Connecticut House of Representatives District 61 candidate surveys, 2022

Elections in Connecticut, 2022

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This article shows responses from candidates in the 2022 election for Connecticut House of Representatives District 61 who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

• Click here to see candidates and election results.
• Click here to see Candidate Connection survey responses.

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for Connecticut House of Representatives District 61

Incumbent Tami Zawistowski defeated Jim Irwin in the general election for Connecticut House of Representatives District 61 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tami Zawistowski (R / Independent Party)	60.5	6,455
		Jim Irwin (D)	39.5	4,215

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 10,670
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Scott Nolan (D)

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. The section below shows responses from candidates in this race who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Survey responses from candidates in this race

Click on a candidate's name to visit their Ballotpedia page.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Jim Irwin (D)

Party-line votes and disagreement for the sake of solidarity over-ride a thoughtful consideration of individual issues on their merits. We must revive the vision of the founding fathers: a process of negotiation, compromise, and accommodation, set against a background of harmony and respect for opposing points of view.

Education is the safeguard of democracy. I support increasing state funding for public education to enhance our ability to recruit and hire more teachers. We cannot afford to shortchange the students of today and expect them to develop into the leaders and involved citizens that our country will need tomorrow.

We need to strengthen our democracy by providing early and absentee voting, ensuring that all citizens retain this critical right, regardless of their work or travel schedules. We are alarmingly behind the rest of the country on this issue.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Jim Irwin (D)

I will energize our democracy by working to restore political compromise to the legislative process.

I will defend personal, individual and human rights for all people.

I will fund and support public education and expand job training to enable the next generation to achieve their full potential and capture their piece of the American dream.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

Jim Irwin (D)

I remember meeting John F. Kennedy in September of 1960, when he made a campaign stop my home town. I also remember his inaugural address, when he told us that "The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans". I was certain that he was talking to me, and have been politically active ever since.

See also

More about these elections:

• Connecticut House of Representatives elections, 2022

Select a district below to read responses from candidates in those races:

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