Senator and Deputy Majority Leader Matt Lesser (D-Middletown) announced that he's running for the Office of the Secretary of the State this upcoming election.
He kicked off his campaign at the state capitol Thursday to be the state's commissioner of elections and administrator of business laws.
“I am honored to announce my candidacy for Secretary of the State,” Senator Lesser said. “We need an experienced, effective Secretary who is ready on day one to face the challenges ahead," Lesser said in a statement.
Lesser has served in the legislature for 14 years and has served the last four in the state Senate.
Get top local stories in Connecticut delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Connecticut's News Headlines newsletter.
"During that time, he passed major pieces of legislation that have made real change by bringing everyone to the table but holding the line on his core values. These include passing the nation’s first Student Loan Bill of Rights, the strongest insulin cap in the country, and guaranteeing health care to pregnant women and children in Connecticut regardless of their immigration status," his campaign said.
Lesser runs on the platform of implementing early voting, automatic voter registration, combating voter suppression, and protecting democracy for all, according to his campaign.
Lesser's worked closely with Denise Merrill on major voting reform over the past 12 years. His campaign notes that Lesser has strong relationships within the office of the Secretary of the State as well as with town clerks and Registrar of Voters.
Local
“Protecting and strengthening our democracy is our most important job if we are going to live into our ideals as a country.” said Lesser. “My mother grew up in a dictatorship in Latin America, and my grandmother, a refugee, survived the Holocaust. I have never taken our democracy for granted and we have much more work to do to safeguard voting rights for all the citizens of our state."
