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New York City elected its own democratic socialist celebrity and apparently Connecticut Democrats watched that experiment and thought: we should get one of those.
Enter Justin Farmer — call him Mamdani Jr. — a proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America, endorsed by the national organization, now aiming for higher office in a state that can barely afford the politicians it already has.
Farmer isn’t coy about his politics. In a Jacobin interview — a self-described socialist magazine — he outlines support for defunding state police, divesting from prisons, ending cash bail, implementing a housing guarantee, and advancing a Green New Deal for Connecticut. He makes clear this isn’t about tweaking policy. It’s about a “revolutionary” transition — fundamentally restructuring how the state operates.
Revolutionary.
In Connecticut.
A state still recovering from years of fiscal self-inflicted wounds.
This isn’t the usual Connecticut liberalism — tax a little, regulate a little, call it a day. This is ideological restructuring. This is the belief that the system itself is illegitimate and must be remade.
Defund state police. Divest from prisons. End qualified immunity. Install elected civilian review boards with subpoena power. That’s not reform around the edges. That’s weakening core institutions in a state already struggling to maintain public confidence.
You can debate criminal justice policy. But pretending there are no trade-offs — that dismantling enforcement structures carries zero cost — isn’t reform. It’s unserious — and dangerously so.
Then there’s the housing “guarantee,” layered onto just-cause eviction laws and more government control of the rental market — in a state that can’t produce housing fast enough to meet demand.
Connecticut doesn’t lack apartments because we lack guarantees. We lack apartments because development is expensive, regulatory approval is slow, and risk is high. Increase risk further and you shrink supply. Shrink supply and you raise rents. Raise rents and then blame landlords.
This is how his ideology works: promise outcomes, pretend there’s no cost.
The Green New Deal for Connecticut is another crowd-pleaser. Connecticut already has some of the highest electricity rates in the country. Ratepayers absorb renewable mandates, public benefits charges, procurement schemes. The answer, apparently, is more mandates, more guarantees, more central planning.
Because nothing lowers costs like expanding the list of things government must provide.
And of course, higher taxes on wealthy individuals and businesses. Connecticut already depends heavily on a small number of high earners for income tax revenue. That concentration is precisely why fiscal guardrails were created — to prevent revenue spikes from turning into permanent spending binges.
High earners are not ornamental. They are mobile.
Connecticut has spent years trying to convince residents and employers it has rediscovered restraint. Guardrails were strengthened. Stability — fragile, but real — began to return.
Now comes a candidate who speaks casually about “revolutionary transitions” in a state that depends on bond ratings and investor confidence to function.
Mamdani Jr. may find that revolutionary rhetoric plays well in interviews.
It plays less well with fiscal reality.
Democratic socialism assumes government expansion is stabilizing and that there is always more money to take. Connecticut’s recent history suggests otherwise. We tried the “just spend it” model. We tried the “the rich will always pay” theory. We tried pretending long-term liabilities were someone else’s problem.
It nearly broke the state.
Connecticut doesn’t need a revolutionary transition.
It needs predictability. It needs growth. It needs taxpayers who stay and businesses that don’t quietly relocate.
New York can experiment with Mamdani-style politics if it wants.
Connecticut cannot afford Mamdani Jr.
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