Democrats Select Aldon Hynes For 114th Assembly District Run

Aldon Hynes thinks this is his year.

The Woodbridge resident has accepted the Democratic nomination to challenge seven-term incumbent, state Rep. Themis Klarides, for the 114th District seat representing Orange, Woodbridge and Derby in the General Assembly.

“I’m not running against a current Republican incumbent. I’m running against apathy," he says. "I’m running against people coming home and watching the latest reality television show to see how short the hemlines have become. I’m running against the obstructionism that has become rampant in American politics. If you don’t like something, don’t just try to block everyone else, come up with better ideas."

“Themis has been in office for 14 years and people who are involved know her, but if you’re not involved, you don’t know who your state representative is,” Hynes says. 

He’s hoping to change that. “I think this is a great year to run. There’s a presidential election and we’ll have much greater turnout,” he says.

Hynes studied philosophy at College of Wooster and is employed as the social media manager at Community Health Center in Middletown. He plans to talk to residents of Orange, Woodbridge and Derby about the issues that matter to them.

“The key thing that I’m going to be talking about is getting people more involved in their communities,” he says. “Instead of complaining about government and obstructing government from doing what it should be doing, we need to be in there helping to make sure that it does the right thing."

“None of us want to spend a lot of money on taxes, but we don’t want to be penny wise and pound foolish. We want to be sure that the money we spend on taxes is spent wisely and efficiently.”

Hynes says he knows that taxes and government spending are not the only way to help strengthen our communities.

“I recognize the role of charitable organizations. I work for a non-profit health center. I serve on the communications committee of a housing organization,” he says.

He has also helped establish an animal rescue organization. "I hope to encourage my supporters not only to get more involved in the political side of civic engagement. I will use my campaign to encourage people to support many of these great causes. We are all in this together,” he says.

Hynes needs to raise $5,000 in donations coming from 150 donors in Woodbridge, Orange and Derby. He intends to meet and talk to as many voters as possible and he wants to have small house parties in homes in Woodbridge, Orange and Derby.

“I hope every town committee member will invite me, and fifty of their closest friends to their homes for chips and dip and a chance to talk about my campaign and how we can all work together to strengthen our communities,” he says. “Don’t vote for me because I’ll regurgitate all the canned answers. Vote for me because I’ll ask all the right questions.”