Stamford Advocate: Stamford state Rep. Michel, newcomer Collins Main vie for Democratic endorsement for 146th district
By Brianna Gurciullo, Staff Writer
Updated May 5, 2024 1:04 p.m.
Eilish Collins Main
Katharine Calderwood / Contributed Photo
STAMFORD — As he seeks a fourth term as the representative of the 146th state House District, David Michel is facing a challenge for the Democratic Party nod.
Eilish Collins Main, a first-time candidate whose political experience has been on the management side of campaigns until now, is running to unseat Michel in the 146th District, which includes the South End, Shippan and part of downtown.
Collins Main said in an interview with The Stamford Advocate that she receives legislative updates from the state representatives and senators who represent parts of Stamford in Hartford, and she has found that the issues Michel focuses on “are not relevant” to the residents of the 146th District.
“I’ve seen a lot of legislative reports about bears and whales and windmills,” Collins Main said. Michel is a co-chair of the Animal Advocacy Caucus and a member of the Commission on Environmental Standards for Offshore Wind.
“If you think about the state House, there’s 150 districts — and there’s a reason for that,” Collins Main said. “Your job is to focus on what really matters to the downtown and to the district itself.”
She said those issues include the cost of living, a need for more housing options and affordable childcare, coastal resilience and downtown traffic.
Michel said in an interview that he has introduced and helped craft language and strategy for many bills addressing issues that affect the 146th District and other parts of the state during his almost five-and-a-half years in office.
He said he was the first to introduce legislation to give the right to counsel to low-income renters facing eviction in Connecticut and was one of the legislators behind a bill aimed at reducing food deserts. He also drafted a bill to create a single-payer health care program and has worked on legislation related to mental health, labor and homelessness.
“My job is not only for our district,” Michel said. “We vote together on the things that affect the state. I’m not the municipal rep.”
The Stamford Democratic City Committee is expected to endorse candidates for this year’s state elections on May 22.
“Whatever the delegates decide to do, it’s totally fine,” Michel said. “I’m just following the democratic process.”
Collins Main, a graduate of the Campaign School at Yale University, worked to get Caroline Simmons elected mayor in 2021, managed Democrat Victor Alvarez’s unsuccessful campaign against Republican incumbent Tom O'Dea in the 125th state House District in 2022 and helped the campaign against proposed revisions to Stamford’s charter last year.
She said she was also involved in last year’s Democratic primaries for the Board of Representatives and the recent DCC elections.
Her experience engaging with voters in those campaigns helped drive her decision to become a candidate, she said.
“One of my major, major reasons for running and wanting to serve is because I love to canvass,” Collins Main said. “I absolutely love to talk to people. I love to find out what’s going on for them.”
The 60-year-old Collins Main is a Stamford native whose parents emigrated from Ireland in the 1960s. The first in her family to go to college, she has worked in the educational technology field for decades and is currently a consultant for the Stamford-based company Alchemy.
Collins Main is also a member of the city’s Personnel Commission, a member of the Stamford League of Women Voters’ board and a volunteer at Building One Community.
Voters in the 146th District first elected Michel in 2018, after he had earned a reputation as an environmentalist who organized local park and beach cleanups. That year, members of the DCC endorsed Michel over then-incumbent Terry Adams, who forced a primary by gathering signatures from Democratic voters but lost the election to Michel.
At the time, Adams attributed Michel’s win to the support he received from volunteers affiliated with “Reform Stamford,” a faction of the local Democratic Party whose name was originally used for a slate of Board of Representatives candidates.
Michel easily won the 2018 general election with about 72 percent of the vote. He was reelected in 2020 with support from about 70 percent of voters.
In 2022, he won about 63 percent of the vote as the candidate for both the Democratic Party and the Working Families Party. Unlike his prior elections, Michel had not only a Republican opponent but also an Independent candidate running against him.
Between his own elections, Michel said he supported Simmons in her race for mayor in 2021, urging the South End community to vote for her over her general election opponent, Bobby Valentine.
Today, Michel is a member of the state legislature’s Environment Committee, Planning and Development Committee and Transportation Committee. He is also an assistant majority whip in the state House.
“I’m the one who unlocks things from behind doors because sometimes things aren’t moving forward,” Michel said about the role. “My chairs need 23 votes from the floor? I’ll get them in an hour. It’s not many people who do that.”
Michel, 49, came to the United States from France when he was 14 years old. He works as a wholesale distributor of designer eyewear.
Both Michel and Collins Main live in Shippan.
Next month’s endorsements will be the first since the DCC elections.
Two slates of candidates competed in the elections: Democrats United for Stamford, which had the support of Simmons and DCC Chair Robin Druckman, and Stamford Dems for Responsive Government, a group whose calls for checks on the executive branch and real estate development echoed those of the “Reform Stamford” movement.
“United” candidates won 27 seats in the March 5 elections, ousting several incumbents who ran on the “Responsive Government” slate in the process.
The members of the DCC who live in the 146th District will vote to endorse either Michel or Collins Main next month. Four were on the "United" slate. The two others, one of whom is Adams, didn’t run on either slate.
Whichever candidate loses the endorsement will be able to collect signatures from registered Democrats to force a primary election, which would take place Aug. 13.
brianna.gurciullo@hearstmediact.com
May 5, 2024|Updated May 5, 2024 1:04 p.m.
REPORTER
Brianna Gurciullo covers local government and politics for the Stamford Advocate. A Meriden native, Brianna came to the Advocate after four years at POLITICO, where she wrote about federal transportation policy. She is always looking for a dog or cat to befriend when she is not working -- and sometimes when she is working, as evidenced by her photo.