The members of SEIU 1199NE know that the people we elect for local and state office in Connecticut create state budgets. They determine how well our services are funded, and write laws and regulations that impact our jobs and our communities every day.
We are less than a week away from an election that will shape our lives for the next several years. The window of opportunity to elect lawmakers that will fight alongside us and help to lay the foundation to win contracts next year is opening before us RIGHT NOW!
On Nov. 8th we will have a choice. With our vote we can choose to elect champions who will work with us to shape the future we want, and we can choose to elect allies who walk in our shoes to help us shape a brighter future.
1199 endorsed candidates who go through a rigorous process, including a written questionnaire and a face-to-face interview with members. After the interview, members voted to endorse the candidates listed below because of their stance on the issues that matter to us. We highly encourage all our members to get to the polls on this Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 8th, and vote for these candidates.
Statewide Candidates for Constitutional Office
Nathan Wolliston – Senate District 7 – Enfield, Windsor, Granby, Ellington, Suffield, Windsor Locks, East Granby and Somers
- Former Oak Hill member during the 2021 strike. Ready to Strike
- Grew up in Windsor, CT and recently married and bought a house in the same neighborhood he grew up in.
- Son of Jamaican immigrants; 10 siblings – one of whom is a current LPN at a Correctional Facility – an 1199 member – and went on strike with Sunrise in 2021 when he was a group home worker working for Sunrise.
- Father is a Bishop at Living Word Empowerment Ministries in East Hartford
- Nathan wants to prioritize future generations through investment in education & environmental protections, while also caring for our elders in nursing homes and those aging in place with caregivers.
- First ran for Windsor’s Board of Education in 2021, and was re-elected in 2023; in this role, helped to get a $3/hr raise for paraeducators in the district.
- Worked closely with State Rep Maryam Khan in 2023 as her intern at the Capitol.
- Nathan fully supports the right of workers to unionize and pledges to follow the lead of union leaders in their respective fights ; He also has seen how public employees have repeatedly made concessions in order to help the state balance its budget, and he believes concessions should never be plan A especially after all that they have already sacrificed.
- He supports taxing the wealthy for more revenue to spend on education and long term care; creating a pipeline to state healthcare jobs; Medicare for all; expanding Husky for all to all undocumented people
Josh Elliott – House District 88 – Hamden
- Current Chair of the Screening Committee; helps to move bills in the Legislature
- Helped champion a bill to get free phone calls to incarcerated individuals; CT became the first state in the Country to pass it.
- His top campaign issue is tax fairness
- Supports Public Option for healthcare.
- Supports SEIU’s revenue solutions including taxing the wealthy
- Supports making changes to the fiscal guardrails to ensure that core programs can be funded.
Tyler Mack – Senate District 22 – Bridgeport, Monroe, Trumbull
- Lifelong Bridgeport resident
- Former City Councilman of the 131st district
- His top three priorities are: Education, Affordable Housing, Infrastructure; helped to renew the fair rent commission in Bridgeport.
- Believes all workers should have Defined Benefit pensions
- Supports pooling healthcare for non-profits
- Supports revenue solutions like taxing the wealthy
- Believes the fiscal guardrails need to be adjusted to fund core programs & services
Laurie Sweet – House District 91 – Hamden
- Current At-Large legislator in Hamden
- Top vote getter in the 2023 municipal elections; endorsed by 1199
- Helped pass the Housing ordinance in Hamden that created the Hamden Tenants Union.
- During the Trump presidency, she volunteered for Immigrant Families Together and through that work, ensured safe passage from detention facilities in Texas to CT, accompanied asylum seekers to court dates, and connected them to local services such as ESL classes and clinics.
- Supports hazard pay and against privatization
- Thinks all workers should have a defined benefit pension
David Michel – House District 146 – Stamford
- Current State Representative from Stamford
- Has voted for all PCA and SEBAC contracts that have come before him; voted in support of funding for nonprofits in 2021 and 2023; voted in support of nursing home funding in 2021.
- Has walked numerous picket lines, and walked workers into work when needed.
- Top issues are: Housing, Climate justice and Healthcare Reform.
- Supports all workers having a defined benefit pension.
Bob Godfrey – House District 110 – Danbury
- Current State Representative from Danbury
- Born and raised in Danbury
- Served in the US Naval Reserve
- His top three priorities: Equitable taxation and spending, aide to working families, gun responsibility
- Supported funding for Nonprofits in 2021 and 2023; voted in support of the PCA and SEBAC contracts every time.
- Supports pooling for non-profits and taxing the wealthy to fund core services
- Supports adjustments to the guardrails