More trouble appeared on the horizon Thursday morning for the fledgling Lamont-Bysiewicz Democratic gubernatorial ticket, as a prominent African-American state senator from New Haven endorsed a Latina challenger for lieutenant governor.
The state senator, Gary Winfield, told the Independent that he has decided to drop his bid to become lieutenant governor. Instead, he said, he is endorsing Newtown labor organizer Eva Bermudez Zimmerman in her quest for the position.
Winfield and many other urban Democrats of color— as well as white Democrats — blasted frontrunning Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont this week for choosing his former opponent Susan Bysiewicz as his running mate as lieutenant governor candidate. They said they had been led to believe that Lamont would pick a person of color as his running mate, since the Democrats have never had a black or Latino on the ticket before; both Lamont and Bysiewicz are white. Lamont promised to appoint many people of color to positions if elected. (Read about that here.)
In an interview Thursday morning, Winfield praised Zimmerman’s experience at the state Capitol. He also said it’s time that the Democratic ticket reflect the diversity of the party and of Connecticut at large.
“I am supporting Eva. I’ve been having a conversation way before this about Connecticut looks like, what state government looks like, what leadership in state government looks like. It is important that my two little kids see it is possible for people of all walks of life be able to be in government all the way up to governor and lieutenant governor,” said Winfield, the father of newborn twins.
“I don’t think you make the fuss I made about it and say, ‘It’s not me, so I’ll jump on board.”’
A potential black-brown coalition promises to shake up what had started looking like a coronation at this weekend’s state Democratic Party convention for the Lamont-Bysiewicz ticket.
To read the complete story: http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/winfield_backs_zimmerman/
