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This evening's author talk will feature Connecticut State Senator Will Haskell with moderator Tarini Krishna.
Krishna was an all-star intern on Senator Haskell’s 2020 campaign, spearheading policy research and debate preparation. She is a graduate of Ridgefield High School and is currently an English Major in her third year at Barnard College. She previously served as a Student Representative on Connecticut's Board of Education.
The book, 100,000 Bosses tells the story of how Connecticut State Senator Will Haskell ran a remarkable campaign in his early twenties and had a shocking upset victory giving him the democratic seat in the Connecticut State Senate and the responsibility to serve the 100,000 constituents in his district. Having earned an endorsement from President Obama, he was determined to pave the way for his peers to transform government from the bottom up.
This underdog story of Will Haskell who became a Democratic State Senator in 2018 at age twenty-two is inspiring. Haskell took on an incumbent who had been undefeated for Haskell's entire life. With opposing views his incumbent held of not passing paid family leave, fighting increases in the minimum wage, and voting down expansions of voting rights, Haskell began to forge his own way.
When Haskell kicks off his campaign in the the spring of his senior year, he is as an unknown college kid facing a popular incumbent. Haskell's campaign manager is his roommate and his treasurer is his girlfriend's mom. He doesn't have the professional experience, but he does have a powerful message: there is no minimum age to being on the right side of history..
Six months later, Haskell's shocking upset victory gives him a seat in the State Senate and the responsibility to serve the 100,000 constituents in his district. Like any first job his first term as a legislator was filled with trial and error. However, in the tradition of Pete Buttigieg's Shortest Way Home and Greta Thunberg's No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, 100,000 First Bosses is the story of how one twentysomething candidate waged the campaign of his life, and proved that his generation is ready to claim a seat at the table.
Will Haskell's Bio
In 2018, Will Haskell was elected to represent his hometown in the Connecticut State Senate. Just a few months after graduating from college he unseated a Republican incumbent who had been in office longer than he had been alive. Activating an army of young volunteers who were energized to fight to end gun violence, they flipped the district Blue. In the CT State Senate, Haskell serves as Chair of the Transportation Committee and Vice Chair of the Government Administration and Elections Committee. He spent his first term focusing on college affordability, transportation improvements, and voting rights. In 2019, he helped create Connecticut's first free community college program, so that every high school graduate has an opportunity to pursue a degree. He lives in Westport, CT and is still dating his table partner from high school physics. 100.000 First Bosses is his first book.
Books will be available for sale and for signing thanks to Books on the Common.
A recording of this program will be available to view online at a later date on the Ridgefield Library's YouTube channel.
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