Aaron Zimmer is a husband and father of one and the Democratic candidate for State Representative for the 107th district, which covers Brookfield and parts of Bethel and Newtown. Zimmer is also endorsed by the Independent Party and Working Families Party.

Hailing from Lincoln, Nebraska, Zimmer shared with The Newtown Bee that music has always been a driving force in his life and is a large part of his background. He said that he got into music performance right out of high school, and was a recording artist and touring musician for many years.

Driven to start a business and by his passion for music, Zimmer stuck with entrepreneurship and move to New York City in 2003. It was there he founded a recording studio and record label, which is still operating to this day.

His family, knowing that they would not stay in New York City, eventually settled into the Brookfield area shortly after the pandemic hit. Zimmer said that they felt that it was the perfect time to move and plant their roots in a new place, and fell in love with the town and surrounding area. Zimmer said that the long-standing experience of owning a business and working for himself has given him his best virtues, which is that he is a determined and passionate hard worker.

He has already worked to carry over that driven nature to support the community, as he said that many of his goals center around affordability. Zimmer added that this has especially come into sharp focus for him as he has gone from door-to-door and talking to residents about what is on their minds.

“A lot of their concerns come down to affordability. Be it seniors who are trying to figure out ways to stay here after they retire, young adults trying to figure out how to find affordable housing, our Eversource bill, even things like the cost of groceries and health insurance and the cost of college,” Zimmer said.

If the job is to go to Hartford and represent the people of his district, Zimmer said that affordability then has to become a focus. He added that affordability is a focus of his family, too, as he is a member of a working family and has a child getting ready to go through the school system.

His concerns about affordability carry over into the rising utility costs statewide. Having gone around from door-to-door, Zimmer said that soaring utility costs were mentioned “time and time again” and that improving the bottom line for working families is paramount for any politician working for them in Hartford.

“I know that in 2017 it was a bill that had bipartisan support for the most part,” Zimmer said. “It was also a bill that Eversource told them, if you pass this, this will cost our ratepayers millions. And here we are, this many years later, and the chickens have come home to roost.”

While Zimmer said that he is not sure what the exact solution is, he also noted he “is ready to be a part of it.” He says that it would be complex due to the Millstone agreement, a deal between the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant, Eversource and United Illuminating that states that, between the two electric distribution companies, they must purchase half of the plant’s output for 10 years.

“At the risk of sounding partisan, Republicans who are outraged about this public benefit portion of the bill have purposefully left out the nuclear deal,” Zimmer said. “They are focusing solely on the amount that we’re paying back for companies and residents that couldn’t afford to pay their bills, but weren’t turned off because it was mandated by the state not to.”

His affordability concerns carry over into topics like the gas tax. Zimmer said that people pay a quarter on every gallon, and that people need that money for infrastructure so that everyone has roads and bridges, but that it is “not fair to lower income folks who may not have a car that gets great gas mileage.”

Zimmer noted that somebody driving an old car and somebody driving a hybrid can go the same distance every day, he added, but that it costs the lower income family more to go to work than the person with an electric vehicle (EV).

“I hear the argument that we have the gas tax to encourage people to go buy EVs, but that’s just not the way to solve the problem. You can’t tell someone with not enough money that the solution is to go buy something that’s more expensive than what you have,” Zimmer said.

As for his other goals, Zimmer said that he is for reproductive freedoms, and will be a voice to help protect women’s health care in Hartford. He also said that he wants to protect and preserve the environment, as well as maintain “the good gun laws that we have here.”

“I am ready to go and figure out the solutions, and to work together with people regardless of political affiliation, to get something that eases the burdens from working families,” Zimmer said.

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.