Bio

Keith Denning’s career has been one of service. He was a practicing Certified Registered Anesthetist for almost four decades. Beginning as a staff anesthetist, he rose to become Chief Anesthetist at two surgical hospitals and has served on the Connecticut State Board of Anesthetists.

Keith volunteered for global medical missions with Operation Smile. He’s worked with charities around healthcare and housing needs and helped to relocate refugees. In Wilton, where he lives with his wife Christine, he served on the Zoning Board of Appeals.

With a history of professional and community service, Keith will bring a fresh perspective to Hartford, where he’ll defend reproductive rights, lower healthcare costs, and ensure our communities have the seat at the table they deserve.

Full Candidate Interview

Op-Ed

In a democracy, the most important duty of a citizen is to exercise their right to vote. In this election, voters will choose between a Democrat who wants to live in a Connecticut that is looking for innovative solutions to decrease our energy costs, rebuild our infrastructure, protect reproductive choice, mitigate climate change and maintain the high quality of our healthcare and our schools; or a Republican whose party supported an insurrection, the overturn of Roe and spreads falsehoods about voter fraud. I am the candidate that offers a choice for new opportunity instead of fear.

Most people moved to Wilton, New Canaan and Ridgefield for the excellent schools, yet my challenger subverts our schools by telling lies that Democrats want to regionalize the school districts and that schools want to undermine parental authority. Parents partnering with educators give the best opportunity for children to thrive. Our schools are listed among the highest rated in the state with multiple opportunities for expanded learning opportunities. Would my challenger support parents who would ban books and curriculums that would broaden our children’s learning experience? I don’t want other parents choosing what my children may or may not learn while they are at school. Hands Off Our Schools should also include the radical right.

With Democratic leadership, Connecticut is paying down our pension debt, growing our rainy-day fund and we now have a triple-A bond rating. This year we gave the largest tax cut in Connecticut history. New companies are looking to Connecticut to hire our well-educated workforce and companies that are already here are expanding. ASML recently announced a $200 million expansion with over 1,000 new hires needed. Electric Boat is predicting the largest expansion of their company in decades. With those new jobs, we will need homes for these employees and we need to rebuild our infrastructure to sustain this growth. We will need a transportation system that allows people to move rapidly and reliably to and from work while mitigating the effect of long-term climate change.

Voters want new businesses to come to Connecticut and we must have affordable housing available for a workforce that wants to live close to where they work. Graduating students, single parents and people who wish to downsize but stay in the community all are looking for affordable solutions where they can live. My challenger has never admitted that housing is an issue. If we want an economic resurgence to continue and cut our property taxes we must find places for people to live on the income that these good middle-class jobs pay. We should work with developers who want to build high-quality diverse housing which would enable people to live and work in Connecticut.

Democrats get things done. Democrats alone have cut taxes, protected voter protection
laws, expanded family leave pay, and held strong in keeping guns off our streets. Democrats alone will protect reproductive freedom. The Republican Party in Connecticut voted against tax cuts, expanding police training, and improving gun safety laws, and they introduce new legislation every year to remove or restrict choice in reproductive care.

The choice we have this election is clear. Vote for a candidate and party that is working to improve your life or vote for a party who is willing to subvert elections, claim the U.S. Capitol was not stormed by an insurrection and was “legitimate political discourse” and who would take your Pro-Choice right away nationally as they have publicly claimed. As a Democrat, I belong to the party of fiscal responsibility, social freedom and willing to work to find new and innovative ways to make our lives better. On Nov. 8 I am asking for your vote. The choice is yours.

Video Clips — Interview Questions

Q1: What sets you apart from your opponent?

Editor’s note: the candidate’s answer to this first question was expansive, covering more detailed topics including local control, regionalization, 8-30g and more. The full answer is here, and also separated out in Q2 and Q3. The topics were also discussed later in the interview in other questions below.

Q2: Local control — schools and housing

Q3: 8-30g, affordable housing and 19 Cannon Rd.

Q4: What’s your approach to state economics?

Q5: Abortion, choice, local control and Maga Republicans

Q6: Local zoning control, housing and Wilton’s economic development

Q7: Diversity, equity and inclusion in CT Schools

Q8: Early voting, voter fraud

Q9: Negative campaigns, the debate ‘kerfuffle’ and collaborating with Republicans

Q10: Was there anti-catholic bias in a letter to the editor?

Q11: Abortion, religion and representing constituents

Q12: What should voters know about you before election day?