Candidates are listed in the order in which they appear on the ballot. 

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Stephanie Thomas 

​Democratic  Party, ​Working Families Party

Stephanie is a small business owner who has spent nearly 30 years as a fundraising consultant advising and problem solving for nonprofit organizations. She has first-hand experience with the working poor, homeless, disadvantaged students, and many others left behind when government does not work to strengthen all its members. A natural leader and consensus builder, Stephanie is prepared to be a champion for everyone to build a stronger, fiscally solvent, and more equitable Connecticut.
After the 2016 Presidential election, Stephanie downsized her business to get more involved locally. As your state representative, Stephanie will be proactive and fight for legislation to protect voting rights, gun safety, a woman’s right to choose, and affordable college. She has been endorsed by Moms Demand Action, the Working Families Party, and NARAL.
Stephanie is no stranger to hard work. Growing up poor, she helped to support her family and worked to put herself through NYU and has a Masters in Nonprofit Management. Stephanie lives with her husband Greg in Norwalk and is a member of the Democratic Town Committee.

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Gail Lavielle

​Republican  Party, ​Independent Party

Representative Gail Lavielle was first elected in 2010 to represent Connecticut’s 143rd House district, which includes parts of Norwalk, Westport, and Wilton. She is Assistant Minority Leader, Ranking Member of the legislature’s Education Committee, and a member of the Finance and Transportation Committees. She also served as Commerce Committee Ranking Member and on the Appropriations and Higher Education Committees. Locally, she served on the Wilton Board of Finance and Wilton Energy Commission. Before entering public service, she worked for 26 years in finance and communications, holding executive leadership positions with Fortune 500 companies in the United States and France. She was also a music critic. She holds a Cornell BA, a Yale MA, and a UConn MBA. She is endorsed by the CT Realtors®, the CT League of Conservation Voters, The National Foundation for Independent Business, and Planned Parenthood, among other organizations. She received an Honor Roll designation from the CT Education Association (CEA) and the Gun Sense Candidate distinction from Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense. She and her husband Jean-Pierre live in Wilton.

What specific measures would you propose to balance the state budget? Please list up to three. 

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Thomas (D. WF)

Balancing the budget is a problem that requires parties working together for the good of Connecticut. Solutions married with re-election plans and short-term time horizons will not work. There is not one easy answer to cut, tax, or grow out of Connecticut’s budget problem. Recoveries take years of progress. We need to put creative ideas on the table, give them fair consideration, and have the courage to implement innovative solutions.
One of these ideas is the Legacy Obligation Trust (LOT) model developed by a bi-partisan commission to help fund our pension liability. Through this model, state assets (i.e. vacant property and idle waterfront property sitting) would be transferred to an independently managed LOT to maximize its economic value.
We also need a comprehensive review of tax policy and existing loopholes and how tax increases or decreases will affect economic growth and the state’s ability to pay for services the state provides.
To save money, we should explore consolidating services currently fragmented across individual towns into regions to maximize efficiency through economies of scale.

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Lavielle (R, I)

Connecticut faces a deficit of about $4.4 billion in the 2020-21 budget cycle, and $6.4 billion in the following cycle. Structural changes to state government’s ongoing operations are necessary: one-time spending cuts or revenues will have no lasting effect.
* Reforming state employee benefits, which cost 3x the national average as a percent of the budget, is key to stopping persistent deficits. Examples: replacing defined benefits with hybrid or defined contribution plans, raising the minimum retirement age, increasing active employees' share of pension contributions, eliminating overtime from base salary amounts used for pension calculations. This would require renegotiating the current contract, which must be on the table. Separately, the state’s annual required contributions to the teachers’ pension fund could possibly be lowered by redirecting lottery proceeds or monetizing state assets – proposals now under discussion.
* Exploring opportunities to privatize or outsource state functions to community nonprofits that would improve quality and cost-effectiveness.
* Reforming the state budget process to make spending subject to projected revenues. Currently, spending priorities are set before revenues are identified to pay for them.

What would you do to make Connecticut a more attractive state for new businesses to open in and for established companies to remain or move in?

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Thomas (D. WF)

Businesses are attracted to states where they can recruit top talent. Small and large businesses alike experience difficulty finding the talent they need. Training the workforce for today’s -- and tomorrow’s -- jobs starts with our schools. I will prioritize meeting this need for a trained workforce by exploring all ideas, from training and apprenticeship programs to strategies to make college more affordable, such as loan-forgiveness programs or tuition assistance linked to post-graduate residency.
Reliable transportation and well-maintained roads are integral to attracting businesses to an area where many commute via public transportation and highways. I support a Transportation Fund Lockbox to ensure that revenue collected for transportation will only be spent on transportation needs.
Creating a small business-friendly environment is one of the best ways to rebuild the middle class. I will support small business creation with programs that encourage entrepreneurship while easing many of the permitting and regulation hurdles that stymie these efforts. I will also encourage the creation and growth of green technologies to provide new energy sources and reduce energy costs.

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Lavielle (R, I)

* Regain business confidence by restoring Connecticut’s financial health.
* Implement a focused, purposeful economic development policy based on attracting new businesses with favorable fiscal and operating conditions, rather than on one-time incentives that don’t reduce overhead for the long term.
* Enact and sustain consistent tax and regulatory policy that allows businesses to make long-term plans without having to second-guess the future.
* Substantially improve alignment of study and training programs at colleges, universities, community colleges, and technical high schools with the recruitment needs (engineering, advanced manufacturing, etc.) of businesses operating in and interested in moving to Connecticut.
* Expedite permitting and registration processes and reduce payroll costs.
* Eliminate the estate tax, which affects family businesses particularly strongly.
* Restrain persistent legislative attempts to impose new, onerous mandates on businesses that constrain their ability to manage efficiently and control costs.
* Invest in transportation infrastructure. Improve the most heavily used systems like Metro-North, increase service at Bradley and Tweed airports, and optimize deep water ports.
* Actively communicate Connecticut’s new, business-friendly economic development policies nationwide and aggressively recruit new businesses.