As a Marine Infantry Officer commanding a rifle platoon, I lived by a central credo: “officers eat last.” That principle—that leadership is a sacred duty—has been constant in my work. During law school, I helped an Afghan interpreter, threatened by the Taliban for his work with our troops, safely reach the U.S. My work helped pass a Connecticut statute that eased the veteran-unemployment crisis. As a lawyer, I fight to ensure victims of negligence and misconduct receive justice. My Yale Law School training taught me that details matter: for good or for ill, the law has a tremendous impact on real people’s lives. I’ve taken all these lessons to the General Assembly.

There, my attention to detail, teamwork, and uncompromising defense of our values have helped me be a leader on fighting gun violence, protecting women’s and LGBTQ rights, strengthening our democracy, bolstering our economy, and many more issues. I’ve co-authored and led passage of vital gun-safety legislation. I co-authored and led passage of the Reproductive Freedom Defense Act, the nation’s first reproductive-rights shield law. I’ve led on public-utility accountability. I’ve co-authored and led passage of legislation to implement early voting, increase government transparency, expand absentee-voting access, and the nation’s strongest state-level voting rights act. I’ve helped secure historic state funding for Stamford school construction. In short, I have the skills, experience, and values to get things done—my past work shows it. If reelected, I’ll continue leading on the issues that matter to Stamford.

Two top issues (of many important ones) are (1) increasing affordability and (2) strengthening democracy.

We’ve made progress on affordability, including the largest state income-tax cut in Connecticut history, as well as property-tax breaks for some seniors and disabled veterans. I also helped bring back more than $200 million for a new Westhill High School, and hundreds of millions of dollars more for Stamford school-construction projects over the next 25 years. We must continue this record while maintaining our recent record of responsible payment of our long-term obligations, which will save us more than $450 million per year over the next 25 years. But we have much more work to do. I’m proud to be a leader fighting for ratepayers and against Eversource rate hikes. I cosponsored the Take Back Our Grid Act (2020), which led to multiple rate-hike denials. This year, I co-authored and helped lead passage of legislation strengthening the vetting of ratepayer-funded utility building projects. I’ll continue to fight to reform oversight of our utilities and protect ratepayers.

Additionally, this year’s ballot contains a question that would amend our state constitution to finally allow Absentee Voting for All. If it passes—and it should—I’ll be responsible for authoring and leading passage of legislation to implement it as House Chairman of the Government Administration and Elections Committee. Absentee Voting for All would help increase voter access, efficiency, and security in our elections, helping ensure that every voter’s voice is heard and reflected in their elected representatives.

Cost of living is the biggest impediment to business growth and attracting young skilled workers to our state—especially in Fairfield County. The high cost of housing is the most important element of that high cost of living—especially in Fairfield County.

We must take an all-of-the-above approach to housing policy. We must continue to invest in incentivizing the building of both market-rate and affordable housing throughout Connecticut. We must continue to enhance transit-oriented development policies to build the housing necessary to attract people—especially young people—to our state.

Balance is required: local communities should have the ability to help determine how and where this housing is built. After all, they have the most knowledge about their neighborhoods’ infrastructure needs and their constituents’ desires and concerns. But every community has a role to play in increasing our state’s housing supply and increasing access to affordable housing. We must act vigorously to reduce the unacceptably high cost of housing in our state. Our state’s residents—and its economic future—depend on it.

Connecticut has the second-highest electricity rates in the continental United States, and it’s completely unacceptable. These high rates are a huge impediment for consumers and businesses in our state. I’ve fought for ratepayers and against Eversource rate hikes by giving the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) more authority and obligations to protect ratepayers through the Take Back Our Grid Act, which led to multiple rate-hike denials.

Last session, I co-authored and helped lead passage of legislation strengthening the Connecticut Siting Council’s vetting of ratepayer-reimbursed utility building projects. But we need stronger regulation and authorities to protect ratepayers and push back against unjustified rate increases like this summer’s. First, for most consumers, delivery costs significantly exceeded the public-benefits charge. Moreover, of the public benefits portion of the rate increase authorized this summer, 77 percent came from the Millstone Power Plant deal, a bad deal pushed by Senate Republicans in 2017. The remainder came from accelerated reimbursement of costs, over only 10 months, that PURA Chair Marissa Gillett argued should instead be reimbursed over 24–36 months to prevent rate shock to consumers. She was overruled by the other two PURA commissioners.

Both policy and personnel matter. Yes, we must increase the diversification and amount of our energy mix. But we also must increase PURA’s oversight authorities and responsibilities. And we must ensure PURA and the Siting Council have members who are independent from the utilities, focused on protecting consumers, and will hold the utilities accountable.