On October 2 — the day Connecticut town clerks are supposed to start distributing absentee ballots for early voting — The Newtown Bee will host 112th District Republican incumbent Rep JP Sredzinski in the next segment of the newspaper's virtual “Friday Forums.”

The visit with Rep Sredzinski is expected to run somewhat shorter than previous forums, as he is running unopposed. At least one additional segment is planned in the coming weeks featuring Newtown voting officials updating residents on the progress of absentee voting, as well as reviewing plans and protocols for those expecting to vote in person on November 3, Election Day.

The virtual forums, which are hosted by Newtown Bee Editor Nancy Crevier and produced by Associate Editor John Voket, begin at noon. They are captured on the Zoom platform and webcast on Facebook Live, and are available for replay and later viewing on The Newtown Bee’s YouTube channel.

“It has been my pleasure to host the forums featuring 2nd District Representative Raghib Allie-Brennan and Dan Carter; and 28th District Senator Tony Hwang and Michelle McCabe; and I very much look forward to hearing from 106th Representative Mitch Bolinsky and challenger Rebekah Harriman-Stites on September 25, as well as 112th District Representative JP Sredzinski on October 2,” Crevier said.

“Without the ability to safely present our usual in-person forums or meet and greets, we are excited to still bring these informational forums to community members via Zoom, Facebook, and our YouTube channel. Hearing from candidates is vital to forming an educated decision, and we are happy to facilitate those opportunities,” she added.

The 28th District forum found Hwang and his returning challenger McCabe covering topics including the top concerns facing Newtown voters, how each candidate would lead state recovery efforts from the COVID-19 pandemic, ways they would propose mitigating taxpayer burden through projected future year budget deficits, their take on Connecticut’s business environment, and ideas about how each would respond to racial and social inequities in housing and education.

'Investing In People'

During opening remarks, McCabe said the state needs “bold leaders” who will help support state residents through Connecticut’s pandemic and economic recovery.

“I know first-hand the importance of investing in people and businesses to grow our economy, and know the ways to use innovation to our advantage,” McCabe said, citing her work in economic development and nonprofit community food and hunger relief programs.

“As your senator, I will tackle the issues of affordability through innovation; lowering the cost of electricity by encouraging competitiveness in clean options and storage; lowering the cost of health insurance and increasing access to mental health services by leveraging the state’s buying power; lowering the cost of housing by supporting green buildings and the use of repurposed materials; and lowering the burden of our pension liabilities by creating a trust and using our state-owned assets to fund it,” McCabe said.

Hwang reflected on the “honor and privilege” of serving the 28th District for six years, saying he has grown to fully appreciate and understand the unique sense of community embodied in Newtown and Sandy Hook.

“2020 has been a landmark year for the challenges that we have,” Hwang said. “We have been in constant contact with people who have been impacted and are unemployed [as a result of] the economic downturn of this pandemic. The underlying economic challenge has been overwhelming, and has not been given enough attention.”

“Our constant daily work has been to support people that have been affected and unemployed; our small businesses that are in need of an injection of community support and funding in order to stay alive,” Hwang continued.

“We have worked on a collaborative basis with [First Selectman] Dan Rosenthal to represent the community in the area of Eversource and the power restoration challenge, as well as working very closely with our Board of Education and our superintendent in regards to the back to school challenge, but also to support our law enforcement and first responders and the new challenges that they have.”

Anyone wishing to submit specific questions for Rep Sredzinski may do so via e-mail to editor@thebee.com — please put the phrase “Friday Forums questions” in the subject line.

View all the interactions between Hwang and McCabe, as well as Friday Forums featuring Rep Allie-Brennan and his challenger Dan Carter, and the September 25 forum with 106th District incumbent Mitch Bolinsky and challenger Rebekah Harriman-Stites by visiting youtube.com/user/thenewtownbee.