Lawmaker makes bid for secretary of the state official

HARTFORD — With about a week before the state Democratic convention sorts through its candidate endorsements for the top state offices, state Sen. Matt Lesser of Middletown on Thursday announced one of the worst-kept secrets in Connecticut: he is running for Secretary of the State.

During an announcement in a windy Veterans Memorial Park outside the Legislative Office Building, Lesser, who was first elected to the General Assembly in 2008, said he is enjoying good support in an admittedly crowded field of potential candidates.

“I’ve never taken our democracy for granted,” said Lesser, the co-chairman of the legislative Insurance & Real Estate Committee, who was backed by a couple dozen unionized auto and construction workers.

“My mother is an immigrant who grew up in a dictatorship in Latin America and my grandmother is a refugee who survived the Holocaust,” Lesser said. “Every night we watch on the news Ukrainians fighting for their democracy, grateful that we can live in a country where we settle our differences at the ballot box. But that’s in peril.”

He warned that many Latino and Black voters have limited access to the polls that takes away their voices in determining public policy. “These are real serious threats to democracy around the country and the work here in Connecticut is unfinished,” Lesser said. He said that while other hopeful candidates for secretary of the state are “fine people,” he has the most experience.

“I know how critical it is to support our front-line elections workers and provide them the resources cities and towns need to hold free and fair elections,” he said during a brief announcement and news conference.

Other Democratic hopefuls who will come before delegates on May 7 include state Rep. Stephanie Thomas of Norwalk, Rep. Hilda Santiago of Meriden, Rep. Josh Elliott of Hamden and Maritza Bond, the health director for the city of Norwalk. Republicans who are seeking the party nomination include state Rep. Terrie Wood of Darien, Dominic Rapini of Branford and Brock Weber of New Britain.

Lesser