Maria Horn

This is my State Capitol update for the week of November 7.

If you prefer to watch rather than read, click the image below to hear about the issues contained in this newsletter.

It’s been an eventful week. On Tuesday, we had an election, and the voters of the 64th District re-elected me to serve a fourth term as your representative in Connecticut’s General Assembly. Thank you to everyone who voted in the election, everyone who spoke to me on a doorstep or over the phone, everyone who joined me in knocking on those doors and making those phone calls, everyone who fairly and honestly reported the election results, and all of the people who worked at the polls this year in particular, when our new system for early voting was put in place for the first time. We have much to be grateful for.

The issues I work on in Hartford, and that the US Congress must tackle in Washington, are not binary. There are as many perspectives as there are people who care about the issue.

After all the negotiations are done, final legislative proposals reflect many of those perspectives, holding out the possibility of widening the base of support bringing a broader group of people together. So although at the end of the day a legislator must choose either the green button or the red one, there is nothing binary about the process.

A national election, on the other hand, is binary in our system. We can’t take a limb of one candidate and graft it on to the body of the other. Each candidate is the sum of their records, their promises for the future, their character, the people they surround themselves with (and the way they treat those people), and, yes, their gender, their race and other immutable characteristics.

Losing an election you care deeply about is hard – I’ve been on both sides of that, as have most people who care about public policy. It’s also what happens when you have a democratic form of government: you show yourself to the public, and you ask for their support. You do not know what the result will be, but you accept what the public decides and learn what you can from it. And a majority of the national electorate has made a clear choice.

My party’s candidate did not prevail at the national level, and that’s hard for a lot of us. It’s tempting to retreat, despair, or throw up your hands. Maybe some feel like giving in to the inevitable, or to narrow self-interest. Those who prevailed may want to spike the ball. We’re all processing the emotional piece of this, hopefully in ways that don’t hurt others. And that’s okay for a little while. But then we need pick up and keep doing the work that gives us purpose.

I’m a list maker: to do lists, grocery lists, policy priorities – they all give me comfort. I’m starting to list the things I need to do to stay upright, as well as the things I most want to fight for. For other list makers, I recommend Nicholas Kristoff’s list as a good starting point.

Earlier today I had a conversation that buoyed me about the future. My UPS deliveryman stopped at my house to deliver a package. He rang the doorbell bell, and when I answered the door he handed me the package, and then congratulated me on winning re-election. We started to chat.

He told me he wasn't a constituent, but he’d seen the lawn signs and was pretty sure he knew who I was, though he wasn’t sure who his own state rep was. He told me he was a Republican, and that he’d voted for Trump (though his vote was really for the VP) and we had a thoughtful, respectful conversation about what mattered to him and what he hoped for the future. He apologized for taking up my time, but I made it clear that I really appreciated that he’d stopped to talk. There was no signature necessary on the package, so he hadn’t needed to do that. I hope many of us get to have those kinds of conversations as we move forward in the coming months.

• 2025 Teen Safe Driving Video Contest. Click here.
• Access Health CT Open Enrollment Period Begins. Click here.
• Upcoming Events. Click here.

Governor Lamont announced last week that teenage students and high schools in Connecticut can win up to $26,000 in prizes by entering a submission into Connecticut’s 16^th annual Teen Safe Driving Video Contest hosted by the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and Travelers.
 
The contest calls on teens to create video public service announcements with compelling messages that motivate their peers to always practice safe driving whenever getting behind the wheel.
 
Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death for teens in the United States. In 2022, there were 2,514 people killed in crashes across the country involving a teenage driver between the ages of 15 and 18.
 
The contest is open to all public, private, and home-schooled high school students in Connecticut between the ages of 14 and 18. Students are required to produce a creative, unique, and effective video public service announcement no longer than 45 seconds in length that highlights interactions between drivers and other teens and illustrates ways to practice safer driving habits while obeying Connecticut’s teen driving laws. The videos must also address at least one specific Connecticut teen driving law.
 
This year, Travelers has increased the number of contest prizes and will award up to $26,000 in cash and other prizes to the winning students and their high schools.
 
Since the contest began, nearly 5,000 students representing 120 high schools across Connecticut have participated.
 
To read the full contest rules and instructions on how to submit a video, visit ct.gov/teendriving/contest. The deadline for submissions is February 3, 2025.

You can find the Town Meeting agenda linked HERE.

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Maria Horn
State Representative