Paul Bass Photo
Bryan Anderson
After 27 years as New Haven’s most formidable elected officeholder, Rosa DeLauro is facing her first challenge from an experienced pol within her own party — who seeks to outflank her on the left on health care.
Bryan Anderson plans to make that challenge official Tuesday by announcing his candidacy for the 2018 Democratic nomination for Third U.S. Congressional District representative. DeLauro has held the seat for 14 two-year terms, facing no viable challenges from Republicans or Democrats in her reelection campaigns.
Anderson, a former New Haven city alderman and housing authority executive director, is looking to return to Washington D.C., where he first ventured at age 14 to work as an intern for the late moderate Republican U.S. Rep. Stewart McKinney.
Anderson, who’s 62, plans to make his Tuesday campaign announcement on the steps of City Hall in Milford, where he currently serves as an alderman. He plans to barnstorm the district the rest of the day, ending up at a house on New Haven’s Dixwell Avenue where five generations of his mother’s family lived.
“I’m not running against Rosa,” Anderson said this week over a plate of red snapper sushi in an interview that included no criticisms of the incumbent on the menu. Rather, he said, amid all the political upheavals in the country, he believes the time has come for “change” in the Third District along with a fresh vision.
