Politics & Government
Zimmerman says federal abortion decision has become top campaign issue
Democratic leaders insist unaffiliated voters will determine November 8 election in 30th state Senate District
Eva Bermudez Zimmerman Stephen Harding Ned Lamont
Joe Biden Stephanie Thomas Audrey Blondin
By Scott Benjamin
Find out what's happening in Brookfieldfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
TORRINGTON – They call it the Bad Dog Brewing Company but the most notable feature are the antique fire trucks.
There is a sign that reads, “Northwest Connecticut Fire Fighting Museum.”
Find out what's happening in Brookfieldfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
You think that you are on the set of “101 Dalmatians.”
It is another attraction in the largest of Connecticut’s 36 state Senate districts - the 30th District.
You need more than an hour to drive from one end to the other. You can travel from Salisbury to Torrington to Brookfield and think that you are in three different regions of the United States. Altogether there are 18 municipalities – four more than before the recent redistricting.
Eva Bermudez Zimmerman, 35, says wherever she goes these days – whether it be neighborhood canvassing, fairs, carnivals, even breweries that look like fire houses - the dialogue has “completely changed.”
“The economy was number one previous to the Supreme Court case coming out,” Zimmerman commented regarding the June 24 U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 vote on the Dobbs v. Jackson case on abortion access.
“And now it has transitioned into health care and women’s health [as the number one discussed issue], and the state economy is number two,” added the Democratic candidate from the 30th state Senate District.
“Unaffiliated voters, Republicans and Democrats are all trying to figure out what the impact is on them,” Zimmerman said in an interview with Patch.com.
Zimmerman of New Milford explained, “It has completely changed the dynamics of the conversation, the interactions, the passion coming from voters at the doors.”
She will face the Republican nominee, fourth-term state Rep. Stephen Harding (R-107) of Brookfield, in the November 8 election. State Sen. Craig Miner (R-30) of Litchfield is stepping down after six years in the seat.
In a phone interview with Patch.com, Harding said, “I’m hearing about that issue [abortion]. However, the biggest issue out there is the economy, inflation. What is more prevalent is affordability in the state of Connecticut.”
Zimmerman, who ran for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor at the state convention and in a primary in 2018, said she is “very proud” that Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Greenwich) and the General Assembly took steps to preserve access to legal abortion services this spring.
CT News Junkie reported in May that “Lamont signed into law a bill shielding patients as well as doctors providing the procedure from legal action by states where abortion may soon be illegal.”
The online niche news web site added, “The legislation seeks to prevent states with policies prohibiting abortions from extraditing patients who chose to have the procedure in Connecticut of doctors who provide the procedure here.”
Zimmerman commented, “It showed our voters that Connecticut is a leader.”
Regarding the Dobbs decision, Harding said, “I don’t think it changes the dialogue in Connecticut. We’ve codified the essential principles of Roe v. Wade. It’s been supported by a majority of Republicans and Democrats. It’s not going to be repealed.”
About 40 people are at the brewing company to meet and greet Stephanie Thomas, the first-term state representative from Norwalk – the 143rd District - who annexed the Democratic convention nomination for Secretary of the State in May and is now running in the August 9 primary.
She and Zimmerman answer questions during the event on a Hodge podge of state issues.
The Democratic nominee has won every election for Secretary of the State since 1994.
However, no Democrat has captured the 30th state Senate District since 1978 – when Lamont was in his first semester of graduate school at Yale.
Why would that change this year when Democratic President Joe Biden’s ratings are lower than those for the poorly-conceived remake of Easy Rider that airs on Sunday at 2:30 a.m. and is interrupted every three minutes by a commercial for a pre-owned car dealer?
Democratic State Central Committee member Nick Teeling, 26, of the Winsted section of Winchester, who volunteered four years ago on Zimmerman’s campaign for lieutenant governor, said, “She brings energy and character. A young woman of color. Eva brings new people to the political system.”
In an interview with Patch.com, he added, “I feel this is a district that will cater very well to core Democratic values,” noting for example, that there are a lot of blue-collar workers in Torrington and Winchester.
Zimmerman is a director with the Connecticut State Employee Association/Service Employees International Union. Organized labor supported her bid four years ago for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor.
Remarked Teeling, “Also with the redistricting, there a lot of new voters in the district.
Democratic State Central Committee member Audrey Blondin of Litchfield said that along the district’s “Route 7 corridor there are so many people who relocated recently from New York City and the New York City area.”
She predicted that in such towns as Cornwall, Salisbury and Kent that among the major party-affiliated voters this fall, nearly 80 percent of them will be Democrats.
In an interview with Patch.com, Blondin said the voters along “the Route 8 corridor tend to be more conservative and middle of the road.”
She said more of them can be persuaded to vote for Zimmerman and other Democrats as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on the Dobbs case and the recent congressional hearings on the January 6, 2021 insurrection.
“It is the unaffiliated voters that we need to pull to our side,” commented Blondin. “By far, the largest registration in all of our towns is unaffiliated.”
Republican State Central Committee member John Morris of Litchfield told Patch.com this spring that he expects Harding will do "incredibly well "in the towns in the more populated southern section of the district, such as New Milford and Brookfield.
For weeks, Harding and some Republican colleagues have visited gas stations to tout a $746 million inflation-fighting plan that would include a reduction of one percent on the state income tax for individuals earning $75,000 or less a year or households making $175,000 or less annually.
“I think it is gaining momentum,” he said.
Zimmerman said there is only a “slim chance” that there will be a special session this year to consider the GOP proposal.
She said that, if elected, in January when the regular session commences, she “would be amendable to having a conversation” about it.
She said with inflation at historic levels, the state’s minimum wage, which is scheduled to increase to $15 an hour next June should be boosted to $16 an hour.
“I wouldn’t say that I would necessarily oppose it,” said Harding. “I think the bigger corporations can take on that responsibility. The small businesses are struggling to deal with inflation to begin with. What you don’t want to see is it force small businesses to lay off employees.”
On another topic, as the co-chairman of Child Care For Connecticut’s Future, Zimmerman’s prime focus has been on increasing state appropriations for child care centers.
She told Patch.com this spring that 30 percent of the child care centers in Connecticut had closed even before the 2020 pandemic.
An additional $183 million was approved in the revised $24.2 billion state budget that Lamont signed this spring.
Zimmerman said in the more recent interview that it was “the first time you’ve seen so much money allocated, especially in a biennium where it wasn’t on the minds of anyone.”
Resources:
https://www.npr.org/2022/07/20...
https://patch.com/connecticut/brookfield/harding-launches-retail-campaign-tour
https://patch.com/connecticut/...
