Candidate Profile: Alexis Gevanter For 36th State Senate Seat

GREENWICH, CT — The special election for the 36th State Senate seat will be held on Aug. 17. The district represents all of Greenwich and a portion of Stamford and New Canaan. Three candidates — all Greenwich residents — are running in the race: John Blankley (unaffiliated), Ryan Fazio (Republican), and Alexis Gevanter (Democrat).

The special election was called by Gov. Ned Lamont following the sudden resignation of Democrat Alex Kasser in June.

Patch asked the candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles leading up to Election Day.

Alexis Gevanter

• Age as of Election Day: 39
• Party affiliation: Democratic Party
• Family: Rob, Jamie (4), and Spencer (2)
• Occupation: Attorney (eight years) and Advocate (four years)
• Previous elected experience: None
• Family members in government: No
• Campaign website: AlexisGevanter.com

The single most pressing issue facing our state is: To emerge from the pandemic even stronger.

To do so, we must remain focused on public safety and health, prosperity and progress.

This means continuing to follow the science and listening to the experts, whose guidance has helped Connecticut become a leader on not just vaccination rates but also opening back up. Public safety, including common sense gun violence prevention and ensuring our police and fire departments have the resources they need, will also remain a priority.

At the same time, it is vital to keep creating opportunities for prosperity through economic development that brings good paying jobs to our state, lowering taxes (including repealing the estate tax), modernizing our transportation infrastructure, and making the adoption of a balanced, no-tax increase budget the standard, not the exception.

We also must remain vigilant when it comes to protecting and enhancing our rights, including expanding ballot access, safeguarding our environment, defending women’s reproductive rights, investing in education, and ensuring equal opportunity.

I have a proven record of getting results by bringing people together and finding common ground, an approach I will bring to the State Senate.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

I am uniquely qualified to be the partner Governor Lamont needs to help our state emerge from the pandemic even stronger. This means keeping us all safe, while focusing on prosperity and progress.

My experience as a business attorney, where I advised companies as they navigated complex regulatory environments around the country, will bolster our state’s ability to bring more businesses to Connecticut because I understand what companies are looking for when making relocation and expansion decisions. I was also able to help companies remain profitable and grow while simultaneously ensuring that fair, equitable, and inclusive employment practices were implemented, bringing more women and people of color into the workplace.

I’m a mom, and I want to keep my family, and yours, safe. I stand firmly with the Governor whose commitment to following the science and guidance of experts has made Connecticut a leader on vaccination rates and on re-opening. I support and will continue to advocate for gun violence prevention legislation that makes us all safer.

I am also a tireless advocate for protecting our rights — all of our rights. I have worked to make voting easier and more accessible for everyone, and I am committed to protecting women’s reproductive rights, improving our water and air quality and combating climate change, and continuing to invest in our schools, which are among the best in the nation.

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

I have a proven record of success in bringing people together and finding common ground to make positive change. I will bring this same approach to the State Senate.

As a business attorney, I advised companies on fair employment practices, including pay equity, paid family leave, anti-discrimination, and sexual harassment prevention, while helping them grow and remain profitable. I also counseled businesses on relocation and expansions decisions, helping them understand and navigate complex regulatory and business environments in states across the country.

As the Connecticut State Leader for Moms Demand Action, I successfully took on the gun lobby and my work helped lead to the passage of critical public safety laws, including a ban on ghost guns and 3D printed guns, safe storage requirements, and investment in community-based violence intervention programs.

Do you believe Connecticut needs reform when it comes to electric utility oversight? What steps, if any should be taken?

Connecticut should have a 21st century electrical grid. Instead, we’ve seen our electric utility fail us repeatedly during storms by taking too long to get the power back on and being unresponsive to customers. Each time, Eversource claimed to have learned its lesson and promised to do better. It never does. This must change.

The “Take Back Our Grid Act” forces Eversource to do better, and penalizes the company when it doesn’t. And it holds the electric utility more accountable to us, their customers, by forcing them to reimburse customers for spoiled food and medication when the power is out for extended periods, freezes rates, institutes new performance measures for any proposed rate adjustments, and gives us more choice in choosing our electric supplier. I fully support these reforms.

I also support the $30 million fine imposed on Eversource, money that will be refunded to people affected by prolonged outages.

This is a good start, but we can do more. Eversource is a multi-state regulated public company that operates as a monopoly, and we must take a multi-state approach to forcing them to improve service and lower rates. Regulators in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire must unify behind common performance standards and financial penalties for Eversource when the company fails to live up to their obligations to customers. There is strength in numbers, and it is incumbent upon all three states to marshal our combined strength behind exacting the service improvements and lower rates we deserve.

What steps should state government take to bolster economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic for local businesses?

The recent announcement of PMI, iCapital Network, ITT and Tomo Networks choosing to make Connecticut their base of operations, bringing over 500 new good paying jobs to our district, is outstanding news for our state and our local businesses. We can expect to see demand for landscaping, catering, cleaning and office supplies increase along with a growing need for professional services, such as accounting, consulting, and legal. We need more of this!

At the same time, small businesses, especially women and minority owned, are the backbone of our economy and we must encourage their growth alongside efforts to support large employers. I support expanding the small business express program, which provides loans and grants to small businesses to help them grow and create more jobs – especially as we continue to recover from the pandemic. These businesses have weathered the storm, and we need to make certain they are positioned to thrive and grow.

We also need to address local issues, including traffic and congestion on our local roads. Under a newly passed law, $90 million annually will make its way into the Special Transportation Fund, and there are dollars designated next year for municipal projects to address local traffic issues, including upgrading traffic signals to make them more responsive to the flow of traffic. I will fight to secure the maximum amount possible for our communities.