Brown Wins Democratic Endorsement For State Senate Over Moore, Setting Up Primary

File photo from 2019, Marcus Brown stands behind several young political activists in the city: from left Bridgeport’s legislative director Constance Vickers, State Rep. Antonio Felipe, Sarah Lewis, Josh Dellaquila, mayoral aide Tom Gaudett, Jim Himes congressional aide Lauren Gray and former City Councilman Anthony Paoletta. Will Brown wear State Senate crown?

Backed overwhelmingly by Bridgeport’s political organization, City Councilman Marcus Brown Tuesday night received the Democratic endorsement over incumbent Marilyn Moore setting up an August primary in the city-suburban 22nd State Senate District.

Moore received enough delegate support from Trumbull Democrats to qualify for the ballot. This is familiar territory for Moore who’s unpopular with establishment politicians who assert she’s non-collegial and aloof both on a personal and professional level. Moore gave Mayor Joe Ganim a primary scare last September before losing the general election as a write-in candidate.

Brown, 29, won 43 of the 53 votes cast in the virtual vote including all delegates from Bridgeport.

“Our community has fought for a seat at the table long enough and with such overwhelming support tonight it’s clearer than ever that our community is ready for a change,” said Brown in a statement following the vote. “The 22nd needs a Senator with a proven track record of effective leadership who will fight for our schools, more affordable housing, and property tax relief. The stakes are too high to sit on the sidelines while millions of state dollars are sent to bail out Hartford and working families are struggling. I am thrilled to be the endorsed candidate and ready to take this energy into the August primary and provide the representation our community deserves.”

Marilyn Moore is familiar with primary battles.

Brown was nominated by former State Senator Anthony Musto, currently town treasurer of Trumbull, whom Moore defeated in a 2014 primary. That loss still stings with some establishment Trumbull pols.

The district covers all of Trumbull, the north and west sections of the Bridgeport as well as a piece of Monroe.

Moore was nominated by Trumbull delegate Marshall Marcus who regards her as an effective voice for the town’s needs.

Musto, in a Facebook exchange with Marcus wrote:

… can you point to one thing she’s done for the 22nd in 6 years? Even better since you live in Trumbull, for Trumbull? Just one, but no, not a law of general application that she just supported. And while you’re at it, pick something she did in her much-touted role as the bonding chair from the Senate. You would think this would have allowed her to get something, but if she did I missed it.

While Moore is favored because of the inherent advantages of incumbency, these low-turnout primaries are generally settled on identifying your friends and dragging them to the polls. Given the health concerns from COVID-19 a premium will be placed on mail-in ballots, something that is a familiar insurance policy for establishment pols in Bridgeport, but not the suburbs.

Connecticut Secretary of the State Denise Merrill recently announced that her office will mail absentee ballot applications to all primary and general election voters as a result of the health emergency.

Also Tuesday night Democrats endorsed State Senator Dennis Bradley for another two-year term. He had no opposition at the virtual convention. His district covers two thirds of Bridgeport and a piece of Stratford.

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28 comments

  1. Brown in a statement following the vote. “The 22nd needs a Senator with a proven track record of effective leadership who will fight for our schools, more affordable housing, and property tax relief. Marcus Brown, what is your record of effective leadership who will fight for our schools, more affordable housing, and property tax relief?

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  2. I’m in the business of changing minds. Never before have those I seek to serve been more open to alternatives or new tactics.
    Marcus Brown is facing the same realities.

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  3. Lennie Grimaldi

    Please DO NOT refer to Anthony Musto’s comment of Steve Auerbach’s Facebook page as a Facebook EXCHANGE with me.

    An exchange requires a back and forth. Anthony mentioned my name in his comment. I only looked for it now because reading your blog you mention an exchange between Anthony and myself.

    I didn’t reply when it was posted (and I wasn’t on FB last night), and I am not planning to reply, thus there is no exchange.

    Yes I support our State Senator in her bid for reelection. I don’t support Brown, because as property owners and taxpayers in the building where Brown lives, I have seen his work as a Council member and find he has brought nothing to the district. If he can’t accomplish anything of value on the Council, why would I want him representing me in Hartford.

    I am a member of the TDTC and as such will only publicly support a Democrat on Election Day. I supported Moore’s primary run for mayor, but not her independent run on Election Day.

