The last time I saw Will Haskell was in 2017, and he was playfully but politely roasting me. He had just been appointed the director of personnel (DOP) of Hoya Snaxa, the campus bodega where we both worked while attending Georgetown University. Tradition called for the incoming DOP to lightheartedly tease the outgoing senior class, a tradition Haskell took quite seriously — but he clearly took no pleasure in taunting his friends and coworkers, even jovially. Every few sentences of banter, he’d interject a quick “I’m so sorry” or perhaps even a “You know I love you.” Even then, at 19 years old, he was a born politician.
On Tuesday, November 6, the now-22-year-old Haskell claimed Toni Boucher’s seat in the 26th district of Connecticut's state senate, where he was born and raised. Boucher, a conservative Republican, has been a member of the Connecticut state legislature since 1997 — nearly as long as her victorious young Democratic challenger has been alive. As noted by the Hartford Courant, the seat had been held by Republicans since the 1970s.
Haskell may be young, but even without this landmark win, his political résumé is impressive. He started his career at the Democratic National Committee, where he analyzed state legislation and, in his words, “fought to protect the right to vote.” He went on to dedicate himself to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign before interning for Congressman Jim Himes (D-CT) and Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) on Capitol Hill. He worked for the office of the public defender for the Norwalk, Connecticut, courthouse, helping low-income defendants navigate the criminal justice system after their arrests. And this past October, as The New York Times reported, Haskell was endorsed by none other than former president Barack Obama.
After a successful run in which his Georgetown roommate served as campaign manager, the newly appointed Connecticut state senator’s career looks as potentially groundbreaking as his campaign was. Teen Vogue jumped on the phone with Haskell as he drove from Connecticut to Boston to visit his girlfriend at Harvard Law School; we discussed the trials and tribulations of the campaign trail, one particularly brutal bipartisan softball game (sports are really not his thing), and what comes next.
Teen Vogue: One of your campaign slogans said that you’re new to politics, but there’s no minimum age for being on the right side of history. Do you feel like you were met with scrutiny over your age on the campaign trail? If so, why do you think that is, and how did you overcome that obstacle?
WH: I was really nervous about running for office at 22. I thought that I would have to explain away my age constantly and the voters would be skeptical about somebody who had just graduated from college running for office. What I found was that the eloquence of students in Parkland really paved the way for young voices to get involved.
While there was some skepticism, there was also a tremendous amount of excitement around the next generation stepping forward, stepping off of the sidelines and into the voting booth. There was an excitement about the fact that young people weren’t just going to be at the ballot, but on the ballot, and an eagerness to elect stakeholders in Connecticut’s future.
TV: Why did you decide to run right after graduating college? Why now?
WH: I had intended to go to law school, but I think like a lot of other people, I woke up the morning after President Donald Trump’s election and I felt like I had to get involved in the fight against his agenda. I believe that fight starts at the state and local level. I looked at who my voices were in government — not with the idea to run, but to simply make sure that I could be proud of my elected officials at every single level.
I came across my voice in the state senate [Toni Boucher], who really wasn’t voting in a way that I thought accurately represented the values of my hometown. When I began to ask around and offer my help in campaigning against her, I found out that, actually, no one was interested in running against her and that, very often, she runs effectively unchallenged. I think that’s bad for democracy, and an opportunity for my hometown to assert our values and our sense of identity in a really trying national moment, when so many of our fundamental beliefs are being challenged by the Trump administration.
TV: What was your reaction to being endorsed by President Obama?
WH: I was absolutely stunned to receive his endorsement. My campaign’s daily operations were entirely run by young people. It was so inspiring for me to see 15-, 16-, 17-, and 18-year-olds in our office every single day. I was often the oldest one in there, at 22.
One day, one of our interns said to me, “Do you think we could ever get President Obama’s endorsement?” And I said, “I love the passion that you guys bring to this race, but you have to remember we’re a down-ballot race. In the scheme of things, I don’t think President Obama will get involved in a state senate campaign.” But then the intern said, “Well, perhaps we could at least write a letter.” I said fine, and we sat down and sent something off.
A week later, I got a call saying that we were going to be endorsed. I think it speaks not so much to my candidacy, but to the enormous stakes for Connecticut in this last election: The state senate was tied, 18 Democrats, 18 Republicans. We had really reached a tipping point and a crossroads as a state.
