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Cohen Announces Reelection Campaign for State Senate

January 2, 2020: Today, State Senator Christine Cohen (D-Guilford) announced she has filed paperwork to run for reelection in 2020 for Connecticut's 12th District.

Senator Cohen was elected in 2018 following the retirement of State Senator Ted Kennedy, Jr. and now serves as Senate Chair of the General Assembly's Environment Committee, Senate Vice Chair of the Commerce Committee, and a member of the Children Committee and the Planning & Development Committee.

Senator Cohen is the owner of Cohen's Bagel Company in Madison. Before starting the company Cohen worked at New Britain's Stanley Black & Decker.

"I am honored to serve the residents of Branford, Durham, Guilford, Killingworth, Madison and North Branford and wish to continue to be your advocate in Hartford," said Senator Cohen. "I have been working hard as your State Senator ensuring that small businesses are heard, common sense gun safety proposals are passed, education is prioritized, our environment is protected, and each and every constituent issue is addressed."

"However, I feel I have only just scratched the surface and there is so much more to be done," Cohen continued. "I would like the ability to delve deeper, get some outstanding pieces of legislation over that proverbial finish line and continue to bring your voices to Hartford."

"It is with great enthusiasm that I write in support of the re-election of State Senator Christine Cohen," said Todd Arnold, Ph.D., a senior operations leader at a Branford bioscience company. "I had the privilege of partnering with Senator Cohen to advocate for the bioscience industry in Connecticut. As a co-chair of the Bioscience Caucus, Senator Cohen recognized the importance of bioscience to the sustained growth of Connecticut's economy, our state's ability to retain key intellectual talent, to attract capital investment, and to provide growth opportunities to businesses that support the bioscience companies currently in Connecticut. Having worked in Connecticut's bioscience industry for nearly twenty years, I can attest that Senator Cohen's enthusiastic commitment to both the bioscience sector and to Connecticut's economic growth is genuine and her re-election will leverage the momentum she has generated in her first term and will enable her to continue her work to expand the robust bioscience ecosystem in our state."

"Connecticut State Senate District 12 is fortunate to have Christine Hunter Cohen as its Senator in the General Assembly," said Branford Board of Education Vice Chair John Prins. "Senator Cohen brings intelligence, balance and real world experience to the job. She gets what it means to run a small business because she owns one. She understands the complex role of being on a board of ed because she's been there. She is engaging, incredibly well-prepared and responsive in a way that gives her constituents confidence that they have a solid, dependable voice in Hartford, one that represents the interests and needs of all of us with balance, skill and good-natured authority."

"Sen. Christine Cohen is our reliable and hard working ally for the environment in Hartford," said Terri Cain, Guilford resident and leader of Bring Your Own (BYO) Guilford. "As local groups like Bring Your Own Guilford worked to pass town ordinances to ban single use plastic bags, Christine showed up to listen and take our proposals to the State process.　 Thanks to her leadership, towns retained the independence to pass stronger legislation, which will immediately protect our Shoreline's natural resources."

In the 2019 legislative session Senator Cohen played a critical role in passing a number of policies and laws to strengthen Connecticut's economy, environment, fiscal stability, gun violence prevention policies, and education system.

Economy: Expanded the Workforce Pipeline & Apprenticeship initiative. Eliminated the business entity tax. Founded a local, small business council. Cut anti-business provisions in the Transfer Act to increase development and investment. Led the bipartisan Bioscience Caucus to strengthen this growing sector of our economy.Supported the creation of a Paid Family and Medical Leave program to help small businesses compete with large corporations.

Fiscal Stability & Responsibility: Held the line on taxes with no increase in the income tax rate or the general sales tax. Increased the state's Rainy Day Fund to an all-time high. Cut income taxes for seniors on Social Security and other retirement income. Supported financially responsible policies to increase the state's bond rating with Wall Street.

Environment: Passed a statewide ban on plastic bags to significantly reduce plastic use. Implemented a new, comprehensive clean-energy law to bolster our energy grid and clean-energy production. Banned fracking waste statewide. Created a new, lucrative farming industry in Connecticut with the passage of hemp legislation. Established a bipartisan Coastal Caucus to help lawmakers and stakeholders better understand the issues impacting coastal towns, cities and state waterways.

Gun Violence Prevention: Led bipartisan passage of Ethan's Law requiring firearms to be stored more safely in homes and vehicles to prevent accidental deaths. Banned untraceable and dangerous ghost guns.

Education: Successfully prevented the forced regionalization of our local school districts. Established debt-free community college for Connecticut residents. Protected local school districts from drastic cuts.