    I’ll support Senator Moore’s re-election bid through the August 11th primary. After that I’ll work to make sure Trumbull has a Democrat representing us in the State Senate.

    I’ll also do my best to help elect a Democratic State Representative in the 123rd House District.

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  4. Lennie,
    You indicated that the Sec of State Merrill will send out absentee ballots to all primary and general election voters. Where are those records taken from? How recently must I have voted in either a primary or regular election to be included? How are Democratic lists maintained and reviewed in Bridgeport ROV office? Can my concern about safe distancing and staying free of COVID 19 generally valid as a reason at an advanced age and with complications to use the health or sickness provision in current CT law? Time will tell.

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      1. rich,
        i take it that you do not approve of those who have passed beyond earth’s pull, voting? Understandable…..Is it possible that by sending out absentee ballot apps to all, the USPS may end up cleaning the lists of those who have passed on and no longer lick envelopes or sign applications. At many phony locations the mail will be returned, creating a need to clean voting records? Or not? Anybody care to comment?
        you have been a businessman in one of your lives. you still think like one. care to sit down and comment and listen to a couple other folks with similar approach to money and practicing civics in the public square? invite you, once again, to call. 203-259-9642. time will tell.

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  5. John, I’m certain applications will be available at the TC’s office. For political operatives who are proficient in the AB process can proceed as they have in other elections. I have a list of voters who have used this form of voting before. I’m sure up-to date voting lists will be available for a reasonable fee. I don’t intend to wait for the State to get around to providing applications. I know of no restrictions preventing us from providing applications if a voter requests one.

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  6. Hey Marcus, what do you mean you our community?
    Is that AB abusers onFaceBook?
    Why don’t you tell us how you plan on lowering taxes, getting more for the city, not saddling us with additional debt or tax increases and anything else I missed.
    Or is it just your charming personality that Ned Lamont is just going to give you wheelbarrows filled with money?

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  7. And besides dumping your partner to please Joe, what have you done on the Coty Council as far as getting more money for schools, lowering taxes and increasing the grand list.
    Surely the list is long if you feel you’ve done enough for Bport so that now you can bring all of well honed skills to the state.
    I’ll give you a couple of minutes for Mario and Joe to answer this

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  8. While we are waiting, Lennie you forgot to slip in your obligatory statements about how MM failed to obtain enough signature to get on the WFP line. You’re slipping.

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  9. In the above photo how many people have gotten politically appointed jobs?
    I would guess 5. Maybe all of them. Can we expect more of the same with Marcus?
    YES!!!

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  10. Bubba, I’m waiting to see what he lists as his address. Hillside Avenue with his parents, or Embassey Towers with his bro-partner, Tom Guedette. I can’t wait to talk with my neighbors, former constituents and friends in the Brooklawn Area, I intend to recreate Peyton Place, I can’t wait to share all the scoop, the bad, the bad, and the bad.

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  11. Governor Lamont Signs Executive Order Allowing All Eligible Connecticut Residents to Vote Absentee in August 11 Primary Elections
    (HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont today announced that because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, he has signed an executive order allowing all registered voters in Connecticut to vote absentee in the August 11, 2020 primary elections.

    Current state law authorizes the use of an absentee ballot for six reasons, including a voter’s active service in the Armed Forces; absence from town during all of the hours of voting; own illness; religious beliefs; duties as an election official; and physical disability. Governor Lamont said that as the highly contagious virus continues to spread and nearly 3,500 people in the state who have contracted the disease have died within the last two months, it is critical that state government make reasonable adjustments that reflect the current state of emergency while ensuring that the democratic process continues safely and securely.

    “Nobody should need to make a decision between their health and their right to vote,” Governor Lamont said. “Our state has taken every responsible step to this point to ensure that our residents are safe, and the next step we must take is to mitigate the risk of the spread of COVID-19 when Connecticut residents cast their ballots. We must guarantee access to the ballot, and this is a way to do that during these extraordinary circumstances. I do not take this decision lightly, and it is with the public health and welfare of residents in mind.”

