![Race for CT’s 5th District heats up](https://lakevillejournal.com/media-library/incumbent-jahana-hayes-left-and-republican-challenger-george-logan-appeared-for-the-fifth-congressional-district-debate-at-cen.jpg?id=52091304&width=980&quality=90)
Incumbent Jahana Hayes (left) and Republican challenger George Logan appeared for the Fifth Congressional District debate at Central Connecticut State University October 20, 2022.
Mark Mirko/CT Public
Incumbent Jahana Hayes (left) and Republican challenger George Logan appeared for the Fifth Congressional District debate at Central Connecticut State University October 20, 2022.
As national groups and leaders start turning their attention to Connecticut’s most competitive House race, the candidates for the 5th Congressional District are seeing an uptick in fundraising ahead of a likely rematch.
In the first three months of the year, Republican candidate George Logan raised slightly more money than U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes for the second fundraising quarter in a row. But the Democratic incumbent still maintains a significant cash advantage, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission for the first quarter of 2024.
Logan, a former state senator who narrowly lost to Hayes in 2022, brought in more than $590,000 from January through the end of March. During that same time period, he spent $220,000. Logan nearly doubled his bank account since the last fundraising quarter, and has about $740,000 on hand.
Hayes, meanwhile, raised more than $560,000 over the past three months and spent about $162,000. She has about twice the amount of money in the bank compared to Logan, going into the second fundraising quarter of 2024 with more than $1.4 million.
Hayes defeated Logan in November 2022 by 2,004 votes, and the anticipated rematch is on track to get the same national attention in November.
Logan, the son of Guatemalan immigrants who had roots in Jamaica, got into state politics in 2016 when he won his first election and unseated a longtime Democratic state senator. He won again in 2018, but narrowly lost reelection in 2020.
A Republican from Connecticut has not served in the U.S. House since 2009. The last Republican to represent the 5th District was former Rep. Nancy Johnson, who lost reelection in 2006 to Democrat Chris Murphy, who is now a U.S. senator.
Hayes, who became the first Black woman to represent Connecticut in Congress, announced last August she would seek a fourth term. Prior to her election, she was a teacher in Waterbury and was named the 2016 National Teacher of the Year.
While Hayes won her two previous elections by big margins in 2018 and 2020, her most recent race against Logan was one of the most competitive and expensive in years. He came close to a win during a midterm year, but is now running during a presidential election year. Biden easily won the state and the 5th District in 2020.
With upwards of $12 million in outside spending in 2022, money is once again expected to flood Connecticut’s 5th District this year. But so far, fundraising has largely been on the candidate side.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, the top super PAC for House Republicans, has targeted a number of competitive races including in Connecticut. Similar to the 2022 cycle, Logan will likely get major financial resources to compete against Hayes ahead of November.
In the most recent fundraising quarter, CLF donated $10,000 directly to Logan’s campaign, but the group is expected to play more of an indirect role like the last election cycle when it runs ads on his behalf, though super PACs cannot coordinate with a campaign or candidate.
Both Hayes and Logan got donations from a number of members of Congress in the past fundraising quarter, including from leadership within their respective parties.
U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., who is House minority whip, donated to Hayes. Meanwhile, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik’s leadership PAC both contributed to Logan.
Hayes also got a range of support from political action committees representing labor unions and agricultural groups that are likely invested in reauthorizing the Farm Bill.
As the race heats up, both parties have been trying to cast one another as extremists and drawing early contrasts.
Democrats have raised concerns about Johnson’s voting record being too extreme for a blue state like Connecticut and moderate Republicans, noting his opposition to same-sex marriage being codified into federal law, support for a national ban on abortion after 15 weeks, and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
Hayes has made fundraising appeals since Johnson’s visit, tweeting that his stance on some issues “further solidifies my opponent’s embrace of the most extreme MAGA policies,” referring to former President Donald Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again.”
When asked if Johnson’s record and support for Trump hurts Logan and other GOP candidates in the state, Republicans have pushed back, seeking to link Hayes’ voting record to progressive members of Congress known as “The Squad.”
“We know we’re up against the most entrenched Washington special interest groups who have made it clear that Connecticut’s Fifth Congressional District is a must win for them, and they will spend whatever it takes to maintain the status quo,” Logan said.
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Abstract art display in Wassaic for Upstate Art Weekend, July 18-21.
WASSAIC — Art enthusiasts from all over the country flocked to the Catskill Mountains and Hudson Valley to participate in Upstate Art Weekend, which ran from July 18 to July 21.
The event, which “celebrates the cultural vibrancy of Upstate New York”, included 145 different locations where visitors could enjoy and interact with art.
On Saturday, July 20, The Wassaic Project hosted numerous community events. Will Hutnick, the director of artistic programming, said “We’ve been a part of it since the beginning, this is the fifth year of UPAW.”
Most of the action was based at Maxon Mills, the seven-floor grain mill located in the heart of Wassaic. On exhibit was work from 30 artists, 18 of whom were past residents of The Wassaic Project. “Artists can come and do a residency here, meaning they live and work with one another for a couple months at a time,” Hutnick stated.
The first floor held work by Petra Szilagyi, who uses dirt and linseed oil to construct images of paranormal concepts, most of which include bats. They reflected that a recent trip to a fifth sense competition in Vietnam was the influence behind the exhibit.
Across the floor was Tiffany Smith’s interactive installation which incorporated plants and wicker chairs, all of which were objects associated with her Carribean upbringing. “The room being filled with plants is symbolic of hurricane prep which often included bringing the plants from outside into the house,” Smith said.