Now I’m happy to say that the state senate is 24-12, as opposed to 18-18. There was a really resounding rejection of President Donald Trump’s approach to public service. I think that’s why President Obama chose to get involved — as a former state legislator, he knows the importance of what happens in state houses.
TV: The first issue on your platform is reducing gun violence. Can you speak a little to why gun reform is so crucial to you?
WH: The very first thing I did as a candidate was come home and go to the [local] March for Our Lives rally, and I asked people there to stop telling me to call my legislator and instead, help me replace them. Connecticut is still a state where you can buy a gun on the Internet in multiple parts and assemble it in your own home. We’re still a state where you can buy as many weapons as you want in one transaction. We have outdated concealed-carry laws that are begging to be updated, so there is so much more that Connecticut can do to prevent the next tragedy, and it really came to define this race.
I think if you asked most of the volunteers in our office why they were there, they’d tell you that they either didn’t feel safe in the classroom or had a pit in their stomach every time their kid got on the bus in the morning because they worried that we hadn’t done enough to prevent the next school shooting.
TV: Procuring equal rights for women was an integral part of your platform as well. How do you intend to go about fighting for women’s rights?
WH: Enforcing equal pay for equal work, finally passing paid family leave — that was a real priority of mine. Yes, I’m a white male Democratic candidate. But I was raised by a single working mom, and she had to go back to work two weeks after I was born. That’s true for nearly 25% of American moms, but it shouldn’t be. No person should be forced to choose between advancing in their careers and starting a family or caring for an ill parent. That message really resonated with so many folks in this district, who are simply frustrated that in 2018, we still haven’t built a society that can provide equal rights to men and women.
I toured [a Planned Parenthood] facility in Bridgeport [early in the campaign], and I’m really looking forward to partnering with them to protect reproductive health and freedom for all people in Connecticut.
With Judge [Brett] Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court and those Republicans in Congress seeming to lack any sort of a backbone on the issue, there [are] no checks and balances on President Trump’s White House and the federal government. That responsibility now falls to state legislators. In this state, reproductive health and freedom are not up for debate. We have to reform explanation of care, [enact] legislation to protect the privacy of minors; we need to make sure that contraceptive coverage is a guarantee.
TV: Did you ever experience a moment of doubt on the campaign trail?
WH: Dozens. There are a lot of doors slammed in your face when you’re knocking. There are a lot of wonderful, rewarding conversations, but there are also a lot of times when people just aren’t interested in your message. But that never caused me to take a break — it caused me to do the opposite. For every door slammed in my face, I felt like I had to knock on two more to make up for the votes. I’m really proud of how hard our team worked, but there were definitely some ups and downs.
TV: Do you have any funny stories from the campaign trail?
WH: I gave up white shirts pretty early on because people thought I was a Jehovah’s Witness. I guess I’m kind of the right age for it, too.
The arguably worst moment of my campaign was the annual Republican versus Democrat softball game in Wilton, Connecticut. Sports are really not my strong suit, and it was a really bruising defeat to the Democrats that I take a lot of responsibility for. But we won on Election Day, and that matters much more!
TV: You started considering this run when you were still just a teenager. What words of advice do you have for teenager who might want to run for office someday?
WH: First and foremost, one thing I’ve learned is that voters are looking for candidates who they can identify with and relate to. That is why we need more women, more people of color, and more young people to run for office. If you’re worried that you don’t look like everybody on the ballot, then that is a good thing! We need diversity, [and] you should be running. We need diverse voices in government!
Representative democracy should be representative. Every day, legislators in any state capitol and Washington are making decisions that are going to impact our communities for decades to come. Too often, they do so without the input of the next generation. As stakeholders of the future, we need to take a seat at the table because we have a role to play in shaping a future that we find fulfilling and acceptable.
TV: What’s next for you?
WH: I won 53% of the votes, which means there are 47% of voters in my district who did not vote for me. But I’m going to represent them, too, and on Friday, November 9, I started by going to a meeting in a town I lost, because I wanted to let them know that I would be their voice and I would be there for them. Even if they didn’t support me, I want to listen to them.
TV: Is a run for Congress in your future?
WH: I’m still recovering from this campaign! I think I’ve found what I love doing, and that’s meeting people, connecting with them, learning their stories, and then bringing those stories into government. But I also really want to go to law school, and I think I really want to be a public defender someday.
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