Bysiewicz Exploring A State Senate Campaign

Susan Bysiewicz has announced that she is considering running again for elected office, "I am filing papers to form an exploratory committee to run for the 13th Senate District."  Republican Len Suzio currently represents the district, he was elected last November, defeating incumbent Danté Bartolomeo.

Bysiewicz, a Democrat, said she had been encouraged to run by people in each of the towns and cities in the district: Cheshire, Meriden, Middlefield, and Middletown.

Bysiewicz represented Middletown and Middlefield as a State Legislator for three terms, and represented the state as the Secretary of the State also for three terms. She ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senator in 2012, losing in the primary to Chris Murphy. Bysiewicz is currently an attorney in private practice.

Bysiewicz said that last November's election spurred her to consider serving again, "I saw what extremist views Mr. Suzio holds." She said the contrast between the views of Suzio and those of his constituents was very stark.

She said that the three most important issues for her were job creation, the environment, and reproductive rights.

She said she would bring her Secretary of the State experience as chief business registrar for the state, and her more recent experience as a business lawyer to focus effectively on job creation in central Connecticut, "I bring a strong record of job creation as a public servant and in the private sector."

On jobs and the environment, she contrasted her record with that of Suzio's record of "bankruptcy, stiffed consumers, .... and environmental disasters," associated with his failed log cabin business in Great Barrington (Vito’s toxic venture: The story of New England Log Homes).

Bysiewicz said she had fought as a state legislator to protect an existing state law that guarantees a woman's right to privacy in her reproductive decisions. Suzio has introduced a bill in this year's legislative session to cut back on this right, and he has faced overwhelming opposition at his town halls (Suzio Ducks and Defends, In His Attacks On Abortion Access).

Bysiewicz said, "He didn't realize there are thousands of women in his district who have different views."