State Representative Sean Scanlon (D-98) accepted his party’s nomination on May 17 to run for a second term as the state representative for Guilford and part of Branford in the Connecticut General Assembly.

Scanlon, who was first elected in 2014, is currently running uncontested after the Republican caucus failed to put forward a candidate. Despite the absence of an opponent, Scanlon said he will still work hard to earn residents’ votes.

“I’ll be out there this summer and fall knocking on doors and going to events just like I did last time,” he said. “The most important part of this job is to listen to the concerns of my district and try and do something about it, and I will always do that, opponent or no opponent, election year or no election year.”

In Hartford, Scanlon sits on the Public Health, Transportation, and Environment committees. This year he worked to pass a bill addressing the current opioid crisis that he’s seen affecting shoreline towns.

“When I ran for office in 2014, I told people I didn’t want to go to Hartford just to fight Republicans, but rather to try and work with them and get things done,” he said. “We will never agree on everything, but when you take a serious issue facing the state like the heroin and prescription drug epidemic that today kills more people than car accidents and you work to find common ground as I did in writing and passing a huge bill this year, we can actually accomplish things on behalf of our constituents instead of just trying to prove our respective points.”

In his next term, Scanlon said he will continue to work on issues related to health care, but also hopes to take a closer look at improving Connecticut’s declining infrastructure.

“As a member of the Transportation Committee, I’m hopeful we can address our infrastructure,” he said. “Our roads and bridges are in bad shape and we on the shoreline know better than anyone that traffic is out of control. Fixing these problems will require money, but, in my opinion, our decaying infrastructure is costing us money, so it’s in our best interest to address this and I’m hopeful we will do that next session.”

After a trying budget cycle, Scanlon said he knows there are challenges ahead, but is optimistic about what can be accomplished next session.

“Our state faces big challenges when it comes to things like the budget and our transportation infrastructure, but, at the end of the day, this is a great state and one that I believe has a very bright future,” he said. “My hope is that, if re-elected, I can work with my colleagues to resolve some of the big challenges we face and more importantly begin the conversation about how we are going to create Connecticut’s next chapter.”