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Two New Haven residents, Karen DuBois-Walton and Erick Russell, announced their campaigns for state treasurer last week after current treasurer Shawn Wooden announced that he will not seek reelection.

DuBois-Walton is currently the executive director of New Haven’s Housing Authority and the chair of the State Board of Education. Russell is an attorney in the Public and Private Finance Department of the law firm Pullman & Comley. Both DuBois-Walton and Russell say they bring the expertise and passion necessary to manage Connecticut’s finances, including its debt, pension funds and other investments. 

“The state treasurer is the sole fiduciary to the state’s money, so upwards of $44 billion,” Russell told the News. “I think we’re really fortunate that we have two strong candidates coming out of New Haven.” 

DuBois-Walton: A History of Public Service

DuBois-Walton has long understood the value of public service — and of public finances. Her parents were both government employees and spent years investing in the state’s pension plan. They passed away early, when DuBois-Walton was 17, and never got to experience the benefits of their hard work. But DuBois-Walton said those pension plans paid for both her and her sister to go to college, and then graduate school. 

“I don’t want anybody to be coming up and investing in these with any kind of worry about whether it’s going to be there for them when they need it,” DuBois-Walton said. “That’s just hugely important to me, and part of why I think this role and real solid management of the pension fund is so important.” 

DuBois-Walton says her parents’ example also encouraged her to pursue a career as a public servant. 

After earning her doctorate, she spent five years working at the state’s Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and then five years with New Haven’s municipal government. She became chief administrative officer and then chief of staff under former Mayor John DeStefano Jr., an experience that she said prepared her for the state treasurer’s responsibilities: ensuring that departments run effectively, that there is adequate investment in pension plans and that the city’s capital borrowing and funding supported its operations. 

Since 2007, she has worked with Elm City Communities, the city’s housing authority, first as chief operating officer and then as executive director. The job, she says, has taught her to manage a team of 150 employees — more, she noted, than the state treasurer’s office — and to run asset-building and financial literacy programming, which she hopes to expand at the state level. She said she sees the state treasury as a way to “bring the kind of values that I hold, democratic values, to the state’s investment policy.” DuBois-Walton also ran for mayor in 2021, although she dropped out before the Democratic primary election.

“My goals would be to ensure that we have well managed investments that are going to be there for folks … that that money is growing in responsible ways and that the way we’re growing that money aligns with the values that we have as a community,” DuBois-Walton said. “So that we’re growing by investing in things that are also environmentally sound. Growing by investing in things that demonstrate good labor practice, good governance, living out equity values.” 

DuBois-Walton has already won the support of colleagues across the state, who cited her extensive background in municipal government and finances. 

“I think she has the skill sets that are necessary to be an effective treasurer,” Hartford City Treasurer Adam Cloud said. “I think her experience in not just investments, but in management, are critically important.” 

Democratic Town Chair Vincent Mauro Jr. added that DuBois-Walton has the personality and skills for the job. 

“She is uniquely qualified to see the big picture and focus in on the minute details,” Mauro told the News. “She’s been a staunch advocate her entire career for things that she’s passionate about. … I think she will hold companies accountable to their treatment of workers, to their investments.”

Russell: Responsible Investment, Closing Wealth Gaps

Erick Russell’s business acumen started young. His parents owned a small convenience store in New Haven, and he said he “grew up in that store,” standing on a milk crate so he could reach the cash register. 

Nowadays, as an attorney who represents municipalities and state agencies as they issue bonds, he has more experience with the intricacies of public finance. But he said those early experiences helped inform his decision to run for state treasurer — as did watching his parents sacrifice so that he could be the first in his family to graduate college, and then law school. 

Russell has worked at Pullman & Comley for almost 10 years, helping cities finance their investments in “critical infrastructure” like housing, transportation and child care facilities. He said he’s seen the impact his work has had on the community, and he hopes to bring that passion for public finance to the state treasurer’s position. 

“We’re not only making sure that we are fiscally stable and sound as a state, but that we are also doing this work in a socially responsible way,” he said. “I think a lot of it has to do with being innovative in this role, and showing leadership and ultimately making sure that we’re prioritizing how to change the financial condition of citizens in the state.”

He referenced current Treasurer Shawn Wooden’s recent work to offer baby bonds to low-income families, a program he said he wants to help bring to fruition. Especially in a state with as much wealth inequality as Connecticut, Russell sees closing the wealth gap as key to the treasurer’s position. 

Russell has also served as vice chair of the Connecticut Democratic Party, although he will be stepping down during his candidacy. He has already received the outspoken support of multiple Connecticut politicians, including Ward 26 Alder Darryl Brackeen Jr. 

“I am supporting Erick because he is the most qualified candidate running, he has proven integrity, and most importantly he understands the plight of the working class and centers the voices of the disenfranchised,” Brackeen wrote in an email to the News. “As an attorney he has the training and experience necessary to be our [state’s] next Treasurer.”

Russell and DuBois-Walton know each other, and both candidates said that they expect a friendly and respectful race. 

Dita Bhargava, from Greenwich, is also running for the Democratic nomination. The Democratic state convention will take place in May.