Amybeth LaRoche is running to return local control to our communities

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State Senate District 28 comprises Fairfield, Newtown, Easton and Bethel. There are thirty-six senate districts in Connecticut, and each district represents close to one hundred thousand citizens. Tony Hwang has represented the 28th since 2015, and John McKinney before that back to 1999. The seat has been represented by Republicans going back several generations. Senator Hwang has decided not to run for re-election in the fall, thus creating an open seat.

Last night, Amybeth LaRoche, Board of Finance member from Newtown, won the convention as the endorsed candidate. She is the Republican standard-bearer, with an open road to the November election vs. Democrat, Rob Blanchard. Ms. LaRoche has been barnstorming the district’s Republican Town Committees (RTCs) over the past few months, while assembling her campaign team, fundraising, and collecting the requisite signatures to qualify for the state-funds grant. For the past year, she’s been taking notes while meeting with concerned citizens across the District, taking the temperature on a range of issues of concern.

The upshot of her due diligence within the District is what drove the subhead above. Whether it be local zoning battles, vax-mandates, healthcare restrictions and costs, general medical freedom, homeschooling practices, red-light and speed cameras - a years-long low-grade simmer is reaching a boiling point. A familiar refrain in Connecticut these days is, “is there anything in our lives the government does not want to regulate?”

Fairfield County is one of the most highly educated and prosperous counties in the country, and Ms. LaRoche’s discussions with members of the community confirm they are perfectly capable of running their own lives. And the average resident’s frustration with an endless stream of mandates, taxes, fees and regulations from Hartford is becoming palpable.

Perhaps the most visible ground-zero issue is that of local zoning control. Our towns have literally lost control of the multi-family housing within their borders. Because of state regulation 8-30g, property developers can erect outsized housing developments virtually anywhere in any town, regardless of the local zoning regulations – and they’ve been changing the face of many beautiful downtowns. Once the zoning conversations heat up, the balance of issues come cascading forward. Ms. LaRoche has astutely captured the zeitgeist in the overarching theme of her campaign – returning control back to the citizens and our communities. And what better way to accomplish that mission than becoming the District’s senator in Hartford.

A member of Newtown’s Board of Finance, Amybeth LaRoche has seen enough of Hartford’s incremental encroachment on both her town’s and the residents’ ability to decide and direct their own affairs. She stood up, declaring her candidacy in early February, and hasn’t looked back. She came to Fairfield, the largest town in the District, spoke individually to many members of the RTC and was compelling in presenting her case to the assembled membership in early April. The result – she remained unchallenged heading into last night’s convention. As the endorsed candidate, she can focus only on her Democrat opponent, clear through to the November general election. She’s entered politics as “Connecticut families are stressed, businesses and families are leaving, and trust in government is low,” as she puts it.

In representing the District, her stated priorities are: “tax relief for families and seniors, lower healthcare and energy costs, housing solutions rooted in local control, eliminating burdensome regulations, workforce development, and restoring transparency in state government.” And, as she’s enumerated in her presentations to Republican groups across the four towns, she’ll be guided by “the conservative Republican principles of individual liberty, limited government, fiscal responsibility, traditional values, and moral clarity.”

The Democrats’ super-majority rule since 2011 has delivered this state to some of the lowest scores in Economic and Business Environment, Fiscal and Structural and Quality of Life Rankings of all 50 states, according to Forbes and U.S. News & World Report. The stats are clearly present to relentlessly prosecute the case. And rest assured, Ms. LaRoche is a fighter, affirming last night about her opponent, “since Rob Blanchard has worked for the Democrats, and both the Malloy and Lamont Administrations for sixteen years, every failed Democrat program and initiative can be laid at his feet – and I won’t miss an opportunity to do just that.”

And she’s just as quick to offer the necessary solutions – in the vein of: lower taxes and regulations, reducing mandates, freeing energy production, budget control, and keeping decisions closest to the people impacted.

Ms. LaRoche brings strong candidate skills to her campaign. Those skills have been honed in the corporate world. And listening to her present, you get the distinct impression that she’ll stand her ground, back her positions with facts and rapid-respond to challenges – all qualities which will serve her well in the campaign. Her corporate experience is in procurement contracting, driving efficiencies, and maximizing billion-dollar expenditures. She hails from a military family, and is also recently the author of children’s book – but most importantly, she’s a mom to a young daughter. She’s applied all that real-world experience to the challenge of organizing her campaign. Her campaign team is on the ground in the four towns and is already more robust than many in the final leg of the election season. Her ability to envision, lead, direct and manage has inspired the team, and helped give it credibility and traction in the early going.

Being a millennial herself, she’s able to easily relate to young people. As noted in an earlier Centinal article, there’s a growing group of Fairfield County based Gen-Z Conservatives organizing, who are focused on political action, seeking to help advance candidates like LaRoche. Feedback from their attendance at a couple events indicates they’re ready to organize and join her ground game as the campaign progresses. Youth is vitally important to a campaign, and LaRoche has been attracting and cultivating those connections. It is very encouraging to see that the Young Republican cohort is much more robust today than a decade ago. It is not a cliché that the young today see the American dream as increasingly unattainable… and they intend to change that reality.

Along with Ryan Fazio as the endorsed Republican standard-bearer for governor, it is clear the torch is being passed to the younger generation in Connecticut. And they make a promising contrast to the sclerotic Democrats, who have demonstrably mis-managed Connecticut’s affairs, through their intransigent hold on power. Ms. LaRoche is bringing the energy and enthusiasm of youth, and an insightful strategic approach to campaigning, that will be invigorating to watch as she drives her campaign to the finish line in November. See LarocheForCT.com should you want to add your energy to the effort, or help by way of a contribution.

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