FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DARRELL HARRIS STEPS UP HIS CAMPAIGN TO REPRESENT EASTON, WESTON AND REDDING IN THE CONNECTICUT STATE HOUSE
EASTON, Conn. — Easton Republican Town Committee Chairman Darrell Harris is committed to being a staunch advocate for the towns of Easton, Redding and Weston. Harris is running for State Representative in Connecticut's 135th District.
Harris serves as the chair of the Easton Republican Town Committee. He says his campaign will focus on issues that directly impact Easton, Weston, and Redding, including affordability, local control, and the growing cost of unfunded state mandates imposed on municipalities.
"Zoning, schools, property taxes — those are decisions residents have traditionally made themselves, at town meetings and Boards of Finance," says Harris. "They shouldn't get made for us in Hartford. One-size-fits-all doesn't work when you've got three towns this different from each other, much less other towns in the state."
"Families are getting squeezed; energy, taxes, all of it. Seniors especially," Harris says. "When I'm elected, increasing affordability is the priority."
Harris says decisions about how communities grow should remain primarily with local zoning boards and elected municipal officials.
He opposes state housing mandates that reduce local decision-making authority and says he will advocate for preserving his district's ability to set its own land-use and development priorities.
Harris says, "Residents in the 135th - especially those who have lived here for decades - understand what we need better than anyone sitting in Hartford."
"State government should work with our towns, not dictate to them," Harris says. "Our reservoirs and farms supply food and water well beyond our borders. Protecting that land is the responsibility of the people who live here, not some arbitrary formula written in the state capital."
Harris points to Easton's standing as more than 70% watershed land as the reason land-use policy for the district needs to look different than it does for the rest of the state. He is calling for a permanent watershed and aquifer-protection exemption from the state's 8-30g affordable-housing statute. This idea came before legislature three times last year (HB 5365, SB 177, and HB 5043), each time dying in committee without a floor vote.
"Every one of those bills recognized what this land means for our water supply — and every one of them stalled in Hartford," Harris says. "That's not protection, that's a gap. If elected, closing it is a priority."
He will advocate for increased state funding for mandated expenses, including special-education costs, so municipalities are not required to shoulder an increasing share of those expenses through local property taxes.
"When Hartford mandates a program and doesn't pay for it, the costs don't disappear," Harris says. "They get borne by local taxpayers."
A graduate of the Bronx High School of Science who attended Yale University, Harris believes in the power of education for all students.
"Our schools are about as important as anything in these towns," Harris says. "Parents, teachers, and the school boards we elect locally should be the ones deciding what works for our kids."
"Our seniors built these towns," Harris says. "People shouldn't get taxed out of a home they've lived in for decades."
Harris, along with his wife and son, has called Easton home since 2019. He currently serves as Chairman of the Easton Republican Town Committee and previously chaired its Voter Engagement Committee. He also serves as Co-Chair of Easton's Diversity and Inclusion Task Force and was a member of the town's Affordable Housing Subcommittee. Harris previously held the positions of President of the Congregation and Board Chair for St. Paul Westport, and currently serves as Scoutmaster for Troop 62 in Monroe.
"My focus is Easton, Weston, and Redding," Harris says. "I want these towns to be effectively represented in Hartford on the issues that actually affect the people who live here."
To learn more about Harris and his campaign, see the link below: