https://www.newstimes.com/local/article/Nicole-Hockley-Mark-Barden-considering-run-for-12821770.php
Nicole Hockley, Mark Barden considering run for Esty’s seat
Updated 1:24 pm, Tuesday, April 10, 2018
NEWTOWN - Two high-profile parents who lost first-grade boys in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre are exploring a run for Elizabeth’s Esty’s Congressional seat in November.
Mark Barden and Nicole Hockley, both co-founders and managing directors of the homegrown nonprofit Sandy Hook Promise, have been lobbied by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to consider representing the Fifth District, which covers greater Danbury and northwestern Connecticut.
“We already live very public lives but to be a public official is very different,” said Hockley on Tuesday after meeting with DCCC representatives. “That is why we are continuing to have these conversations with DCCC.”
Although it was not clear Tuesday when Hockley and Barden would reach a decision about whether to run for Esty’s seat, it is likely to be within the next two weeks.
If the decision is made to run, it would be one of the parents - not both, Hockley said.
“Mark and I are still best friends,” Hockley said. “One of us would support the other.”
Democrats and Republicans are looking at the Fifth District as a brand new race after Esty announced she would not seek a fourth term due to an office harassment and abuse scandal.
