David Alexander thought his political career was over in 2016.
After two drunken driving arrests, he lost his race for reelection after two terms as a Democratic state legislator in Enfield. The situation got worse two days after his election loss when he was arrested on charges of third-degree assault on his elderly, adoptive father.
He was arrested again in 2018 following an incident with his mother, but she said he had not harmed her and that led to the charges being reduced to second-degree breach of peace, a misdemeanor.
Now, after graduating with a master’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley, the former U.S. Marine Corps captain and former rising star has returned home to make a comeback bid for his old seat in Enfield in the Aug. 13 Democratic primary.
Having turned the page on his life, he is looking for a second chance after being encouraged to run by fellow Democrats. He says he has already knocked on 1,000 doors to get feedback from his neighbors and former constituents as he travels around the town with his mother, Lynn, a politically savvy, lifelong resident who serves as his campaign treasurer.
“It hasn’t come up that much at doors,” Alexander said of his past issues. “I was very upfront when I started this race. There’s no excuse for my behavior and what happened. I’ve learned from it. It was a bad point in my life. I think the best thing forward was for me to go away — live somewhere else — figure stuff out in my own life, and most of this happened eight years ago. I’ve come home, learned the lessons. I’m sad and remorseful about what happened, but I’m also moving forward with the lessons I learned — and it won’t happen again.”
Alexander added, “I can’t speak for the voters, but my take of it is being very upfront and not making excuses for my past is something they appreciate and want to give me another chance if I’m so fortunate.”
Compared to the days of the strict “tough on crime” movement, the culture has shifted to a “second chance” society. In Bridgeport, both Mayor Joe Ganim and then-state senator Ernie Newton went to federal prison for corruption while in public office, and they have made political comebacks in the Park City. Ganim became mayor again, and Newton won a seat on the city council. He is now trying to get back to the state Senate in the August primary.
Besides an atmospheric shift in society, there have been changes in state law under the “clean slate” provisions of erasing various criminal convictions.
“Because of the clean state law that Governor Lamont signed, my DUI gets off my record next August,” Alexander said. “It doesn’t benefit society to just cast people in prison forever or in the shadows. Getting them out in the work world and being productive citizens — and the data shows they do become productive citizens — is in the best interest of everyone. People seem a little bit more open-minded with that now.”
Now 43, Alexander added, “I remember being in middle school when you had the three strikes laws coming out. It wasn’t just Republicans. It was Democrats, too. There was this tough-on-crime attitude, and Newt Gingrich became Speaker and threw the book at them. Society looked at that and said maybe that doesn’t work well.”
Santanella
Alexander is running against John Santanella, the Democratic minority leader of the town council.
A small business owner who has run his own investment company for more than a decade, Santanella holds both a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in business from Boston College. A local native, he graduated from Enfield High School and later worked for more than 15 years at Hasbro, Inc. and the Nickelodeon television network under Viacom.
As the top Democrat on the town council, Santanella captured all 32 delegates who attended a convention for the legislative seat. That forced Alexander to gather signatures to gain a place on the ballot, which he did by traveling the town with his mother.
Santanella, 57, has been involved in a wide variety of issues on the council, including gay rights, taxes, spending, and education. He has been outspoken on local issues, blasting Enfield Republicans on Facebook in a dispute over the local school board.
The town council meeting in mid-June, Santanella wrote, had become “a well choreographed ballet by the Republican majority of misdirection, misinformation, finger pointing, and blame filled with all sorts of false assertions and culpability of current members of our board of education.”
Santanella added, “This is the hallmark of incompetence. When you don’t understand a problem or don’t know how to fix a problem, you simply blame everyone else because the problem exists. Nor, can you create your own set of facts to suit a false narrative that you want everyone else to believe.”
Santanella was influential in the flying of the Pride flag at Enfield town hall in 2002; he proposed the motion that the town council passed to recognize Pride Month. The flag raising attracted a large crowd of 120 people to town hall, and Santanella said that equality and happiness are key foundations in America.
“Today, we stand here together, affirming the belief that no one should hang their head in shame, or live their life in fear, for who they are,” Santanella said on the day of the dedication. He noted that the Pride flag “calls on us to celebrate our difference, and celebrate the human spirit and human rights.”
But the policy was essentially overturned this year when Republicans gained control of the Enfield town council and said that the only flags that can fly outside town buildings are the American, Connecticut, and POW/MIA flags.
When asked to articulate the two biggest differences with his opponent, Santanella said, “First of all, I am a property owner in Enfield. I am an Enfield taxpayer. He is not. I have demonstrated an ability to assume the responsibility of elected office and hold it in the highest regard. Those would be the top two reasons.”
Alexander lives at home with his parents, not far from Santanella’s home on Enfield Street, and runs a computer software company that focuses on artificial intelligence to help personal injury law firms.
Tough race
The race is in the 58th district, historically Democratic, which includes the hardscrabble Thompsonville section of working-class citizens east of the Connecticut River and west of Interstate 91.
One of the most prominent residents in the district is Republican Sen. John Kissel, a political survivor who has defied the odds in a once-Democratic district by representing Enfield in the state Senate since Lowell Weicker was governor in 1993.
During several hours of campaigning recently, Alexander knocked on Kissel’s door, even though Republicans cannot vote in the Democratic primary. A longtime student of Enfield politics, Kissel gave an assessment of the race.
“On paper, the odds favor John Santanella,” Kissel told The Courant. “He’s on the council. He’s endorsed. On David’s side, he’s tenacious. I see David working hard, going door to door. Special elections and primaries are oddball things.”
With a low turnout in the middle of August when voters are distracted or out of town, Alexander believes as few as 2,000 residents could vote in the primary. He is targeting specific, hardcore “prime” Democrats who are known for voting in primaries. He has the support of longtime attorney Tom Tyler, a giant in Enfield politics who has picked Democratic winners in the past.
Santanella counters that he, too, is out knocking doors virtually every day and has a team of volunteers who are doing the same. Political insiders note that the winner in low-turnout primaries is usually the candidate with the best “ground game” that reaches the most voters and gets them to the polls.
State Capitol
House Speaker Matt Ritter, who leads the House Democratic caucus, said the caucus is remaining neutral during the open-seat primary and is not spending any resources on the race between two well-known local candidates.
“I served with Dave, and if he is in a better place now than he was, I’m really glad to hear that,” Ritter told The Courant. “Just like society, we have members elected who have had issues who continue to serve. Those issues sometimes occur prior to serving or during. Nobody is ever cast aside for previous mistakes. What we do is judge based on how they respond to those mistakes and errors.”
Noting that he has met Santanella, Ritter said, “He’s a very impressive guy. Definitely. I was very impressed by what I know of him. I know them both. … At the end of the day, voters will make the decision locally and judge in their mind who the right person is.”
Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com
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