Meet our 2026 Candidates
State Legislative Candidates
Amybeth LaRoche - Candidate, State Senate
Amybeth LaRoche is a candidate for State Senate in Connecticut's 28th District. She is running to bring fiscal discipline, transparency, and practical problem-solving to a state government she believes has lost the trust of the families it serves.
Amybeth is a government contracting professional with a career centered on managing complex agreements, analyzing budgets, and identifying waste and inefficiency in both federal and corporate spending. According to her campaign, she has overseen more than $7 billion in Department of Defense contracts, negotiating agreements and digging into data, logistics, and financials to solve problems others set aside as too difficult.
She currently serves on the Newtown Board of Finance, where she works on issues of transparency, fiscal responsibility, and accountability for taxpayers. That experience has reinforced her belief that every tax dollar should be put to work for the people rather than lost to bureaucracy.
Amybeth is also an author and public speaker. She comes from a military family and describes service, sacrifice, and accountability as the values that guide her approach to public life.
A working parent rather than a career politician, Amybeth says she understands the daily realities facing Connecticut families: rising costs, businesses leaving the state, and declining confidence in government. She is running because she wants to see those challenges met with real solutions rather than the status quo.
Emily Hau -
Candidate, State Rep. 132
Emily Hau is a candidate for State Representative in Connecticut's 132nd District, which covers Fairfield and Southport. She is running as a community organizer and self-described problem-solver on a results-first platform: read the bills, do the research, listen to constituents, and vote for what's good for the people who live in the district today.
Emily is the founder of the Nutmegger Oil Group, a neighbor-run heating-oil buying collective she started after realizing her neighbors were overpaying. She organized them, ran the numbers, and negotiated a better deal. The group has grown from 117 households to more than 900, saving members an estimated $1.6 million over four winters. She rebids the contract every year, and the supplier she selects compensates her for organizing the group — a disclosed arrangement paid from the company's margin, not added to members' per-gallon price. As she puts it, trust is renewed every year and has to be earned.
She has spent two decades at Yale University, where she serves as associate director of the Yale Institute for Foundations of Data Science. Her career has centered on convening people from very different worlds — researchers, business leaders, and government partners — and getting them to solve hard problems together, an approach she pledges to bring across the aisle in Hartford.
Emily's platform centers on three priorities. On affordability, she wants to apply the same organize-and-negotiate approach that lowered heating-oil costs to electricity bills, which are among the highest in the nation. On accountability, she wants to bring public-records discipline into the building, writing the rules instead of enforcing them from the outside. On local control, she supports housing solutions built for Fairfield rather than one-size-fits-all state mandates with deadlines she calls mathematically impossible to meet.
She has already built civic tools her neighbors are using, including one that helps Fairfield residents weigh in on protecting local-business parking under the new housing law, and another that publicly tracks the town's speed-camera process and helps residents petition the RTM.
A Fairfield resident since 2015, Emily lives in the district with her husband, William, and their two daughters. She is running because she believes the work of good government is straightforward: ask the hard questions, do the research, and show up for the people you serve.
Lisa Miro -
Candidate, State Rep. 133
Lisa Miro is a candidate for State Representative in Connecticut's 133rd District, which includes parts of Fairfield and Bridgeport. She is running under the banner "People Before Politics," motivated to put working families, seniors, and small businesses first.
A 33-year Fairfield resident, mother, and former small-business owner, Lisa has built her career as a public servant. She is a graduate of Sacred Heart University, with degrees in Business Administration and Political Science, and has worked in municipal government, community development, youth services, and public outreach.
Beyond her professional work, Lisa has volunteered extensively with local schools, youth sports programs, veterans' organizations, and emergency preparedness efforts. That record of service reflects what she describes as a career-long commitment to showing up for her community.
Lisa's campaign centers on five priorities. She wants to lower the cost of living and address rising electricity rates; protect local control and oppose irresponsible overdevelopment; support strong public schools while respecting taxpayers; strengthen public safety and support first responders; and promote fiscal responsibility, transparency, and accountability in government.
As she puts it, Connecticut families deserve leaders who put people before politics. She pledges to put her communities first, listen to the people she represents, and fight for policies that make Fairfield and Bridgeport better places to live, work, and raise a family.
Lisa lives in Fairfield, where she has made her home for more than three decades. Residents interested in learning more about her campaign are encouraged to contact her by email at lisamiro86@gmail.com.
Ken Astarita -
Candidate, State Rep. 134
Ken Astarita has called Fairfield home since 2007 and has spent his career helping businesses and their employees succeed through responsible decision making and sound financial planning. A retired financial services professional, Ken spent the final 18 years of his career with Computershare, where he served as a Senior Account Executive working with Fortune 500 companies. He earned the Certified Equity Professional (CEP) designation in 2011 and continues to serve on the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Chapter of the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals (NASPP).
Ken's commitment to public service began at the local level. He has been a member of the Fairfield Republican Town Committee since 2021 and was elected by Fairfield residents to the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) in both 2021 and 2023. From 2023 to 2025, he served as Deputy Minority Leader, advocating for fiscal responsibility, government accountability, and policies that protect Fairfield taxpayers.
Throughout his time in Fairfield, Ken has been actively involved in the community. He served on the Board of Directors of the Southport Woods Condominium Association, including a term as President, has been a reader at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish since 2011, and has been a member of the Knights of Columbus since 2012. He also volunteers at the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site in Manhattan.
Ken earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Boston College and a Master of Business Administration from Babson College. He believes Connecticut families deserve a state government that is affordable, accountable, and focused on common-sense solutions to every day problems. As State Representative, Ken will work to lower the cost of living, support greater public safety, protect local decision-making, and create greater economic opportunity for residents and businesses throughout the State.
Municipal Candidate
Lukas Thomas - Candidate, Probate Judge of Fairfield
Lukas Thomas is a candidate for Judge of Probate in Fairfield. He is running to bring steady, principled, people-first leadership to a court that touches families during some of life's most difficult moments, from settling estates to guardianship and conservatorship matters.
Lukas is an attorney and principal at Owens, Schine, and Nicola, where he has built a reputation as a thoughtful, principled advocate who puts people first.
He also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Legal Studies at Naugatuck Valley Community College, sharing his passion for the law with the next generation, and as the hearing officer for the Town of Fairfield, a role that has sharpened his commitment to fairness and due process for every resident who comes before him.
Lukas's public service runs deep. He currently serves as chairman of Fairfield's Conservation Commission and Inland Wetlands Agency, where he works to protect the town's natural resources while balancing the needs of a growing community. That experience has taught him the value of listening carefully, weighing competing interests, and making decisions grounded in law and common sense, exactly the qualities Fairfield families deserve from their Probate Court. Lukas has been shaped by mentors who modeled what it means to serve with compassion and integrity, including the late Judge Dan Caruso, a trusted colleague at Owens, Schine, and Nicola whose example continues to guide his approach to the law.
He understands that behind every case is a family navigating grief, uncertainty, or transition, and he believes the Probate Court should meet them with efficiency, clarity, and genuine compassion.A longtime resident of Fairfield for more than twenty years, Lukas lives in town with his wife, Larissa, and their daughter, Connie. His family's roots in this community are a source of pride, and he is committed to serving the neighbors who have welcomed his family for two decades.Lukas Thomas is running for Judge of Probate because he believes Fairfield families deserve a judge who is experienced, fair, and deeply connected to the community he serves.