Tom Egan, in a photo from Facebook.
ANSONIA-DERBY – Wednesday is the busiest day of the week for Thomas Egan.
For the personal injury and insurance attorney who does a lot of pro bono eviction work out of his State Street law office, Wednesdays are court day.
Yet on four hours sleep, Egan carves out time for an interview to explain why he is running on the Independent Party line to represent Ansonia and west Derby in Hartford as a state representative.
“I see the challenges we face every day,” Egan said. “It’s a struggle every day. I am trying to be a voice for all the residents. Not just a select few.”
Egan said the time may be right. With the political divide nationally at a fever pitch, the 36-year-old senses people are tired of the divisiveness and just want someone who will focus on solutions rather than targeting one another day in and day out.
“Someone who will listen to them. Not an elephant or a donkey, someone who can reach out to people across the political spectrum. That is what I am offering,” said Egan.
Egan said he wants to bring common sense to Hartford with a platform that includes incentives for small businesses, creating a better education system, and changes to zoning laws.
“I’ve seen that a lot of people in Ansonia and Derby are one paycheck away from a bad day,” said Egan. “The situation in this town is not good.”
He said that, as a small business owner, he knows that situation well.
Egan joins a race that already includes incumbent Democrat Kara Rochelle and Ansonia Mayor Dave Cassetti, a Republican who plans to keep his day job running the city should he win.
In the past two elections, the Independent Party endorsed Rochelle. This year, Egan secured the nomination. Rochelle’s name will still appear twice — as the Democrats’ candidate and the Working Families’ candidate.
Egan and the Ansonia Democrats had a falling out when was their candidate for mayor.
He said he is not trying to play spoiler, and that he has nothing bad to say about either of his opponents.
“My two opponents are both fantastic people,” Egan said. “I don’t see eye to eye with them all the time, but I don’t want to smear or go after either one.”
“The mayor is popular,” Egan continued. “I don’t want to say anything about him. I think Kara is great. I think she is fantastic. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about her. That is what people are tired of seeing.”
What people are also tired of, Egan added, are promises made during campaigns that go unfulfilled.
“People want someone who actually listens and takes action about their concerns,” he said. “That is what I am promising. I can’t do everything overnight, but I will try.”
Egan first attempted to get on the ballot as a petitioning candidate, but did not have enough signatures to qualify. He said about 80 signatures were submitted and 58 deemed to be from residents registered to vote in the district. He blames an overzealous volunteer for collecting signatures from people not in the district.
However, Egan was able to get the endorsement of the Independent Party on Aug. 18, which got him a place on the ballot.
As for staff, Egan said it’s just him and a few volunteers. He said he is his own campaign manager.
“I am in charge of everything,” he said. “I am going out and doing it the way I want to. I am not beholden to any group.”
In an email, Chip Beckett, executive director of the Independent Party of Connecticut confirmed the endorsement and said the race seems very divisive between the two major party candidates.
“Mr. Egan is an Independent Party member, so that is a big plus as we want to support our own party members,” Beckett said. “We want to lower the temperature of negative campaigning and drive a centrist public policy as our website describes.”
The Independent Party has about 176 registered members in the district, according to Egan.
This is not Egan’s first campaign for public office. In 2023 he ran an unsuccessful mayoral campaign as a Democrat against Cassetti.
“A lot went into running for mayor,” said Egan. “I had an absolute blast.”
What he didn’t have, he said, was sustained party support.
Democratic Party leaders confirmed they quietly pulled resources from Egan’s race because Egan wasn’t communicating with the party.
Egan said when you are with a party you are often told what you can and can’t do.
“You have to say this and have to say that. It didn’t always fit what I wanted,” he said.
If elected, he said he would help working families by supporting job creation, small businesses and a diversification of businesses across a community so that if one sector takes a downturn, the whole town doesn’t suffer.
Another pillar of his campaign, he said, is affordable housing. He wants to work on policies to provide tax relief for responsible development.
“I think we may need more multi-unit or family apartments. Ansonia doesn’t always allow for that,” he said. Some zoning laws may have to change, Egan added.
The effort would extend statewide, he said.
Egan admits his education platform is not yet firm, but that he wants money spent wisely and said there should be a greater focus on vocational training at a younger age.
“So when a kid enters the workforce, they are ready for a job. Can get their electric or plumbing license (upon graduation) and by the time they are 27 or 28 (years old) are well established,” he said.
Egan said he also wants the state to do more to support police, first responders and firefighters who he said are overworked. He also wants to tackle electrical bills that have gone sky high in the state.
“I would like to fix that issue, but overall, my focus would be on the economy,” he said.
Egan said there are lawmakers in Hartford who would partner with him. He would not say who they are.
Egan was raised mostly in New Fairfield, moving there when he was nine. He is the oldest of three brothers and a sister. His father, who had a business doing environmental work, now lives in New Jersey, his mom in Florida.
He graduated from New Fairfield High School, then the University of Connecticut with a political science degree. He earned a law degree at Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Tampa, Florida. In between, he worked as a laborer in the construction industry.
After law school, he worked as a temporary law clerk at Superior Court in Meriden and then as a lawyer for Allstate, the insurance company.
His Ansonia-based law firm focuses on personal injury, real estate, insurance and tenant defense.
His firm website said he opened the practice because he preferred representing individuals and corporations as opposed to criminals.
“I wanted to defend the innocent,” he said.
He is also a member of the Connecticut Bar Association’s Pro Bono Volunteer Program, taking cases in eviction defense, estate planning and victims of domestic violence.
Single with no kids, Egan calls himself a regular guy who in his spare time has been known to break out the colored pencils and sketch. He also reads a fair amount.
