Republican Rick Bush of West Hartford formally announced his candidacy for the 20th District House seat, and will face Democrat Jillian Gilchrest on the November ballot.

Statement provided by Rick Bush

I am officially announcing my candidacy for State of Connecticut House of Representatives in the 18th District.

Our fine state has languished under several consecutive legislatures who have not moved the needle for Connecticut. We have not participated in the economic recovery enjoyed by much of the rest of the nation since the Great Recession and we lag behind on job and income growth. Our budget deficits keep growing yet wealth is fleeing our state.

We need to attract talent and money to our state. We need businesses to relocate to Connecticut not out of Connecticut. We need to be more aggressive on reducing building code regulations and red tape that inflate the cost of low-income housing and we need to incentivize people to move to Connecticut with better jobs, a stable economy and affordable housing. We need to let everyone know that Connecticut is a great place to live.

I will fight to help tenants and landlords work together to forge new alliances that will strengthen the housing market. I will seek to align public and private enterprises to partner in the creation of affordable housing. I will support landlords and work to increase awareness of housing issues. I will work to streamline the eviction process and the court system. I will strongly oppose and fight against any attempt to legislate rent control. I
I will defend small business owners as they try to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic by supporting legislation that allows businesses to gain access to low interest loans and grants from the state and federal Governments to help them pay their rent and keep their doors open.

We need to keep Connecticut moving into the future with good paying jobs and great communities. We need affordable housing, strong job growth and a stable economy. We need to stop partisan bickering and work on real solutions that benefit everyone. We have been waiting for Connecticut to turn the corner and now is the time.

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