Incumbent State Senator Toni Boucher (R-26th district) became the first of Connecticut’s State Senate candidates to receive approval for a public financing grant.
The State Election Enforcement Commission approved the grant on June 11th. In order to qualify, a candidate must compile 300 signatures and raise a minimum of $15,000 in contributions that cannot exceed $100 per person. The grant provides financing of $94,690 to a candidate for the State Senate to be used in a campaign for the November 4th general election.
Senator Boucher, who has held the 26th District seat since 2008, was unanimously nominated to run for re-election in last month’s Republican State Convention. Her district includes the communities of Bethel, New Canaan, Redding, Ridgefield, Weston, Westport and Wilton, She is currently the Senate’s Chief Deputy Minority Leader, a Ranking Member of the General Assembly’s Transportation, Education, and Higher Education Committees and a member of the General Assembly’s Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee. Prior to being elected to the State Senate in 2008, she served as the State Representative for the 143rd Assembly District for 12 years.
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In accepting her nomination at the Convention, Boucher, who in 2012 received more votes than any sitting senator of either party in the state, told delegates “I do not take this responsibility lightly or take you for granted. We desperately need a change in leadership in Hartford!” citing the recent Gallup poll finding that nearly 50% of Connecticut residents say they would leave the state if they could.
With her fundraising completed, she is moving quickly to organize her campaign which will spotlight the need for adding jobs, reducing state debt and restoring the public’s sense of integrity in their government in the face of the current administration’s irresponsible spending.
