Opinion
Why it is fair, and necessary, for Ellen Paul's campaign to make this race about Steve Weir's record
An opinion piece by Scott Sauyet · scott@sauyet.com · Co-chair, Andover Democratic Town Committee · Not an official document
This is an opinion piece, unlike the reports elsewhere on this site. The opinions are mine. The facts are checkable, and every one is sourced at the end.
This fall, a few letters in our local papers and a good many comments online have objected that Ellen Paul’s campaign is running negative ads against Rep. Steve Weir. I want to make the case that criticizing an incumbent’s record is not negative campaigning. It is the most important thing a challenger can do, and very nearly the only thing.
First, where I stand. I co-chair the Andover Democratic Town Committee, and the Democratic committees across the 55th District are working to elect Ellen. Some of the mail I’m defending was paid for by those committees. I’m not neutral, and I won’t pretend to be. What I can promise is that every number below can be checked against the official roll calls.
Consider what an incumbent brings to a race. His name goes on the ballot with the title already attached. His caucus maintains an official page for him on the House Republicans’ website. Connecticut legislators can send district-wide newsletters at state expense. And two terms in office have made his name familiar in all five towns. None of that is improper; it comes with the job. But it means a challenger starts behind, introducing herself to voters who already know her opponent’s name.
The incumbent carries one burden the challenger doesn’t: a record. Two terms, 1,351 recorded House votes. The best evidence of what a legislator will do next is what he has already done. Asking voters to look at it is not an attack. It is what a campaign is for.
And Weir’s is not an easy record to run on in this district. By the standard political-science measure of a whole voting record, he was the 11th most conservative of 153 House members in 2025-26, and the 8th of 152 in his first term. He votes to the right of the House Republican leader. Meanwhile the 55th leans Democratic, about 54.5 percent in top-of-the-ticket races since 2012. Of the 22 Republicans who hold Democratic-leaning seats, only two vote more conservatively than he does.
That isn’t a label. It shows up bill by bill.
On 95 roll calls, Weir voted no while most of his own caucus voted yes. Three examples:
Other votes put him with his caucus but against nearly everyone else in Connecticut:
Weir’s supporters answer that he is a decent man who never misses a vote. Both things appear to be true. By all accounts he is kind, accessible, and hard working, and his family’s dog-rescue work is genuinely admirable. But perfect attendance means only that he was present for every one of those votes. A voting record measures how you voted, not whether you showed up. No amount of personal decency changes what those votes did, or didn’t do, for the five towns he represents. The votes are the job.
I’ll concede what is fair in the complaint. Campaign mail is loud, and some of Ellen’s is louder than I would write it; I’d rather it stayed on Connecticut votes and left national politics out of it. But look at what is printed on the cards themselves: bill numbers. Anyone can look up how he voted on each one, and I hope you will. Not all of Ellen’s mail is about him, either. Much of it is about her own plans: property tax relief, early childhood care, holding Eversource accountable, and the organizations that have endorsed her.
Now compare the mailer Weir sent, which arrived in my mailbox the same day as one of Ellen’s. It tells us he was a police officer, that he is an Eagle Scout and a licensed helicopter pilot, and that he and his wife have raised three daughters in Hebron. It calls him trustworthy and principled. Those are good things to know about a neighbor. It does not mention a single vote he has cast in two terms. That’s a choice worth noticing.
An election is a job review. An incumbent’s work is public, recorded, and easy to check. A challenger who points to it isn’t running a smear. She’s asking us to do the review. I hope you will, starting with the links below.
Weir’s record (andoverct.info, all built from official roll-call PDFs):
Individual votes (House final passage):
Incumbency:
Written October 2026 · Opinion, not a data report · Vote figures are from the Connecticut General Assembly's official roll-call records; see Sources.