    Secretary of the State Denise Merrill has announced that she intends to mail every registered voter in the state an application they will need to fill out and return in order to obtain an absentee ballot. That application, which will be sent via U.S. Postal Service, will include a postage paid return envelope. After processing the applications at the local level, all voters who requested an absentee ballot will receive the ballots in the mail, which will also include a postage paid return envelope. Each town will also have a secure dropbox in a prominent location to allow voters to deliver their absentee ballots in person without close personal contact.

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  12. As a young person myself Im glad to see him running but I will vote for Moore. I dont think Brown will preform as bad as ganim at the Black rock precinct but Moore should win there easy maybe even 2 to 1. My question is who will be on Joe Bidens line??? This can be very Important in this race….. Cause Biden Prob will win over 70% of the vote City wide and in Trumbull

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  13. Rich Augustynowicz:: You see dead people (on the AB’s). I see some really weird machinations in the fulfillment and counting of the votes of an AB election in the 22nd in the strangest of (Corona Virus) years… Both candidates had better be prepared to face-off as petitioning candidates in a second round of Twilight Zone voting/politics after the Primary Vote winds up in court challenges and recounts that will ultimately render it moot (for practical purposes) and throw it back to the “dead” voters of the 22nd, long after the new GA takes up business…

    In normally “weird” Bridgeport politics, things can only get weirder during CV-year 2020…

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    1. Yes, dead and moved away. I saw something posted on a Facebook page where there were four envelopes mailed to the homeowner. One envelope was for him and the other envelopes were for the previous homeowners- three different people. He had been living in that home for the past 19 years. The envelopes were from the registrar of voters in The state of Michigan. I guess that means that those other envelopes could’ve been filled out and mailed in. The system is not right.
      Cheer!!!!

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  14. This is going to be the lowest response election in the history of Bridgeport — just when we need to make a huge electoral point on the state and national scene, since we are in one of the worst positions in the nation to weather the COVID PANDEMIC-DEPRESSION… We will increasingly need massive aid and attention from the federal and state government to survive as any sort of livable municipality…

    And the Bridgeport electorate is largely (a couple of possible exceptions) being offered only lack-luster recycles and unexciting/unsuitable, challenging candidates across the gamut of federal and state electoral offices during this absolutely critical electoral season…

    To focus on our 22nd-District State Senate offerings: Senator Moore, while unquestionably a decent person and good citizen, has accomplished far less than needed and to be expected for her considerable time in Hartford… She has served Trumbull well — just by maintaining their status-quo parasitic relationship with Bridgeport… The brand-new, regionally-contraindicated, massive, residential developments in Trumbull, on the Bridgeport border, that she never flagged her Bridgeport constituents in regard to, much less attempt to mitigate such development and the infrastructure/environmental stress-damage, resulting from such development, to Bridgeport, are testimony to her cluelessness about her job in Hartford. It is no wonder that she received 0 Bridgeport delegate votes at the recent nominating convention… So, in Senator Moore, we, in Bridgeport, have a State Senator that has done less than NOTHING for us — that has actually harmed us by her de facto approval of further parasitism of Bridgeport by her Trumbull-constituency/Bridgeport neighbor… (Her Lake Forest constituents are already experiencing increased flooding/watershed and traffic problems…) She needs to be voted out of her senate seat and replaced by someone of energy that has a clue about the needs of the state’s largest city… She needs to retire…Bridgeport is too important to have such lack-luster representation in Hartford…

    And Marcus Brown (whom I don’t know personally)? He was an absolutely lack-luster CC member. Why should we expect him to do a better job in Hartford for us?! And he apparently doesn’t use a legitimate voting address… AND — HE IS A COLLEGE STUDENT (junior) AT THE UNIVERSITY OF M-A-S-S-A-C-H-U-S-E-T-T-S!… How is a full-time, OUT-OF-STATE college student supposed to serve as State Senator for the state’s largest city while he seriously pursues his studies (out of state)?!

    Truly: The Bridgeport Democratic Party is serving up nothing but “refried left-overs” and otherwise only unpalatable “microwavable” fare to represent us in Hartford — at a critical time… Let’s pray for some, intelligent, committed, energetic, fresh faces to pop up as viable independents in time to challenge the lack of offerings from the parties in this (to reiterate) critical election season…

    Solemn, Memorial Day greetings to Bridgeport and the OIB Community. God Bless America!

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