Aaron Lewis
From the Hartford Courant on September 18, 2019:
Aaron Lewis, a candidate for Hartford mayor, is changing his party affiliation from Democratic to Libertarian, he announced this week.
The publisher and ghostwriter said that historically, “the Democratic Party has posed itself as the party for African Americans and minorities throughout the United States.”
“After careful consideration, I’ve concluded that is untrue and that the loyalty that people of color [have] had to the party has been counterproductive,” Lewis said Tuesday.
Lewis is the founder and director of The Scribe’s Institute, a literacy organization, and president and CEO of The Scribe’s Ink, a ghostwriting service. He said he was primarily driven to leave the Democratic Party by the state of Hartford Public Schools, which lag far behind the state but also trail Connecticut’s other urban districts in terms of quality.
Democrats, in leadership in Hartford since 1971, are responsible for the city’s educational failures, Lewis said.
“[The party] doesn’t serve black people, it doesn’t serve middle-class or poor white people, it doesn’t serve Hispanics,” Lewis said. “It serves people at the top tier of the party.
“No matter how many times people from the party have said education is better than ever, the research doesn’t lie. It’s very clear, especially in the city of Hartford, the system is not doing well.”
He also announced that the Libertarian Party has endorsed his bid for mayor.
Lewis was unsuccessful in gathering enough signatures to participate in the Democratic primary earlier this month, in which incumbent Mayor Luke Bronin beat back challengers Eddie Perez, a former Hartford mayor, and Brandon McGee, Jr., a state representative.
However, Lewis did collect enough signatures to participate in the Nov. 5 general election. Both he and Giselle “Gigi” Jacobs, who owns a cleaning company called Sister Soldier Environmental Services, will appear on the ballot as petitioning candidates.
