The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
High stakes for Democrats running in primary
The two Democrats running in the Aug. 14 primary to become northwestern Connecticut’s next Congresswoman are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on nuances.
Front-runner Mary Glassman is running ads letting voters know about her eight terms of public service as Simsbury’s top elected leader, but at the same time Glassman says she is neither a party insider nor an establishment politician.
In the same way, challenger Jahana Hayes is running ads touting her advantages as a political outsider who is connected with the real-life concerns of everyday 5th District voters as the 2016 National Teacher of the Year, yet Hayes bristles at questions about her qualifications as a federal lawmaker.
It doesn’t help, of course, that Glassman and Hayes each criticize the other for trying to have it both ways.
Glassman, who won the party endorsement at the convention in May, accuses Hayes of being an outsider in more ways than one, for example, suggesting that Hayes’ out-of-state contributions means she lacks support in her own district.
“I am running a local race and I have the right kind of experience to bring about the changes we need in the 5th District,” Glassman said during a livestreamed debate Wednesday. “I can unite the 41 towns of the 5th District and build a sense of collaboration and partnership.”
Hayes disagrees, saying the Democratic Party needs “generational change,” and counter-arguing that her out-of-state campaign contributions prove that her message resonates from New York to California.
“The fundamental difference between my opponent and me is I have the ability to inspire people,” Hayes said during the same Wednesday night debate. “The fact that I am sitting here separated from the endorsed candidate by two votes shows that there is an enthusiasm gap.”
Hayes was referring to the difference in delegate votes that narrowly gave Glassman the convention endorsement. Hayes decided to challenge Glassman in a primary after encouragement from U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and her supporters in Waterbury.
The fact that the Democrats are running a primary in a district that has been represented for the last six years by U.S. Rep Elizabeth Esty, a Democrat, raises the stakes for Connecticut’s most competitive Congressional seat.
Esty elevated the stakes by admitting she covered up an office abuse scandal, and dropping out of the race on April 2.
With Esty and her $1.5 million suddenly out of the race, Republicans saw their best chance in three elections to break into Connecticut’s all-Democratic Congressional delegation.
Front-runner Manny Santos and challengers Ruby Corby O’Neill and Rich Dupont head into their own GOP primary on Aug. 14.
Glassman and Hayes each promise to learn from Esty’s mistake, even if both candidates said they need to know more about how she made it. Esty failed to promptly dismiss her chief of staff Tony Baker after she learned Baker threatened to kill a former staffer in her office named Anna Kain. Esty compounded her mistake by recommending Baker for a job that he wound up getting with the Ohio office of Sandy Hook Promise, a homegrown non-profit started by several families who lost loved ones in the Sandy Hook massacre.
“I would not have given him a letter of recommendation to go somewhere else,” Hayes said during Wednesday’s debate. “I would have fired him and let the chips fall where they may.”
Glassman said she wanted to investigate what happened.
“I would like to sit down with her and find out what rules she followed,” Glassman said. “I still to this day don’t know what rules she was following and whether there are laws that need to be changed.”