Patch Candidate Profile: Emily Hau, 132nd House District

FAIRFIELD, CT — Election Day is Nov. 3, and there are a number of key races on the ballot in Fairfield.

To help educate readers about the state's election, Patch reached out to candidates for office to get more information on their campaigns, and about the issues that are facing the community and the state.

Candidate's Name:

Emily Hau

What office are you seeking?

State Representative for Connecticut's 132nd District

Age:

42

District:

9

Party:

Republican and Independent

Campaign website:

https://emilyforfairfield.com

Occupation:

Associate Director of the Yale Institute for Foundations of Data Science at Yale University

Family:

I've been happily married to William for 16 years, and we have two daughters in Fairfield Public Schools.

Does anyone in your family work in government?

No.

Previous public office:

Why are you seeking this office?

I'm running because more and more of the decisions that shape life in Southport and Fairfield get made in Hartford, and our current representative isn't telling us the whole story about them.

I'm not a career politician. I've worked at Yale for 20 years, my kids are in Fairfield Public Schools, and I started a heating oil buying group that now has more than 900 families. I read the fine print. That's how I learned what our speed camera contract says.

It's also how Fairfield learned where our current representative stands on housing. In May 2025, Rep. Leeper voted against the Hartford housing bill that overrides our zoning. Eleven days later she texted the Governor asking him not to veto it. In November she voted yes on the replacement. We only know about the text because a reporter filed a public records request.

My promises are simple. I will read every bill before I vote. I will never vote behind your back. And your wallet is not an open account.

You'll never need a records request to find out where I stand.

What do you believe is the No. 1 issue facing Connecticut, and how do you plan to address it?

Three issues, and they have something in common. Each one is decided in Hartford and lands right here.

Cost. Our property taxes rank 49th of 50 on the Tax Foundation's 2026 index. Electric rates are up about 24 percent since 2020, and this year's relief is a temporary credit that ends in April. The state's main education grant covers less than half of one percent of Fairfield's school budget, and the rest falls on your property tax bill. I'll read every budget before I vote, push for permanent rate relief instead of one-time credits, and fight for a fairer share of what Fairfield sends to Hartford.

Overdevelopment. State laws like 8-30g and last year's HB 8002 put the burden on the town and limit how much say Fairfield has over what gets built. More density means more traffic on the Post Road and more strain on roads, sewers and storm drains. I'm not against housing. I'm for scale, and for Fairfield having a real voice. I'll start with the formula Hartford uses to assign towns their housing "fair share." It's a simple metric dressed up as a sophisticated one.

Privacy. Under state law, a town needs a public hearing and an RTM vote before it puts up speed cameras. A town can put up license plate readers with neither. I'll close that gap. Fairfield residents should decide whether they want these cameras, with clear rules on how the data is used and limits on what vendors can charge.

You'll never need a records request to find out where I stand.

Energy costs have been soaring in Connecticut. What are your plans to help address this issue?

Electric rates are down from last year, and that's good news. But they're still up about 24 percent since 2020 and well above the national average. Part of this year's relief is a bill credit paid for partly with state borrowing, and it ends in April. That's a headline in an election year, not a plan.

Here's what I'll do.

Cut costs instead of moving them. Shifting a charge onto the state's credit card doesn't make power cheaper. Someone still pays it back, with interest. Real relief means more supply, starting with new nuclear at Millstone. It means every program Hartford adds to your bill gets a cost test and an end date. And it means utilities justify every dollar of a rate increase, line by line. I've read those rate cases. I'll keep reading them.

Make Hartford show its math. Your bill carries a public benefits charge that pays for programs the legislature sets. Before any new program goes on your bill, voters should see what it costs the average household.

Use buying power. I started a heating oil buying group in Fairfield that grew to more than 900 families by negotiating hard on price. Families shouldn't need to form a co-op to get a fair deal. I'll look for ways to give residents and towns that same leverage.

I read the fine print on rate increases. I'll keep reading it in Hartford.

Affordability has been a major topic across the country and here in Connecticut. How do you plan to address this issue?

The fastest way to make Connecticut more affordable is to stop making it more expensive. The state's main education grant covers less than half of one percent of Fairfield's school budget, so the rest lands on your property tax bill. Every mandate Hartford passes without paying for it does the same thing. I'll vote against unfunded mandates.

On housing, Hartford's answer is more density. But under state law, "affordable" can mean a household earning up to 80 percent of median income. That isn't who most people picture when they hear the word.

And nobody checks. In Southport, a 2017 approval set aside two condos as affordable. The developer sold the first one to himself and the second to his business partner's son. The first enforcement order came in 2024, and nothing has been decided since. I've written a proposal to fix it: an annual check on every restricted unit, and a ban on developers buying or administering their own affordable units.

Affordability isn't a slogan. It's arithmetic, and it's enforcement.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

I built something from nothing. I started a heating oil buying group in Fairfield with 117 households. Five seasons later it has more than 900, and 88 percent of members come back each year. I negotiate the contract with the supplier myself, including working through a pricing dispute this year. Members have saved more than $1.6 million over four winters.

I read what nobody else reads. When Fairfield signed its speed camera contract, I compared the vote to the signed document. The board approved three years, and the executed contract runs five. It even contained boilerplate from a Florida statute. If that got past Town Hall, imagine what gets past Hartford.

I turn findings into fixes. When the state's new housing law threatened downtown parking, I built an online tool that gathered hundreds of residents' priorities on where the protected districts the law allows should go, and sent them to officials. When I found two Southport affordable condos sold to the developer and his partner's son, I wrote a proposal to close the loophole.

I bring people to the table. For 20 years I've worked at Yale. As Associate Director of the Institute for Foundations of Data Science, I work alongside researchers taking on hard questions, like whether AI can do original mathematics. My job is getting people from different fields into the same room to work on them. Getting experts who don't agree to work toward an answer is what Hartford needs more of.

That's the job: read it, question it, fix it.

Is there anything else you would like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

Parents decide. My husband and I decide how our kids are raised, not Hartford. This year's homeschool law passed after hundreds of residents testified, most of them against it. Under it, a family pulling a child out of public school can be blocked if any adult in the house is under DCF investigation, even if nothing was ever substantiated. There's no new appeal, just DCF's phone number. Any family that files can have their child's school records opened to DCF. And a child who was never enrolled is never checked. It burdens the families who follow the rules and misses the ones it was written for.

You'll always know where I stand. I've filed public records requests on Fairfield's camera programs and on how the Town handles records requests. I'll hold Hartford to the same standard I hold Town Hall to.

How to vote for me. I'm on both the Republican and Independent lines. Early voting runs October 19 through November 1, and Election Day is November 3. Visit emilyforfairfield.com.