Connecticut State Senate District 35 candidate surveys, 2022

Elections in Connecticut, 2022

---

On the ballot: U.S. Senate • U.S. House • Governor • State executive offices • State Senate • State House • Special state legislative • State ballot measures • Local ballot measures

This article shows responses from candidates in the 2022 election for Connecticut State Senate District 35 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 State Senate District 35

Jeff Gordon defeated Lisa Thomas in the general election for Connecticut State Senate District 35 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jeff Gordon (R)	50.6	20,927
		Lisa Thomas (D / Working Families Party / Independent Party)	49.4	20,456

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 41,383
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

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.

Expand all | Collapse all

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?

Lisa Thomas (Democratic, Working Families, Independent)

Fiscal Responsibility and Affordability: Lisa will remedy years of underfunded programs and services in our region. One of Lisa’s goals is to reexamine funding schools with minimal reliance on property taxes. She also believes there must be affordable housing available both to young families and to retirees in our communities. Lisa understands the important role agriculture plays in our district, and looks forward to joining the legislature’s Rural Caucus to bring more attention to our area. Lisa knows how to navigate budgets and state grants so that working people and middle-class families can afford to live in our district. She has consistently advocated for budgets that balance the needs of the community with residents’ ability to pay.

Healthcare and Reproductive Rights: Lisa believes we should all have quality, affordable healthcare. She is a strong advocate for women’s rights and reproductive health. She supports contraceptive equality and full access to abortion care. Lisa has been in the forefront of efforts to restore critical hospital services, including Labor and Delivery care, to our region. She knows that the loss of services has placed an unacceptable burden and risk on our families. Lisa will stand up to any effort to limit access to reproductive services and will fiercely support Connecticut’s laws enacted to protect this critical healthcare.

Jobs: Lisa is dedicated to bringing jobs to our district. She is committed to supporting small businesses, fighting for agriculture producers, and investing in the economic success of our area. Lisa supports the Eastern CT Manufacturing Pipeline, part of the Workforce Investment Board, which provides jobs training to meet the hiring needs of CT’s manufacturers and trades. Lisa believes in supporting paid apprenticeship programs to encourage people to enter the skilled trades. Lisa’s focus on education and economic development will drive a thriving workforce.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Lisa Thomas (Democratic, Working Families, Independent)

Education and sustainability are two areas that Lisa is extremely passionate about. As an educator of 37 years, Lisa understands that the economic success of the district is greatly impacted by the quality and equity in our schools. Lisa will fight to ensure Eastern Connecticut’s schools are fully funded, attract diverse teachers, administrators and staff, and that all students can succeed. Environmental stewardship has been another incredibly important issue to Lisa. Lisa’s advocacy has resulted in the Town of Coventry receiving yearly grants from CT DEEP to remedy the invasive plants in Coventry Lake, thus avoiding the loss of a critical recreational, environmental and economic resource. She also successfully led Coventry’s efforts to achieve 20% alternative energy reliance. Throughout her time as a Councilwoman, she has supported healthy water quality, clean energy, farmland preservation, and other sustainability initiatives. Lisa will strengthen partnerships with Eastern Connecticut’s land trusts, The Last Green Valley, farmland conservation, forestry groups, and Natural Resources Conservation Services. Partnerships like these will benefit Connecticut’s economy as well as bring apprenticeships and job training to our region. Lisa knows that natural resources are a part of what makes Eastern CT a great place to live and visit, and Lisa will carry this truth with her to the State Senate to fight for the rural communities in the 35th district.

See also

More about these elections:

• Connecticut State Senate elections, 2022

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

District 1District 2District 3District 4District 5District 6District 7District 8District 9District 10District 11District 12District 13District 14District 15District 16District 17District 18District 19District 20District 21District 22District 23District 24District 25District 26District 27District 28District 29District 30District 31District 32District 33District 34District 35District 36Submit