The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Republican Erin Stewart announces run for governor
NEW BRITAIN — One more big-city mayor joined the race to become the next governor on Monday, when Erin Stewart, Mayor of New Britain, changed her exploratory campaign into a full-on run for the GOP nomination.
During an announcement at Central Connecticut State University, her alma mater, the third-term mayor said she is different from the predominantly male field of Republican gubernatorial hopefuls. For starters, Stewart, who is 30 and a millennial, streamed the event on Facebook Live.
“We have to create a stable and a predictable environment where individuals and families and businesses can live and can thrive,” she said in the historic Founders Hall.
“We need to have a state where students right here at CCSU can live out their own American dreams.”
Growing jobs and improving the quality of public education are two of Stewart’s key goals. A self-described fiscal conservative who is moderate to liberal on social issues, Stewart has won consistently in a city where Democrats dominate the voter registration rolls. She has caught flack for taking a selfie with former President Barrack Obama and, for the past two election cycles, she’s been endorsed by municipal unions.
Other mayors seeking their party nominations include Republicans Mark Boughton, of Danbury, and Mark Lauretti, of Shelton, along with Democrats Joe Ganim, of Bridgeport, and Luke Bronin of Hartford. Republican Tim Herbst is the former first selectman of Trumbull.
With no ties to the current mess in Hartford and a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, Stewart could give have crossover appeal and be seen as electable even by Democrats said Jerry Labriola, former GOP state chairman.
“Erin Stewart will broaden the base of the Republican Party,” Labriola said after the event, attended by about 100 people.
“She’s a Republican who projects hope and optimism and knows how to win in a city,” Labriola said in an interview. “That tells me that Erin Stewart will be the next governor of Connecticut.”
Stewart was first elected mayor four years ago at the age of 26.
Her father, Timothy Stewart, previously served as mayor of New Britain, a city of 72,558 residents and the home of Stanley Black & Decker. In her first two terms, Erin Stewart has said she wiped a away a $19 million budget deficit. After losing the Rock Cats minor league baseball team to Hartford, where the franchise is now called the Yard Goats, Stewart’s city was able to find a replacement in the New Britain Bees.
Defining her platform
Speaking to reporters, Stewart drew distinct differences between her candidacy and the major platforms of her GOP opponents. She countered Boughton’s goal to eliminate the income tax and challenged Tim Herbst’s plan to restore the death penalty. She dismissed the positions of other Republican hopefuls who propose unilateral attempts to overturn contracts with state employee unions.
“I think that that is settled law,” Stewart said of the 2012 repeal of the death penalty and the state’s gun-safety laws after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.
She called Boughton’s income-tax position “a foolish statement.”
Stewart said she has a record of cooperation with New Britain municipal unions in tackling a $30million deficit, which also entailed debt restructuring.
“I think you have to be realistic and everyone likes to get up on stage and likes to talk about ‘oh and we’re going to blow up SEBAC,” she said of the State Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition. “Let’s be a little realistic here, because you can’t touch SEBAC unless you have the unions feel comfortable cooperating with you.”
But if a Republican were to win the governor’s race and the GOP were to win the state House and Senate, it could be a different story, she said.