While most 19-year-olds are figuring out their majors in college or applying for their first job, Hailey Desaulniers is following a different route by campaigning to become the next mayor of Windham.
Desaulniers has been surrounded by politics her entire life. She grew up sitting in the back of political meetings her father was a member of until the age of 16, when she joined the Windham Republican Town Committee and started working at Windham polling locations during elections.
Mike Desaulniers, Hailey’s father, has been a politician throughout her whole life. He serves as the Chair to the Windham Republican Town Committee and previously ran for mayor twice, as reported by WFSB.
Her mother is also involved in local politics and currently serves as the registrar of voters in the town of Windham.
Desaulniers is a 2024 E.O. Smith graduate who plans to pursue her Registered Nurse (RN) license at Three Rivers Community College this upcoming winter or spring.
Stepping onto this year’s election ballot, Desaulniers did not originally decide on running for the mayoral candidacy.
“I decided this was the year I was going to run for something; mayor wasn’t my original plan,” Desaulniers said. “In our meeting where we were putting names on the ballot, someone mentioned I would be a good fit. We talked about it and decided, you know, why not?”
Desaulniers said that Curtis Ehler, a Windham Town Council member, was the one who suggested she should be the party’s ballot pick.
Following Ehler’s comment, Desaulniers’s mother and the remainder of the committee supported the motion, according to Desaulniers. The only hesitation came from her father, Mike.
When starting her campaign, Desaulniers chose to focus on hyperlocal issues that affect residents. These issues include the closed footbridge needing structural repairs, dirt bike complaints and improving accessibility in the town, according to WFSB.
Her campaign slogan is “What Bugs You?” It’s meant to promote her openness to listening to residents’ concerns about the town, regardless of where they stand politically.
“I want everyone to feel comfortable coming to a [town council] meeting and speaking at a meeting without fear of judgment, retaliation, anger,” Desaulniers said. “I feel that everyone in Windham and Willimantic should be able to speak up about the town that they live in.”
Although first-time candidates often face intense pressure, Desaulniers said her experience has been quite the opposite.
“As much as there’s pressure on political candidates, I don’t feel that there’s a lot of pressure on me from, like, anyone, anyone close to me, anyone like the party and my family and friends, just because I am very young [and] it is my first campaign,” she said.
As a young candidate navigating the current political climate, Desaulniers has found some challenges with her first campaign.
“…A lot of people see Republican and assume the worst, and that’s just, that’s not how I present myself,” Desaulniers said. “I’m not running on MAGA…it’s been really hard trying to talk to people and get them to understand that I have my own opinions. I’m not running off of the old school Republican ideology.”
Despite the challenges of being labeled by her party affiliation, Desaulniers said her beliefs fall somewhere in the middle, aligning with both parties at times.
“…Politics is a spectrum of your party and I feel like most people are somewhere in the middle, but don’t realize it,” Desaulniers said. “I’m somewhere in the middle. I’m a registered Republican. I like to say I’m fiscally on the right and socially on the left.”
To connect with young voters, Desaulniers has started planning an introductory politics program that would involve local politicians explaining how to get involved in politics, provide insight on various offices and educate anyone interested in gaining a stronger understanding of local government.
This idea was fostered by Desaulniers, who plans to pilot the program. There is no official date set as the program seeks approval from the Windham Town Council and Republican Town Committee.
Desaulniers is running against incumbent Democratic Mayor Tom DeVivo this November, as reported by WFSB.
The election will be on Nov. 4. Early voting opens today, Oct. 13, and will be available for residents until Nov. 2.
More information on Desaulniers’s campaign can be found on her Facebook page.