Fuchs Challenges McKinney

Mitch Fuchs, a former member of Fairfield's Representative Town Meeting and longtime chairman of the Democratic Town Committee, was nominated tonight to run against Republican state Sen. John McKinney, R-Fairfield.

McKinney, who ran unopposed in two re-election bids, is seeking his seventh two-year term in the state Senate, representing the 28th Senatorial District, which includes Fairfield, Easton, Newtown and Weston. Fuchs was nominated to be the Democratic standard-bearer against McKinney during a DTC meeting tonight in McKinley School.

After the meeting, Fuchs said the state had a big deficit that hadn't been resolved by current leaders in Hartford and that the state also was losing people and jobs. Fuchs said he wanted "to go to Hartford to work with Republicans and Democrats to implement solutions to grow the state and grow revenue and make a Connecticut a better place to live in."

Fuchs said he was realistic about his chances against the popular incumbent but also believed people, when they recognize a failure of leadership, were willing to oust incumbents. "We have serious problems, and we're not getting the job done," he said.

Fuchs said his goals would be to lower the state deficit and encourage job creation in Connecticut. "We're not encouraging anyone to come here. We just lose jobs. Connecticut is a wonderful place to live, and we need to create jobs so people stay here. We have a real brain drain going on," he said.

Fuchs served on the RTM from 2003 to 2007 and was DTC chairman from 2002 to 2010. Fuchs served on the Fairfield Housing Authority from 1998 to 2003 and was the authority's vice chairman from 2001 to 2002 and its chairman from 2002 to 2003.

Fuchs was a Fairfield National Little League baseball coach from 1994 to 2004 and was a basketball coach in Fairfield's Parks and Recreation Department leagues from 1995 to 2004. He currently serves on the Greater Bridgeport Transit Authority.

McKinney, the Senate minority leader since 2007, wasn't immediately available tonight to respond to Fuchs' candidacy.

Democrats at the meeting said Fuchs was nominated by Doug Jones, a former RTM member and former vice chairman of the DTC, and his nomination was seconded by Devon Pfeifer, the DTC chairman. His nomination also was seconded by Matt Waggner, the Democratic registrar of voters in Fairfield. Fuchs was elected unanimously to be the party's nominee, according to Democrats at tonight's meeting.

McKinney defeated Democrat Martin Goldberg 61 percent to 39 percent in 2008; ran unopposed in 2006; defeated Democrat Morgan Graham 65 percent to 35 percent in 2004; ran unopposed in 2002; defeated Democrat Felix Giannini 64 percent to 36 percent in 2000; and defeated Democrat Thomas G. Ganim 62 percent to 38 percent in 1998.