(WFSB) – November’s election is a little more than two weeks away and all of Connecticut’s five Congressional seats are up for grabs.
Channel 3 is taking you to all the districts to meet the candidates and find out what they want you to know.
When you talk about Connecticut’s First Congressional District, it’s hard not to think about John Larson. The East Hartford Democrat has been re-elected ten times, serving the district since 1999.
“I have demonstrated the ability, the capability, to work across the aisle, to get things done,” Larson said.
Larson introduced the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, which helps businesses access capitol. He also gained media attention for scolding members of Congress for shutting down the government in the fall of 2013.
He’s also been pushing to improve healthcare.
“The Affordable Care Act was not perfect, but it’s the step in the right direction,” Larson said.
He’s now working on COVID legislation.
“People are hurting, people need this money. The House already passed the Heroes Act, but that was back in May,” he said.
The First District covers much of the north-central part of the state. The district is anchored by the state capital of Hartford. It encompasses much of central Connecticut.
“I am really concerned about the business environment in Connecticut. COVID has certainly had an impact, but even before that, we were laggard, we never recovered from the 2008 recession,” said Mary Fay, Republican for First Congressional District.
Fay is a businesswoman who has served two terms on West Hartford’s town council. It turns out, she and Larson go way back.
Larson was her basketball coach in East Hartford when she was in high school. While she has nothing bad to say about Larson as a parson, she feels his politics are wrong for the state.
“It’s time for change. Twenty-two years in Congress, 12 years in state legislature. He keeps mentioning social security as an issue, but he’s in a seat to change it if he wants,” Fay said.
Fay says if elected, she would work on creating good paying jobs and propose a solid immigration bill. She’s also a bit unique. She used to be a Democrat and is the first LGBTQ candidate to run for a federal office.
“There are a lot of ideas out there by very competent, intelligent people that are not being heard,” said Tom McCormick, GP for Congressional District.
There’s a third candidate, Tom McCormick from the Green Party. The economy is his biggest issue and says it hasn’t worked for the average middle-class person, that wages have been stagnant for decades.
He’s also against taxpayer money being used to bail out foreign banks.
“I think we start at the Federal Reserve, making it more Democratic. Presently, the governors of the reserve banks are elected in secret with no Democratic input,” McCormick said.
Campaigning is differing because of COVID. Instead of in-person, the candidates have turned to virtual events and there’s also a debate planned for the First District, which will be virtual as well.