South Windsor Deputy Mayor to Challenge for State Senate Seat

SOUTH WINDSOR - Deputy Mayor Carolyn Streeter Mirek was nominated by Republican delegates Wednesday to oppose incumbent Tim Larson for the 3rd District state senate seat.

The 3rd District represents South Windsor, Ellington, East Windsor and East Hartford.

Larson took office in 2014 after serving six years as a state representative. Mirek issued a written statement that denounced Larson as "a career politician."

“Our state needs leaders who are more interested in what is best for working people - not themselves,” said Mirek, mother of two college-age children. “I am interested in getting our economy growing and our government shrinking.”

Sen. Larson has voted for two of the largest tax increases in Connecticut history, Mirek said, because he believes the government always needs more money for state employees and state programs that merely move money from one group to another.

“Sen. Larson represents a political dynasty – not those who are paying taxes and trying to make their businesses grow,” Mirek, a dental products supplier, said. “As someone who lives on commission sales, I know how fragile our economy is because of bad government policies that Sen. Larson embraces.”

She was also critical of Sen. Larson seeming indifferent to the day-to-day responsibilities of answering constituent questions or informing local officials about recent state budget deliberations.

“More often than not, we hear very little from Sen. Larson about what he is doing 10 minutes away in Hartford,” she said. “Sen. Larson has had his chance and his approach hasn’t worked. Why not try a different way where the people are the priority.”

Mirek was elected to the South Windsor Town Council in 2013, and was elected deputy mayor in 2015. Prior to that, she served as town treasurer from 2011 to 2013. She has also served on the Insurance Control Commission, the Energy Committee, Personnel Committee, Sidewalks and Bikeways Committee, Mass Transit and Highway Advisory Committee, and serves as a liaison to the Economic Development Committee.

After graduating from South Windsor High School, Mirek graduated from Northeastern University and the Forsyth School for Dental Hygienists. She has been an active member of the Connecticut Dental Hygienists’ Association during her career in the profession. She has been a member since 1983 and served as President of the Hartford component. Currently, she serves on Goodwin College’s Dental Hygiene Advisory Board.

Photo courtesy of Carolyn Mirek