By Elizabeth Barhydt
When Ryan Fazio got down on one knee in Waveny Park earlier this month, proposing to Amy Orser where they had their first date, it was not just a personal milestone. It was also a decision to build a life together in Connecticut. “She said yes,” Fazio recalled. “And now I’m very happy to announce that she’s my fiancée. We’re over the moon and really happy about the life we get to build together.”
Orser’s roots in New Canaan, combined with Fazio’s role representing the town in the State Senate, frame his gubernatorial campaign around a theme: Connecticut is their home, and its future is worth fighting for.
“Connecticut’s the only place I’ve ever called home. I was born here, raised here, and now I got engaged here,” Fazio told the Sentinel. “Hopefully we can make it a great place for everybody, for the next generation as well.”
8-30g and Local Control
No issue animates New Canaan politics more than zoning, and Fazio has made it central to his message. He has opposed state-mandated affordable housing legislation, including the controversial 8-30g statute, arguing that it erodes the ability of towns like New Canaan to shape their own growth.
“Unfortunately, even though I and other Republicans have said that we are willing to come to the table and negotiate and compromise… not a single Republican has been called to the negotiating table by the legislative leadership or the governor’s office to date,” Fazio said, referring to rumors of a September special session on housing. “We want to negotiate, we want to find common ground. But we’re boxed out of the negotiations and the legislation currently.”
He warned that without Republican input, the next housing bill “will be only 10 or 20% less worse than Bill 5002.” For Fazio, that exemplifies why he is running: “Voters want their leaders to come to the table and find common ground and common sense.”
Affordability and Guardrails
Beyond zoning, Fazio has built his case around affordability. “Electric bills are too damn high in the state,” he said. This year he co-authored Senate Bill 4, which cuts $100 million annually from the public benefits charge. Governor Lamont credited him for moving the bipartisan bill forward, a rare acknowledgment across party lines.
But Fazio insists that piecemeal relief will not be enough without larger structural reform. He has raised alarms about fiscal guardrails — the budget controls adopted in 2017 that limit spending and borrowing while directing excess revenue into savings. The Connecticut Mirror has reported the weakening of those guardrails, and Fazio sees the stakes plainly. “If the fiscal guardrails are breached,” he said earlier this year, “it will undo one of the biggest bipartisan successes of the last decade in Hartford.”
Campaigning Ahead
Fazio’s bid for governor will test whether his brand of fiscal conservatism and localism can break through in a blue state. Under Connecticut’s public financing system, he must raise $350,000 in small donations to qualify for millions in state campaign funds. “We need to finalize the job faster than any other candidate,” he said. “But it’s a very difficult task to raise 350,000 from small and medium dollar donations.”
He said the campaign raised $20,000 in its first two days, but acknowledged the challenge: “It’s not easy get over a thousand people to donate $250 each. Even though I think we’re going to win the nomination, we are starting from behind and must earn every vote, Fazio said. “Our campaign will be new and energetic and we will work harder than anyone else.”
For New Canaan, where both Fazio’s legislative work and his personal life now intersect, the campaign is more than politics — it’s local. At community events, he said, “the most special and gratifying support is the support I’ve been getting and hearing from people I’ve known for decades. And I’m just so thankful to them for that encouragement.”
The Political Frame
Strategically, Fazio is betting that the affordability message, coupled with his fight on zoning, resonates beyond Fairfield County. Whether Lamont runs again or Democrats nominate a successor, Fazio says the contrast is clear: “In two terms, Governor Lamont and his radical legislature have increased electric rates and taxes to the third-highest in the country. They’ve undermined law enforcement and driven out jobs, opportunity, and hope. Families are hurting. But it doesn’t have to be this way.”
In New Canaan, the resonance may be even sharper. For residents wary of Hartford mandates on housing, Fazio’s emphasis on local control is not an abstract principle but a lived concern. His campaign, like his engagement, is rooted here.
For more information visit: https://ryanfazio.com/
