Candidates for State Senate special election highlight their campaign

Yahoo

13-02-2025

CONNECTICUT (WTNH) — In the dead of winter, two candidates are squaring off in a special election for a vacant seat in the Connecticut State Senate.
In Shelton, Stratford, Monroe and Seymour, voters will choose between Republican Jason Perillo and Democrat Tony Afriyie to fill a vacant seat left by former State Sen. Kevin Kelly, a Republican who has been nominated by Gov. Ned Lamont to serve as a Superior Court judge.
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Perillo, a Shelton native, is a hospital executive who has served for nearly 18 years in the state House of Representatives. Afriyie spent much of his upbringing in Stratford, and currently works as an aide for Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro.
Speaking with News 8, both candidates emphasized similar themes of economic development and the cost of living – though they outlined different approaches to address those challenges.
For Perillo, his priorities are centered on addressing Connecticut's comparatively high cost of living, specifically the cost of electricity. Perillo said his first priority to deliver relief for ratepayers would be to 'eliminate the public benefits charge that's on everyone's bill.'
'It can be serious money and most folks don't get any benefit from it at all,' Perillo said.
Afriyie said his first priority would be to support a state child tax credit. He says the measure will help address the state's cost of living challenges – particularly for working families.
'I think that the child tax credit is economic development,' Afriyie said.
Perillo also stressed economic development, pointing to his record in the legislature advocating for state funds to support projects in his hometown of Shelton.
'That government infusion of money has helped private developers spend their own money to build really tremendous apartment buildings that have created housing opportunities and have helped keep taxes down for everyone who lives in the community,' Perillo said.
Part of Afriyie's pitch to voters is a generational message. At 27, he would be the youngest member of the State Senate and among the first members of Gen Z (commonly defined as those born between 1997 and 2012) to serve in the legislature.
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He said expanding economic opportunities for young people would be another priority if he is elected.
'I want to make sure that the pipelines that are going into advanced manufacturing, going into teachers, going into police officers, firefighters – that we have those skills getting trained by the high schoolers so that when they come out of high school, they're already that skilled workforce,' Afriyie said.
The winner of the special election will serve in a State Senate currently dominated by Democrats. Led by State Senate President Martin Looney and Majority Leader Bob Duff, the Democrats outnumber Minority Leader Steve Harding's Republican caucus 25-10.
Though they come from different parties and have different policy platforms, the two candidates currently share at least one common challenge: making voters aware that there is a special election that begins in about one week.
Afriyie and Perillo have both been calling voters, posting on social media and braving the cold to canvas neighborhoods.
'They're always very, like, 'wow, it's really cold out and you're doing that,'' Afriyie said of his conversations on voters' doorsteps.
'The biggest challenge is when the heck is the election?' Perillo said. 'Because there's snow on the ground and I'm not usually voting when there's snow on the ground.'
Early voting in the special election begins on Feb. 20 and runs through Feb. 23.
Election day is Feb. 25.
Click here for more information, including voting schedules and poll locations.
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