Six months in, Fairfield first selectperson (D) faces high-profile special election
FAIRFIELD — In the high-stakes campaign for chief elected official in Fairfield, Democratic First Selectperson Christine Vitale is learning a new job while defending a challenge from a well-know local Republican who first entered the General Assembly in 2009.
Six months after taking over from First Selectman Bill Gerber, who died from a brain tumor last summer, Vitale isn't even halfway through the four-year term that Democrats narrowly won in 2023, and is fighting to stay in the office she was thrust into under tragic circumstances.
During a recent League of Women Voters' debate in the local school board offices attended by about 120 people, Vitale, sitting at a table a few feet from state Sen. Tony Hwang, stresses the need for more commercial development, with workforce housing above.
She recalls an earlier candidates' forum in which Hwang vowed, if elected, to recruit major corporations to the town where the former General Electric headquarters left 10 years ago and its property taken off the tax roles by Sacred Heart University. "Sen. Hwang, if you have those connections right now with a Fortune 100 company that wants to come to Fairfield, you are a state senator, sign them up and bring them here. I don't know why they're not here already. Only 4.5% of our land is zoned for commercial use."
https://www.ctinsider.com/politics/article/fairfield-ct-first-selectwoman-vitale-election-21299308.php