrote a book on the Connecticut Republican Party, recently told Patch.com that Connecticut’s suburbs are trending more toward the Democrats.
Desmarais said in the 32nd District, the Democrats took back the first selectman’s office in Brookfield last fall in the municipal election and made inroads in Watertown and Southbury – the two largest populations.
He commented that starting with his first campaign for the state House in 2018 he has maintained a bipartisan tone.
“I’ve been reaching out to talk to anybody,” Desmarais remarked. “I wasn’t just looking for Democratic turnout. Even if it is a Donald Trump supporter. We may have more in common policy-wise than one would think at first glance.”
The Democrats hold a 24-12 advantage in the state Senate. There are four Republicans running for re-election who only garnered 51 percent or less of the vote in 2022.
With that being the case, will the state Democratic leaders take much interest in a seat that the party hasn’t won since the 19th century?
Desmarais said there is enthusiasm about his prospects. For example, he made the rounds at the State Capitol on the opening day of the session in February and even received a video endorsement from Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz (D-Middletown).
On the issues, Desmarais said he would have voted for decreasing the state income tax rates from five to 4.5 percent for the middle class and from three to two percent for the lower income, which were approved overwhelmingly last year.
“However, I would have wanted to see a corresponding rise in the upper income brackets,” he added.
Desmarais said he supports the calls from some Democratic legislators to increase funds for kindergarten through 12th grade in the public and for higher education.
He said he believes that those alterations can be accomplished without violating the fiscal guardrails that were approved in 2017. The guardrails include a spending cap and volatility cap.
State Senate Republican Leader Stephen Harding (R-30) of Brookfield has said the guardrails are primarily responsible for the state’s improved fiscal condition.
Desmarais commented, “There have to be areas where that money isn’t spent as well as it could be [and savings could be determined without violating the guardrails].”
As a financial advisor and as a candidate, Desmarais said one of the most frequent complaints he hears from people are soaring health care costs.
“People are making health decisions on their own affordability,” he said. “I’ve had those conversations many times in the last four years.”
However, what about the steps taken during the last generation by the federal government?
In 1997 Bill Clinton signed the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which made coverage available to low-income children. In Connecticut it provided funds for what became the Husky program. In 2003 George W. Bush approved the biggest Medicare reform since the program was established in 1965. There was now prescription drug coverage for non-hospitalized senior citizens.
In 2010 Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act and in 2022 Joe Biden got negotiated prescription drug prices approved as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.
“Nothing has been effective in bringing those costs down,” Desmarais declared. “These have been bandages on a hemorrhaging problem.”
He said that he is “glad” that the Affordable Care Act covers “pre-existing conditions. However, it became a market-share giveaway to insurance companies. Often-times the care is not affordable.”
Desmarais said that he supports having a state public option for health care – a position that former state Comptroller Kevin Lembo (D-Guilford) embraced but couldn’t get enacted.
Jenna Carlesso of CT Mirror reported in 2021 that “ultimately, Lembo and lawmakers have said, [Gov. Ned Lamont] refused to sign the bill after pushback from [Connecticut’s insurance] industry.”
Current Comptroller Sean Scanlon (D-Guilford) told Patch.com in April 2023 that he had been a strong supporter of the public option while he was a state representative, but he was not focusing his time on it right then, “because I think we need to look at other ways to get to the same goal of getting people to get affordable health care and accessible health care in a better way than we are doing today. There are challenges to the public option, there always will be.”
For example, Mike Savino of CT News Junkie reported last September that residents are now able to use a discount card, called ArrayRX, that could save them up to 80% on generic prescription drugs and 20% on branded drugs, according to Scanlon.
Desmarais remarked, “As far as taking a step by step approach to reform, I generally support anything that will improve the current situation, but just know if elected I would be a strong proponent of a public option, understanding that we cannot take forever to put words into action, considering the financial difficulties people are facing due to these skyrocketing health care related costs.”
Desmarais said he supports legislation that, according to Hudson Kamphausen of CT News Junkie, “would bring in drugs from Canada that have been approved by the federal government, in an attempt to lower costs.”
Desmarais commented, “I think the efforts being made for more affordable prescription drugs are laudable and a real move in the right direction. It will help people save money considerably.”
Desmarais said voters also are concerned about the rising college costs.
“There are parents who have foregone their retirement savings to pay for their kids’ college costs,” he remarked. He said that some recent graduates have as much as $130,000 in debt.
Desmarais said that increased online offerings would help make college affordable and accessible for more students.
He also recommended that the University of Connecticut and the four-year schools in the Board of Regents system should mandate at least two semester hours of Cooperative Education. credit. Since most students go to college to get a better job, then they should do an internship before they graduate.
On another topic, Desmarais said that although he “generally” supports getting more electric cars on the roads, Lamont’s recent plan to mandate them by 2035 was too ambitious.
The governor withdrew that proposal late last year after it was obvious that there was insufficient support for it on the General Assembly’s Regulations and Review Committee.
Said Desmarais, “Take it a piece at a time. If you try to do it overnight it is not going to work.”
Resources:
Interview with Jeff Desmarais, Patch.com Sunday, February 18, 2024.
Phone interview with Jeff Desmarais, Patch.com, Monday, February 19, 2024.
Phone interview with Michael Carrington, Patch.com, Friday, February 23, 2024.
Phone interview with Aaron Zimmer, Patch.com, Tuesday, February 27, 2024.
https://ctnewsjunkie.com/2023/09/14/connecticut-launches-prescription-discount-program/
https://patch.com/connecticut/brookfield/godfrey-says-he-impressed-alves-co
https://patch.com/connecticut/brookfield/despite-meager-numbers-connecticut-gop-has-issues-run
