Winfield Seeks #2 State Senate Spot

by Paul Bass

New Haven State Sen. Gary Winfield is about to embark on two campaigns at once.

But first he had more immediate business to attend to Monday: Work to stop having so many inmates die behind bars.

Winfield confirmed Monday that he will “absolutely” seek to become the next State Senate majority leader. That position is coming open because of a domino effect: State Senate President Pro Tem Marty Looney is retiring at the end of this year. The current Senate majority leader, Bob Duff of Norwalk, is expected to run to replace Looney. So Winfield, a Democrat who has represented the 10th State Senate District since 2014, is looking to step into that number-two slot. (Winfield had been in the running for lietuenant governor in 2018 until soon-to-be-Gov. Ned Lamont chose Susan Bysiewicz instead as part of a deal to drop her own gubernatorial bid.)

Assuming Democrats maintain their majority in the Senate this year (they currently have a 25-11 supermajority), the party’s senators would gather days after the November election to choose their new leaders, including majority leader.

Winfield, who’s 52 and lives in Newhallville, had begun obtaining provisional support from senators prior to Looney’s expected retirement announcement Saturday. “What I’m doing now is going back to shore up that support, make sure people who said yes to me on a conditional will say yes” in November, Winfield told the Independent. He said he also hopes to meet one on one with senators and help with their election campaigns this summer.

Winfield will simultaneously be running his own reelection campaign as 10th District senator. He said he plans to emphasize his continuing work on bail and parole reform and loosening the “fiscal guardrails” to free up more state money to meet pressing needs. As chair of the Judiciary Committee, Winfield has been a leading voice in Hartford for criminal justice reform, including helming the successful years-long effort to ban the death penalty.

The quest for majority leader is a different kind of campaign, Winfield said: less about policy goals and more about supporting members of the Democratic caucus to achieve the group’s goals. That includes helping senators navigate increasing duties from committee work and making sure they’re able to land the committee assignments that dovetail with their key interests. 

Winfield noted that Looney’s status as president pro tem since 2015 meant New Haven has enjoyed extra clout at the Capitol. He said that his becoming majority leader “would make sure New Haven continues to have a strong voice.”

Winfield spoke before returning to the immediate business before the Senate in the frantic final three days of this year’s legislative session. He said he expected to shepherd to passage Monday a bill establishing a committee to begin exploring health care in state prisons. Ten people have died in state prisons already this year as of mid-April. 

“We don’t need any more deaths or people not getting their medicines. If we have folks in custody, no matter what we’ve done,” the state has a responsibility for their care, Winfield said.