Westport’s Alma Sarelli announces candidacy for state representative
WESTPORT — Alma Sarelli recently announced her candidacy for Connecticut’s 136th House District as a Republican after the previous candidate dropped out this summer.
“I am running for state representative because I want to return the focus to the basic priorities all of us share,” Sarelli said.
Sarelli will face off against Democrat Jonathan Steinberg, who was first elected to the seat in 2010. The district only includes Westport.
Sarelli described herself as a working mother of four children, a business owner and a political novice, which she said is “for better, not worse.”
“I want to return the focus to the basic priorities all of us share: education, public safety, responsive government, efficient government,” Sarelli said. “I want to keep taxes down so Connecticut can compete as an attractive destination for businesses and hard working families.”
She said she wants schools to focus on learning and achievement. Law enforcement is also a top priority.
“I would support law enforcement and provide qualified immunity to officers,” Sarelli said. “I would make sure third parties don’t impede the ability of police administration to manage their own work force and weed out problem officers.”
Sarelli also said she would repeal bail reform laws, though she supports Connecticut’s laws on abortion and gun safety.
Originally, Tom Lasersohn was the Republican candidate; however, he withdrew from the race in August, according to Joseph Sledge, chair of the Westport Republican Town Committee. Lasersohn did not respond to a request for comment.
Sledge said the RTC’s vacancy committee found Sarelli and she registered as a candidate in early September.
Sarelli said she was inspired to run for office based on her childhood experiences.
“As a little girl growing up in communist Albania, we only had one voice and government worked only for the rulers in government,” Sarelli said. “I always wanted to make a difference and advocate for issues that I truly believed in, so that government worked for the people.”
She said she wanted to give Westport residents another option on the ballot.
“They have an immigrant who experienced communism; they have a successful business owner and a mom of four children who faces the same issues they do working for them,” she said.
Sarelli said her more than 15 years of business experience and leadership will “help us build on our successes.”
“I will also be a voice for Westporters and address the major concerns we are all experiencing,” she said. “I want to give Westporters the ability to pursue their own priorities, not Hartford’s.”
Sarelli also said that Connecticut is a state with diverse strengths.
“Instead of living up to our potential, we are being held back by the same policies and mismanagement bringing down so many other similarly governed states,” she said. “These states are watching their populations decline, lawlessness surge and their families lose faith in public education. It doesn’t have to be this way, but the only way to reverse it is by voting in new leadership.”