by Adele Haeg
Justin Farmer on Saturday: “We have 24 days, right? To knock on doors, talk to our neighbors, make sure they know what’s going on.” He also thanked supporters for coming out even with the “horrible” air quality.
George Moore, who co-chairs New Haven’s CT DSA chapter, said it was a “no brainer” to endorse Farmer: “We want to focus on the politics that meets the material needs of the working class. You look at something as simple as making buses free.”
Excited by what they see as a “tidal wave” of recent democratic-socialist wins across the country, members of the Connecticut Democratic Socialists of America (CT DSA) gathered in Edgewood Park on Saturday to rally for Justin Farmer in his bid to unseat incumbent State Rep. Pat Dillon.
Several dozen people attended that rally in the hopes that Farmer will be just the next democratic socialist to win a contested Democratic primary — as was the case in June in Washington, D.C., Colorado, and New York City.
Farmer — an experienced activist and organizer, former Hamden Legislative Council member, and current Westville resident — secured the official endorsement of the state chapter of the socialist political organization last month.
He’s set to face off on Aug. 11 against incumbent Pat Dillon and fellow challenger Eli Sabin in the Democratic primary for the 92nd General Assembly District seat, which covers parts of Amity, Westville, Edgewood, Dwight, and the Hill. (The Independent will be hosting a debate for the 92nd District primary race on July 28 at Coogan Pavilion.)
“It’s only Justin who’s willing to call out and condemn capitalism as a problem,” said George Moore, co-chair of the Greater New Haven chapter of CT DSA, on Saturday. “This is a campaign based on, of course, empowering the working class.” According to census data, the 92nd District has a median household income of about $60,000.
Farmer said on Saturday that he is running to reform public safety, improve education and elderly services, and make buses free in New Haven. “We need to tax the rich to pay for more infrastructure, but we also need to invest in our professionals that add to our public quality of life,” he said during the rally. He mentioned his mother, who is a CNA, or certified nursing assistant.
“We need to treat mental health as a public safety consideration,” Farmer said, calling for police and cities to “center mental health outreach.” He spoke about his experience with Tourette’s syndrome. After getting a diagnosis, he said, “I would not leave my house because I was terrified of being murdered.”
While many who were present have aligned him with the “wave” of democratic socialism, he also differentiates himself from other candidates by focusing on issues he has personal experience with. He did not mention affordability during his remarks to the crowd, although many democratic socialists see that as a priority.
Other speakers on Saturday, including his campaign intern Karen Ramirez and his partner Leanne Gale, brought up immigration enforcement in Connecticut, saying they trust Farmer to stand up for immigrants’ rights. “My immigrant community, my immigrant family, we’re living in fear,” Ramirez said. She said Farmer “understands what it feels like to be intimidated by that system, to fight, and to come out the other side, to make it better for others.” Farmer also spoke at a Wednesday rally in response to fatal ICE shootings in Maine and Texas this summer, in support of Unidad Latina en Acción.
Farmer said issues from transportation to policing are “interlinked.” He told the crowd at Wednesday’s ULA rally that “policy does not matter if we don’t change the culture” — for democratic socialists in the United States, that “change” has often been imagined as ending capitalism. Abdul Osmanu, a Hamden Legislative Council member, and Mariam Khan, a former student representative on the Hamden Board of Education — both CT DSA members — spoke to Farmer’s contributions in Hamden. Osmanu praised Farmer and called him a “mentor.”
“Justin is miles and miles ahead of the nation,” Osmanu said. He mentioned participatory budgeting in Hamden, which Farmer brought up in 2020. In 2025, Hamden allocated over $169,000 to city public schools to “increase youth involvement in school-based decision-making by allowing students to directly participate in budgeting decisions for their schools,” according to an October post from Hamden State Rep. (and current Democratic gubernatorial challenger) Josh Elliott.
“It’s an incredibly exciting moment. People see [New York City Mayor] Zohran Mamdani, they see this wave of progressives and radicals getting elected across the country, and Justin represents an amazing opportunity to be a part of those politics in my own community,” said Farmer’s campaign treasurer, Joe Shortsleeve, while adding that he is not registered with the DSA.
“CT DSA has enthusiastically endorsed and backed Farmer as a fighter for New Haven’s multi-racial working class and a tireless social justice organizer,” the CT DSA wrote in a press release about Saturday’s rally. “DSA is demanding the formation of a new political and economic system – a system designed to meet the needs of the working class rather than the profit motives of today’s capitalist elite.” Farmer is the “only working class candidate of color in the race,” Shortsleeve mentioned.
“When the least of us are served, all of us are served,” Farmer said during the rally.
Farmer’s partner Leanne Gale (left) and his mother Fay Crawford (right) stood together during the rally.
A “Zohran for New York City” sign on a box of CT DSA materials.