Sen. Anthony Musto has served as senator of Connecticut's 22nd District since 2008, but the incumbent Democrat faces a challenge from Chadwick Ciocci, a Republican Town Councilman from Trumbull. The district covers all of Trumbull, southern Monroe and about a third of Bridgeport.
Musto has touted a track record of working with legislators across the aisle and has said he is helping several companies in his district involved in green businesses such as solar panels, and to remove red tape from the business permitting proces.
"We're building a Connecticut where businesses can feel at home," Musto said in May, after receiving a unanimous nod from delegates in Bridgeport, Trumbull and Monroe.
Musto said he helped or started programs for such things as preventing fraudulent foreclosures and helping businesses that get fined. For neighborhoods, he said the Siting Council now must deal more closely with communities before voting to erect cell towers.
Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch had praised Musto for serving all three municipalities on issues such as flood control in Bridgeport's North End, for RYASAP in Black Rock, Hillcrest Pool in Trumbull, an $11 million grant for Steel Pointe in Bridgeport and funding for roads in Monroe.
"You have to serve the whole district," Finch said.
But Ciocci believes citizens deserve better from their elected officials.
"As taxes, fees and spending increases at a dizzying pace, seniors are leaving our state in droves and young people don't want to stay here," he said when announcing his candidacy. "We lack opportunity for our young people and we lack security for our seniors. I am willing to serve in Hartford in order to change this."
Ciocci, the Council Majority Leader in Trumbull, is in his fifth term. He was first elected at age 18, when he was a Trumbull High School senior. He went on to study philosophy at Fordham University (class of 2010) and currently works as a real estate agent with the Higgins Group.
Ciocci rails against a state budget deficit that had stood at $142 million.
"This sort of reckless spending is unconscionable and has to stop,” Ciocci had said in a statement.
Ciocci noted that after the budget passed this year by Trumbull's Town Council, many residents will see a reduction in their annual property tax bill.
"The difference in leadership we see here in Trumbull versus what we're getting out of Hartford is incredibly stark," said Ciocci. "And this election will give voters a real choice in November. On the one hand they will look at the past two years — with record deficits, record tax increases and the same old tired politics — and on the other hand they can look to the future — with renewed hope for jobs, prosperity and opportunity for us all."
