CONNECTICUT, USA — With former Secretary of the State Denise Merrill announcing in June 2021 that she would not be seeking reelection in the 2022 election, Democrat Stefanie Thomas and Republican Dominic Rapini are going head to head for the position.
Learn who else is on the ballot this year with these voter guides:
Stephanie Thomas
Thomas is a first-term State Representative serving the 143rd district in Norwalk, Wilton, and Westport. She is vice-chair of the Government Administration and Elections Committee and serves on the Commerce and Transportation Committees, according to the Connecticut House Democrats website.
She received a bachelor’s degree from New York University and a master’s degree in nonprofit management from New School University. She resides in Norwalk with her husband.
Thomas states that her top priorities are making sure that towns and cities have the resources and infrastructure to implement fair, safe, and accessible elections. She also states she will serve as a leader in cooperation with the Registrars of Voters Association of Connecticut and the Connecticut Town Clerks Association to work with the General Assembly to implement early voting and no-excuse absentee voting if the ballot measures become law.
Thomas also said she wants to use data to provide information to businesses across the state that can help them tap into available programs, funding, and resources.
Transparency and advocacy are also at the center of Thomas' priorities. Thomas stated how she wants to work with schools, community organizations, and religious organizations to create more civic engagement.
Thomas also is in support of early voting for Connecticut residents.
Dominic Rapini
Dominic Rapini is a resident of New Haven County, where he lives with his family. Rapini graduated from Trinity College in 1983 as a neuroscience major and participated in football and track. For 32 years, Rapini has coached over 1,000 young men in Pop Warner football.
Rapini has been working in Apple, Inc.'s Consumer Electronics Division for 25 years and has been twice named as Salesperson of the Year.
The 2022 election is not Rapini's first attempt at a political race. In 2018, Rapini ran for the U.S. Senate as a first-time candidate and lost to Sen. Chris Murphy (D).
According to Rapini, it was then he heard stories of election issues and said the 2018 election complications fueled "suspicion and mistrust of the results."
From 2018 to 2021, Rapini was a board chair with Fight Voter Fraud Inc. a group that focuses on "election integrity issues." That involvement reflects in Rapini's priorities stated on his website should he be elected Secretary of the state.
Rapini advocates for easier and faster accessibility to registration and voting for military members and eligible dependents, moving to a special online voting portal.
When it comes to ID at the polls, Rapini says voters should have to present a government ID to cast a ballot. He said for those who do not have a government ID, he would have pop-up areas at local retailers to help with accessibility.
Rapini is also looking to change how absentee ballot voting occurs in Connecticut. Rapini is proposing the Secure Online Application Portal (SOAP) which would save voters from printing out an application at home to register for absentee voting.
On his website, Rapini states he is against early voting access for Connecticut, a measure on the 2022 ballot for residents to vote on. Currently, Connecticut does not allow for early access voting. Rapini also states his opposition to ranked-choice voting.
Cynthia Jennings
Cynthia Jennings is a civil rights attorney, environmental activist, and former Hartford City Councilwoman for six years who is running as an Independent for Secretary of the State.
As a councilwoman, Cynthia was elected as a Working Families Party member and served on the Hartford City Council for six years.
While on City Council, she served on the Hartford School Building Committee, Council Budget Committee, Health and Human Services Committee, Labor Committee, and Public Safety Committee, and chaired the Parks, Recreation, Public Works, and Environment Committee on the Hartford City Council.
One of Jennings' priorities over the years has been the environment. Jennings is recognized as bringing the issue of environmental justice to national attention through her opposition, clean-up, and closure of a polluting landfill in North Hartford.
Jennings also served as a Board Member on the Connecticut Fund for the Environment in New Haven.
For 22 years, Jennings has also been a civil rights and environmental justice attorney.
Jennings served as a trained observer for the Secretary of the State to monitor elections in urban centers throughout Connecticut.
She served with elected leaders and former elected leaders in Hartford to conduct voter exit interviews, write up complaint affidavits for voters, go door-to-door to interview voters who believed that their voting rights had been abridged, and man the Voter Suppression Hot Line to respond to what may have been regarded as voter irregularities at the polls before voters left the polling place.
---
Jennifer Glatz is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jglatz@fox61.com.
Have a story idea or something on your mind you want to share? We want to hear from you! Email us at newstips@fox61.com
HERE ARE MORE WAYS TO GET FOX61 NEWS
Download the FOX61 News APP
iTunes: Click here to download
Google Play: Click here to download
Stream Live on ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching FOX61.
Steam Live on FIRE TV: Search ‘FOX61’ and click ‘Get’ to download.