Amybeth Laroche, Republican candidate for 28th district state senator, moved to Newtown about 2½ years ago with her daughter and fiancé. Laroche’s daughter attends Sandy Hook Elementary School, where the candidate volunteers as a softball coach.

Laroche has been a member of Newtown’s Board of Finance for about a year, but she says that she has “always been interested in politics.” Laroche’s professional background is working on commercial contracts for a Connecticut-based company.

“Never did I ever think that I would have to step into the arena to help be the voice of the voters, but … nobody put me in here … God placed me in this position, and being somebody that doesn’t like to sit back and complain like a lot of people do, I decided to step up and run,” Laroche said.

Laroche noted Connecticut has had a Democratic supermajority for 40 years. In her work, she says, she has learned to read people and patterns and explained that people cannot do the same things over and over again and expect a different result.

“[That’s the] definition of insanity,” she said. “For people to complain, ‘Oh this state is terrible, we’re fourth in highest electricity cost.’ Well, how did we get there? We didn’t get there because the Republicans are the minority, we got there because of the majority.”

Laroche said Hartford needs a variety of voices to balance everything out. She said the state “is just in decay, and people are leaving.” Part of the reason why Laroche is running is to “give a voice to the voters.”

Laroche’s core values in her campaign are: local control, getting Hartford out of the towns, surveillance, overdevelopment, fiscal responsibility, and getting the majority age groups more involved in town boards and commissions. Laroche believes what happens on a local level should not be “dictated by Hartford,” and that the voters should have more of a say as to what happens in their towns.

Laroche thinks voters should be able to vote on things before they go to the Legislative Council or Board of Finance, and she said that if elected, she will e-mail her constituents and ask for their opinions on bills she will vote on.

“If the majority of the people say No, my answer is No. And if the answer is Yes, then the answer is Yes. And if I can tell that there’s some bias-ness or something, then I’ll pick another dataset of people. And it’s not going to be just Republicans, it’s going to be Independents, Democrats, and Republicans, and even unaffiliated. And all age groups, too, by the way,” Laroche explained to The Newtown Bee.

Laroche also wants to reevaluate surveillance. She shared a story about some teenagers knocking on her door in the middle of the night, yet with all the Flock cameras in Newtown, the culprits have not been caught yet. Phones are a choice, she said, but the cameras around towns cannot be turned off. While there are positives to the cameras, Laroche thinks the negatives outweigh them, and long-term solutions were not thought about.

On overdevelopment, Laroche noted she moved out of Shelton and moved to Newtown because of its “charm.

“I want to keep that charm in all of these towns. Fairfield is becoming a populated city, and it’s starting to encroach on our towns,” Laroche said. She cited concerns for the environment due to overdevelopment.

She also wants to find a way to get majority age groups more involved, noting that most people with young children cannot attend meetings at 7 pm during the middle of the week. She wants to try and schedule meetings so more people can attend, creating a multi-generational program.

If elected, Laroche wants to have more experts involved in processes rather than “trying to redo everything from scratch.” Laroche also said that everything in life has an itemized receipt, but taxes do not.

“You should know where every cent of [your taxes are] going for your local and your state,” Laroche said. She added that affordability and creating housing based on town needs are two other issues she wants to focus on. Going through everything, like the surveillance systems, with a “fine tooth comb” is something she wants to implement, too. She stressed that everything should be looked at before politicians agree to something.

When asked if she plans on doing anything differently than current State Senator Tony Hwang, she noted she has “big shoes to fill.”

“It would not only be an honor, but it would be a … privilege to be the state senator, especially for Newtown. There has not been a state senator from Newtown since 1850, or a woman,” Laroche said. While Hwang has experience she does not, she thinks her experience working with contracts and customers can help her be “more of a voice.” Laroche also believes the position is more than a “status symbol,” this job is about “saving lives” and “serving the people.”

Laroche explained that the affordability crisis is “like a spiderweb.” She said everything is “linked” and issues need to be fixed one thing at a time. Laroche also believes the state needs to “get [its] big boy pants up and start figuring [its] stuff out and stop relying on the federal government for everything.”

Laroche wants Newtown to know that she has worked hard for everything she has and despite being knocked down many times, she keeps getting up. She also said she is willing to admit to her mistakes and take accountability for them.

“Everybody knows me not as a Republican, but they know me as their neighbor,” Laroche said. “You need a cup of sugar, you need help, you have a flat tire? I’m going to help you.”

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Reporter Sam Cross can be reached at sam@thebee.com.