Saturday’s Zoomed campaign kickoff. A Black Lives Matter New Haven co-founder, a local civil rights attorney, and a democratic-socialist Hamden lawmaker gathered on Zoom — not to lead a protest, but to help a fellow activist officially kick off his campaign for the state legislature. Ala Ochumare, Alex Taubes, and Abdul Osmanu were three of nearly 30 people who Zoomed in Saturday to show their support for Justin Farmer, one of three Democrats running to represent the 92nd District in the state House of Representatives. The event revealed the close connections Farmer has forged in the streets and legislative chambers of Hamden and New Haven in recent years through his work as a Hamden Legislative Council member, an environmental-justice organizer, and a fixture of local protests for police accountability, labor unions, and tenant rights. “In my line of work, you very quickly learn the difference between people who talk about justice and people who show up,” Taubes said. “Justin doesn’t just talk. Justin shows up.” “We are facing Black women being murdered. We are facing ICE attacking our neighbors in a way that a lot of us knew was possible, but many of us had never seen before,” added Ochumare. Now is the time to elect politicians like Farmer who will help “hold these systems of oppression” to account, she continued. “You are a manifestation of our ancestors’ wildest dreams,” she told Farmer. Read more about the race… Dillon’s fundraiser touting “deep experience” Farmer’s “individual team sport” fundraising pitch Sabin’s canvassing efforts in Edgewood and small businesses in the Hill Dateline New Haven interviews with Sabin, Farmer, and Dillon A window into each campaign’s donors Sabin’s win of Ward 26 Dems’ endorsement …and stay tuned for more coverage! Farmer, a 31-year-old former Hamden Legislative Council member, and Eli Sabin, a 26-year-old former Downtown/East Rock alder, are both challenging 21-term incumbent Pat Dillon for the Democratic nomination for a district that covers parts of Amity, Westville, Edgewood, Dwight, West River, and the Hill. All three candidates live in Westville. A New Haven Democratic Town Committee (DTC) nomination meeting is scheduled to take place on May 21, and the Democratic primary is slated for Aug. 11. Farmer, Sabin, and Dillon announced their respective bids for office months ago; each has spent the intervening time raising money to participate in the state’s public-financing program. Saturday’s campaign kickoff was originally slated to take place at the Edgewood Park gazebo in Westville, and ultimately moved online due to rainy weather. “We know that a better world is possible,” Farmer told the Zoom crowd at the top of the event. That idealism is what’s motivating him to run — even with all the challenges of juggling school, work, an internship, and campaigning. He told the group that he plans to talk about public safety, the environment, and a single-payer healthcare proposal while on the campaign trail. Saturday’s event, however, was focused less on policy pitches and more about what fellow social-justice activists have come to admire about Farmer over the course of years marching and protesting and advocating alongside him. Farmer told the group that he was going to record the video-streamed meetup so that, when he’s feeling frustrated, he can listen back to the kind words people had to say about him. During his time at the virtual mic, Taubes spoke about representing Farmer twice in federal court, including as a plaintiff in a lawsuit that helped end prison gerrymandering in Connecticut. “Justin Farmer, I’m very, very proud to be here,” Taubes said. “You don’t just talk about it. You are about it, and you win. The wins you get for us, they go to the benefit of us, our children, and our grandchildren.” Ochumare spoke about meeting Farmer in around 2015, 2016, “literally at the intersection of me becoming an activist [and] community organizer” as Black Lives Matter New Haven was getting off the ground in the wake of the fatal police shootings of Michael Brown and Tamir Rice. “When I think about Justin and how he shows up as a community member” and as a legislator, Ochumare said, “I think of access, I think of community care, and I think of people power.” (Ochumare also leaned in to Farmer’s fondness for dad jokes, stating, “I met Justin just in time,” prompting Andrew Rice — who is mounting a longshot challenge from the left to Democratic U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro — to post a laughing-crying emoji on Zoom. As Farmer commented later on about the sometimes jocular tone of Saturday’s event, “The liberation needs to be fun.”) Edgewood resident Kristin Barendregt-Ludwig described getting to know Farmer through his environmental activism. She praised him for centering “people and relationships in everything that he does. … He gets to know who you are and what you care about what matters to you.” He listens, she continued, and he “gets things done.” Barendregt-Ludwig listed off some of his accomplishments in the world of creating a cleaner, greener Greater New Haven: “He’s worked to get plastic bags out of Hamden in his work on the city council. He changed the conversation around climate change by bringing onto the national stage Ivy League divestment of fossil fuels and also divestment in Puerto Rican debt.” And through his work with the Six Lakes Park Coalition, Farmer has elevated the profile of a “legacy EJ hazard” — the former Olin Powder Farm — to help bring together the public and local and state leaders with the goal of creating a new park. Osmanu, meanwhile, spoke about being just 14 years old when he first met Farmer. He said Farmer inspired him to get involved in his community in Hamden; he has long admired Farmer as someone willing to “speak truth to power,” including as an early advocate for the now-state-adopted “Right to Counsel” program that guarantees legal representation for certain tenants facing eviction in housing court. “It’s good to have you as a political little brother,” Farmer said with a smile as he thanked Osmanu. “Shout out to the People’s Republic of Hamden.” Joe Shortsleeve, Farmer’s campaign treasurer, was one of the last to speak up at Satuday’s Zoom kickoff. He said that, over the course of this campaign, a lot of people will likely say to Justin, “It’s not your time.” Wait your turn. “Let’s not wait,” Shortsleeve said. “Let’s do this. Let’s roll. Let’s tune that out and building something we all know we can.” The post Farmer Kicks Off State-Rep Campaign With Activist Accolades appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less