The candidates for the 101st House seat representing the people of Madison and part of Durham are now officially set. On May 16, the Madison Town Democratic Town Committee and the Madison Republican Town Committee met to formally nominate their respective candidates: Noreen Kokoruda (R) and John-Michael Parker (D).

Kokoruda filed paperwork in January to seek a fifth term as the 101st General Assembly District state representative. A Madison resident for more than 30 years, Kokoruda is a former selectman who held leading roles on numerous other committees and commissions. As a representative, Kokoruda serves on the General Assembly’s committees on Children, Appropriations, and Education and is the Minority Caucus chair.

“I was so proud to have received the nomination to run for 101st house seat again,” she said. “As I said in my acceptance speech Wednesday night, it has truly been an honor to represent all the people of Madison and Durham. Over the last seven years I have never lost sight of who I represent and why I came to Hartford. Over the years I have spoken to hundreds and hundreds of constituents about their ideas, concerns and dreams. This campaign season will be an opportunity to continue that conversation.”

The legislature recently approved a bipartisan budget for the second year in a row and Kokoruda said she wants to stay in the legislature to be a voice for small towns and because she is finally starting to see some positive change.

“In 2011 when I arrived in Hartford I was surprised by so many things,” she said. “First and foremost the true fiscal picture of our state had been understated for years, secondly there was very few voices speaking out for our small towns, achievement gaps in education were accepted, and finally true bipartisan efforts were almost nonexistent. I have worked hard on these issues and more while serving as state representative. Each year since 2011 we have finally started to address these critical problems. My bipartisan approach to everything has served me well and has helped us move forward for all of Connecticut.”

On the same evening across town, the Democratic Town Committee nominated political newcomer John-Michael Parker. Parker is new to local politics, but not new to Madison. He graduated from Daniel Hand High School in 2006 and attended Yale University, where he graduated in 2010 with a degree in neurobiology. After college, he went to New York City where he worked as a middle school science teacher at The Dalton School.

While in teaching, Parker joined the founding team of a non-profit called The Future Project, an organization focused on empowering students to “build the future, one dream at a time,” according to a campaign release. There he worked as a “dream director” and was later promoted to vice president of development.

Parker moved back to Madison early this year and, after accepting the nomination, spoke “about the need to support economic development across the state in order to get our budget back on track; to fight for our fair share of funding—particularly through the Education Cost Sharing program—in order to relieve the squeeze on local municipal budgets; and to stand up for our seniors and working families” according to a press release.

According to the release, Parker’s campaign has raised more than $6,000 “with contributions from more than 150 residents of the two towns, thereby reaching the goals to qualify for the Citizens’ Election Program”. Madison Town Democratic Committee Chair Peggy Lyons said Parker is an intelligent individual well suited for this role.

“He will be an excellent new voice for Madison residents in Hartford and knows our community well,” she said in the release. “As an alumni of the Madison public schools and Yale University, he is very in-tune with the challenges we face as a shoreline community. He understands the delicate balance between offering a high quality of life to all Madison’s residents, while also preserving a reasonable cost of living. As an innovator in education and former teacher, he also believes in the importance of our educational institutions and the challenges we face to maintain their level of excellence.”