Neighbor News
Emily Hau Reads the Fine Print. Hartford Needs That.
Six budgets later, Connecticut is still one of the most expensive states in the country.

I am voting for Emily Hau for State Representative in the 132nd District, and I want to explain why.
Emily has spent 20 years at Yale University. Today she is Associate Director of the Yale Institute for Foundations of Data Science, where she manages people, partnerships, and budgets. She founded the Nutmegger Oil Group, a heating oil buying cooperative that more than 900 local families have joined. She is not a career politician. She is running because she is tired of watching Connecticut get more expensive while Hartford tells us everything is fine.
Her opponent, Rep. Jennifer Leeper, has held this seat since January 2021. In that time she has voted yes on every state budget. Six for six.
Find out what's happening in Fairfieldfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Here is where Connecticut stands:
47th of 50 on the Tax Foundation's 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index, and 49th on property taxes
47th of 50 for starting a business (WalletHub, 2026)
44th for cost of living and 40th for cost of doing business (CNBC Top States for Business, 2026)
Residential electric rates up about 24 percent since 2020 and still well above the national average (CT Public, Sept. 2026)
None of this started in 2021. But six budgets later it has not been fixed, and Jennifer Leeper voted yes on every one of them.
On local control, her record is harder to follow. In May 2025 she voted against the Hartford housing bill that overrides local zoning. Eleven days later she texted Governor Lamont asking
him not to veto it. In November she voted for the replacement, and it passed. We only know about the text because the CT Mirror filed a public records request.
Find out what's happening in Fairfieldfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
This year she also pushed a statewide bell-to-bell cellphone ban for schools. The Senate let it die, with the Majority Leader saying that decision "should remain with local boards of education." I agree with him. When the question is who decides, Hartford or Fairfield, she ends up on
Hartford's side.
Emily reads the fine print, and she tells you what it says. I want her to protect Fairfield in Hartford. I am voting for Emily Hau for State Representative for Southport and Fairfield, and I
hope you will too.