As visitors made their way up the narrow wooden stairs, music could be heard from behind the walls. The echoing music was Daniel Shieh’s installation, entitled Mother’s Anthem, which played a recording of the American Anthem in 30 languages. The languages ranged from Spanish and Italian to Navajo and Bengali.
Each floor was filled with artwork of all mediums, including painting, fibers, collage and photography. Rachel Bussières, who switched her concentration after watching the 2017 solar eclipse, uses varying light sources to produce lumen prints. During the wildfires, she recounted that she “made a new exposure each day to capture the changing air quality”.
Luciana Abait also incorporates the natural world into her pieces, instead using maps. An environmental activist originally from Argentina, Abait’s work highlights “environmental fragility, specifically the impacts it has on immigrants.” Her installation that is currently on display at Maxon Mills, takes the form of a mountain range built solely from maps of the US and Argentina.
Throughout the day, visitors could “Arm Wrestle 4 A Popsicle”. Winners had the choice of 3 playfully flavored trout-inspired popsicles - Nightcrawler, Power Bait, and Salmon Roe. Artist Katie Peck, who spent the day in costume as a rainbow trout, encouraged guests to step up and try their hand at an arm wrestle.
Shibori Indigo dyeing, group meditation, and dance workshops were open for community members of all ages as well.
While the daytime activities fostered appreciation of fixed art, a dance party until midnight at The Lantern Inn offered guests a space for performative art.
When describing the environment of The Wassaic Project, Smith emphasized, “It’s all community, it’s all love.”
A serene scene from the Amenia garden tour.
AMENIA — The much-anticipated annual Amenia Garden Tour drew a steady stream of visitors to admire five local gardens on Saturday, July 13, each one demonstrative of what a green thumb can do. An added advantage was the sense of community as neighbors and friends met along the way.
Each garden selected for the tour presented a different garden vibe. Phantom’s Rock, the garden of Wendy Goidel, offered a rocky terrain and a deep rock pool offering peaceful seclusion and anytime swims. Goidel graciously welcomed visitors and answered questions about the breathtaking setting.
Amenia Finance Director Charlie Miller welcomed visitors to his Bog Hollow Road garden in Wassaic, a manicured expansive yard with well-placed garden beds framing a far-reaching view. He said he plans carefully each winter for the next spring’s improvement.
The organic, environmentally responsible Maitri Farm was next, a lesson in coordinating agriculture with natural balance. The farm stand and a walk among the greenhouses brought visitors together.
Near the center of Amenia was the garden of Polly Pitts-Garvin, offering a chance to visit a robust vegetable garden with raised beds to be envious of and a remarkable absence of any insects or usual vegetable garden problems.
At Chez Cheese, the vast garden acreage surrounding the 1850s historic home of Joan Feeney and Bruce Phillips in Millerton, visitors could begin at refreshment stations where walking tour maps of the 15-acre property were available. There were streams and ponds with docks, and a dozen bridges arranged around the landscape. In the 19th-century, the property had been the home of the Wilson Cheese Factory, inspiring the name of the estate.
The Amenia Garden Tour was supported this year by Paley’s Garden Center in Sharon.
Gary Dodson working a tricky pool on the Schoharie Creek, hoping to lure something other than a rock bass from the depths.
PRATTSVILLE, N.Y. — The Schoharie Creek, a fabled Catskill trout stream, has suffered mightily in recent decades.
Between pressure from human development around the busy and popular Hunter Mountain ski area, serious flooding, and the fact that the stream’s east-west configuration means it gets the maximum amount of sunlight, the cool water required for trout habitat is simply not as available as in the old days.
This is not a new phenomenon. It does seem to be getting worse, though.
Gary Dodson and I convened where the creek makes its final run into the Schoharie reservoir, part of the New York City water supply system, on a semi-broiling Thursday afternoon, July 11.
The goal was simple. Catch smallmouth bass, which abound in the lower section of the river.
This was hot stuff — as in an 80-degree water temperature.
The air temperature was actually slightly less at 77.
After negotiating the intensely slippery rocks, festooned with treacherous algae, the first major pool presented several difficulties, with a back eddy competing with a main flow and several large trees draped about the whole thing.
I hit on the simplest strategy, which was to flip a weighted attractor fly called a Tequilley into the start of the eddy so it would proceed slowly but steadily into the maelstrom, sinking all the while.
This worked. A proper adult smallmouth, with bronze coloring and vertical stripes, took the thing.
The point-and-shoot camera finally died, however, and I was not going to try to fumble my phone out for a nice but routine fish photo.
Why not?
Because I guarantee the fish would have made a sudden, last-moment bolt for freedom, causing me to drop the device into the drink.
Gary moved downstream while I continued trying to annoy the residents of the pool, succeeding a couple of times with different colored Wooly Buggers.
Then we all got bored and I moved off, where Gary was catching rock bass and cussing them out for not being something else.
I have to admit, they are not the most compelling critters. Something about the red eyes.
This latest trip was dominated by extremely tedious and distasteful Harry Homeowner activities, but on both Wednesday and Thursday mornings I prowled Woodland Valley Creek. By “morning” I mean “dawn,” because that was when the water temps were down to a barely acceptable 64.
I made the acquaintance of several stocked browns and of a handful of their wild cousins. The wild fish are smaller and nimbler.
The successful ploy was an Adams wet fly, size 16, drifted behind something big, like a Parachute Adams or Stimulator.