Comments (
Printable Version
Email This
Font
In just 32 days, Fairfield goes to the polls.
And a half-dozen Fairfield candidates are trying to be heard above the din of a boisterous U.S. Senate battle, plus a Congressional contest and, of course, the presidential race.
They are the six candidates competing for Fairfield's three seats in the state House of Representatives. The three seats represent separate sections of town, so ballots at various voting districts will list only one contest.
The Fairfield Citizen over the next month will focus on those three races -- leaving coverage of the federal races, for the most part, to its sister paper, the daily Connecticut Post.
The state House races shape up like this:
In the 132nd District, incumbent Republican Brenda Kupchick is challenged by Democrat Sue Brand, a school board member.
In the 133rd District, incumbent Democrat Kim Fawcett is challenged by Republican Chris DeSanctis, a private-school administrator.
In the 134th District, incumbent Republican Tony Hwang is challenged by Democrat Heather Dean, an RTM member.
Able to stay above the fray is Fairfield's incumbent state senator, Republican John McKinney, the Senate minority leader who is unopposed.
House candidates have been conducting grass-roots campaigns, knocking on doors and attending coffee hours to get their positions out there.
As Election Day nears, the Citizen will interview the candidates and profile each race. Also, all six candidate candidates will be invited to submit op-ed pieces that would be published the Friday before Election Day -- giving them the last word on our pages.
In the meantime, the Citizen has begun a standing feature called "Candidates' Corner" a compendium of brief news items written by Citizen staff about the campaign. Candidates have been invited to submit brief statements on issues, and the newspaper may choose to write about them.
As in past local campaigns, the Citizen has cleared space on its opinion pages for letters to the editor about the candidates and the issues. Letter writers should be aware that Sunday, Oct. 28, is the deadline for submitting election-related letters. A deadline notice is being printed in each edition, and the last election letters will be published on Wednesday, Oct. 31.
The state continues to face serious fiscal problems, and house races will in no small part will influence how they are handled. With a presidential race, voter turnout will be higher than in municipal elections, so it's time for all voters to start studying up on the local races.
