Justin Farmer announced on Wednesday that he has met the qualifications for the state’s public campaign finance program, having raised $7,590 from 238 donors in his bid to become the next state representative of the 92nd district. Farmer now anticipates receiving $38,575 from the Citizens’ E lection Program (CEP), a voluntary state program that provides candidates for state office with grants if they raise a certain number of small-dollar donations from residents, refrain from accepting donations from political committees, and agree to spending limits. “I really, really appreciate the program,” which “allows normal people to actually have a shot running for office,” Farmer said in an interview with the Independent. Farmer, a former Hamden town council member and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, is running in the Democratic primary against incumbent State Rep. Pat Dillon and former Downtown/East Rock Alder Eli Sabin. In addition to Farmer, Sabin said he has met the qualifications for the CEP grant. Within one day of formally launching his campaign, Sabin reported that he had raised $6,800 from over 190 New Haven-based donors, enough to qualify for the CEP grant. Dillon, meanwhile, said that she is also seeking to participate in the CEP, and that she has been focused on the ongoing legislative session in Hartford as she works toward that goal. The State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) will meet on May 28 to review the first round of public-financing applications. In order to qualify for CEP funding, State Representative candidates must raise at least $6,700 in donations ranging from $5 to $340. At least 150 of those donations must be from residents of any municipality included in the district (in the case of the 92nd district, any resident of New Haven). According to Farmer, 161 of the 238 donors to his campaign are New Haven residents. Farmer said that his campaign received an average donation of $31.89. Since the 92nd district is considered a “party-dominant” district, with Democrats outnumbering Republicans by more than 20 percent, candidates who qualify for the CEP are eligible for $38,575 in the primary. (The 92nd district covers Westville, West River, Edgewood, and parts of the Hill.) Farmer’s announcement came on the same day that Dillon hosted a campaign fundraiser in Westville’s Kehler Liddell Gallery and just hours before Sabin and several supporters walked the Hill to talk with business owners and residents. Farmer said that he wrote the press release announcing the CEP milestone himself — and then “workshopped it with people who have not done a press release before,” prior to sending it out on Wednesday morning. That release-drafting process was emblematic of a broader goal of Farmer’s: to bring more newcomers into the political process. As Farmer sees it, there aren’t enough young people in politics prepared to step up for when older generations eventually pass the baton. He sees his campaign as “about training and scaling up, so that by the end of the campaign, those people have confidence in themselves, confidence in their ability.” According to Farmer, 100 people have signed up to volunteer for his campaign so far. So far, the race has been shaped by various narratives about the value of experience and the need for generational change. Dillon has represented the district for 21 terms, since 1984, and has touted her institutional knowledge. Farmer, 31, and Sabin, 26, have each in different ways highlighted their hopes to serve as a fresh voice and a source of change. Farmer recalled talking to one resident of the district, an “elder that I’ve known for years,” who initially told him she would be voting for Dillon. He recalled the voter saying something to the effect of “I don’t like youngsters just running to push out older folks.” Farmer spoke with her on the phone for an hour, he said. He described his theory of politics as “an individual team sport.” “People think of politics as if all the candidates are the quarterback, but that’s not how you play the game. If everybody is a point guard, the kicker, the goalie, then you actually can’t play the game,” said Farmer. In other words, he believes that the races is not just about individual candidates competing against one another, but about helping to build a well-rounded team of people at the Capitol. What would Farmer’s role be on that team? He sees himself as a candidate whose political approach to all sorts of issues, from police accountability to environmental justice, is rooted in his own life experience. And he sees himself as an “activist official” — an “organizer” who brings people together and a “systems thinker” who is constantly eyeing the big-picture context of the work at hand. That message seemed to resonate with the voter. Minutes after their phone conversation concluded, Farmer said, she donated $340 to his campaign. The post Farmer Says He’s Cleared Public-Financing Threshold appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less