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Erick Russell
Erick Russell (Democratic Party) is the Connecticut Treasurer. He assumed office on January 4, 2023. His current term ends on January 6, 2027.
Russell (Democratic Party, Working Families Party) ran for election for Connecticut Treasurer. He won in the general election on November 8, 2022. He advanced from the Democratic primary on August 9, 2022.
Biography
Erick Russell was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Haven and a law degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law.[1][2]Russell's career experience includes working as an attorney at Pullman & Comely.[3][4]
Elections
2022
See also: Connecticut Treasurer election, 2022
General election
General election for Connecticut Treasurer
Erick Russell defeated Harry Arora, Jennifer Baldwin, and JoAnna Laiscell in the general election for Connecticut Treasurer on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Erick Russell (D / Working Families Party) | 52.4 | 652,031 |
 | Harry Arora (R)  | 44.9 | 559,123 | |
 | Jennifer Baldwin (Independent Party) | 2.0 | 24,709 | |
| JoAnna Laiscell (L) | 0.7 | 8,564 | ||
| Total votes: 1,244,427 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Connecticut Treasurer
Erick Russell defeated Dita Bhargava and Karen DuBois-Walton in the Democratic primary for Connecticut Treasurer on August 9, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Erick Russell | 57.5 | 63,808 |
 | Dita Bhargava | 22.8 | 25,282 | |
| Karen DuBois-Walton | 19.7 | 21,853 | ||
| Total votes: 110,943 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Harry Arora advanced from the Republican primary for Connecticut Treasurer.
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Erick Russell did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign website
Russell’s campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
Financial Literacy The Treasurer is uniquely positioned to help families and communities across the State develop financial resilience and literacy, so they can live healthy, productive, and financially stable lives. The Treasurer is uniquely positioned to help families and communities across the State develop financial resilience and literacy, so they can live healthy, productive, and financially stable lives. Whether it be navigating the impacts of climate change, a global pandemic, or the day-to-day challenges of accessing affordable housing and making ends meet, we have a responsibility to ensure every person has the tools and knowledge to make well-informed decisions about their financial futures.
Erick will promote strong corporate governance practices, ensuring the State’s investments reflect our values, and enhancing the financial integrity of the State. The Treasurer is also responsible for promoting strong corporate governance practices, ensuring the State’s investments reflect our values, and enhancing the financial integrity of the State. As a large shareholder, the Treasurer sits on boards of companies with whom we do business and can leverage the State’s investments to help promote socially responsible corporate governance and diversity. As a gay, black attorney working in the financial industry, Erick knows how critical it is to have diverse voices represented in board rooms and in state government.
Connecticut Baby Bonds passed with bipartisan support during the 2021 legislative session. The program aims to strengthen the state’s economy and help lift people out of poverty. The program creates a trust for children born into poverty, and would allow those children to use those resources for higher education, the purchase of a first home, or to invest in a small business after the child turns 18 years old. Connecticut Baby Bonds passed with bipartisan support during the 2021 legislative session. The program aims to strengthen the state’s economy and help lift people out of poverty. The program creates a trust for children born into poverty, and would allow those children to use those resources for higher education, the purchase of a first home, or to invest in a small business after the child turns 18 years old.
The Connecticut Safe Harbor Fund would offer financial assistance to those who travel to Connecticut for legally protected abortion care and includes a plan to partner with State Treasurers in pro-choice states across the country to form a nationwide coalition of states providing safe and legal abortion care in a private and affordable manner. In response to the continued assault on the right to abortion care, Erick proposes building on Connecticut’s groundbreaking Reproductive Freedom Act by establishing a fund to offer financial assistance to those who travel to Connecticut for legally protected abortion care. The plan also includes partnering with State Treasurers in pro-choice states across the country to form a nationwide coalition to make abortion travel safe, timely, efficient, affordable, and private. The Safe Harbor Fund would connect people seeking abortion care who live in anti-abortion states with the financial support they need to travel to Connecticut for the care they need, want, and choose for themselves. Resources from the Safe Harbor Fund would go directly to abortion care providers in Connecticut already providing trusted, compassionate, and private abortion care, and would be used to provide financial support for those patients traveling to Connecticut for that abortion care. Those resources would also be available for safe lodging options while in Connecticut for care. Even before the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe, which reversed nearly five decades of legal precedent and eliminated an individual’s constitutional right to an abortion, states across the country, in anticipation of that decision, had enacted legislation banning or restricting access to abortions and other healthcare procedures, even in instances of rape, incest or medical necessity. Women of color, the working poor, and members of the LGBTQ+ community are more negatively impacted by the recent Supreme Court decision, as they are more likely to lack the financial resources to travel to safe harbor states like Connecticut. The plan calls for the Office of the Treasurer to partner with other State Treasurers across the country to encourage the establishment of similar funds in those states and to coordinate a nationwide coalition of pro-choice states that are willing to pay travel and lodging expenses for those traveling to their state from anti-choice states for legal and safe abortion care. The goal of the nationwide coalition would be to assist patients with accessing care in a state that is as close to the patient’s home state as is feasible, and in the most efficient, safe and cost effective way possible. Russell has already begun to discuss this idea with legislators, non-profit organizations, abortion care providers and State Treasurers to further develop this plan.[5] |
” |
| —Erick Russell’s campaign website (2022)[6] | ||
Issues
ESG
| Environmental, social, and corporate governance |
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| Select a topic from the dropdown below to learn more. |
Russell took stances supporting environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG), an approach to investing and corporate decision-making.
State financial officers, including treasurers, auditors, and controllers, are responsible for auditing other government offices, managing payroll, and overseeing pensions. In some states, these financial officers are also responsible for investing state retirement and trust funds.
Pro-ESG statements during state treasurer campaign (2022)
Russell’s 2022 campaign website said: “The Treasurer is also responsible for promoting strong corporate governance practices, ensuring the State’s investments reflect our values, and enhancing the financial integrity of the State. As a large shareholder, the Treasurer sits on boards of companies with whom we do business and can leverage the State’s investments to help promote socially responsible corporate governance and diversity.”[7]
Russell's campaign site listed six specific areas of ESG policy focus: “Divesting from gun manufacturers,” “Developing a comprehensive plan for moving away from fossil fuels,” “Corporate Diversity,” “Encouraging responsible environmental practices,” “Promoting fair labor practices,” and “Advocating against excessive executive compensation.”[8]
See also
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Candidate Connecticut Treasurer |
Officeholder Connecticut Treasurer |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ CT Insider, “40 Under 40: The Class of 2021,” February 1, 2021
- ↑ State of Connecticut Treasurer’s Office, “Treasurer’s Biography,” accessed January 8, 2023
- ↑ CT Insider, “40 Under 40: The Class of 2021,” February 1, 2021
- ↑ State of Connecticut Treasurer’s Office, “Treasurer’s Biography,” accessed January 8, 2023
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Erick Russells campaign website, “Platform,” accessed September 23, 2022
- ↑ Democrat Erick Russell State Treasurer, “Socially Responsible Investment and Corporate Governance,” accessed January 8, 2023
- ↑ Democrat Erick Russell State Treasurer, “Socially Responsible Investment and Corporate Governance,” accessed January 8, 2023
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