WILTON — It seems every time there is a presidential election State Rep. Toni Boucher (R-143) a Democrat pops up to challenge her.
It's no different this year as Peggy Reeves announced Monday, March 24, she is seeking the Democratic nomination to try and unseat Boucher.
Boucher welcomed the latest challenge.
"This is going to be exciting and I'm very honored to have an opponent," said Boucher Monday. She said the campaign will help encourage Wiltonians to vote including residents new to the town.
Boucher said she has been a strong defender for the district in Hartford including taking on a Republican governor to keep the Danbury train open.
"Soon after I was elected (in 1996 then Gov. John Rowland) wanted to close down the Danbury Line and replace it with buses. I was successful in stopping that," said Boucher Monday.
She said she has consistently worked to back improvements in the train service for Wilton at the state level including getting 40 more parking spaces at the Wilton train station and improvements at the Cannondale train station which will see running water and bathroom facilities installed. She is also working on having improvements at the Wilton train station by having it re-open.
Al Alper, chair of Wilton's Republican Town Committee is confident she will retain the seat for the Republicans.
"Toni is an extremely well liked, and a very, very diligent advocate for Wilton. I can't imagine she wouldn't carry the day," said Alper.
He took a swipe at the Democrats by saying they were the party which wanted to increase taxes while, Boucher and her fellow Republicans held the line on tax increases.
He also criticized Reeves for what he called her partisan comments in her Monday announcement. Reeves said she wanted to be a non-partisan voice for Wilton residents in Hartford and would speak for all Wiltonians regardless of what party they supported.
Boucher is currently serving her sixth, two-year term in office after first winning in 1996.
It's going to be an uphill struggle for Reeves as the district is a Republican stronghold, so much so that no one ran for the Democrats in 2006 or 2002.
Boucher faced lawyer Paul Burnham in 2004 and trounced him by 2,662 votes (7,120 to 4,458).
Wilton is a rock of support for Boucher as she slightly more than doubled Burnham's vote (4,840 to 2,375) and even enjoyed an edge in the Norwalk section as she collected 2,280 votes to Burnham's 2,083.
No Democrats ran against her in 2002.
In 2000, Boucher was also unopposed but that was under the district's previous boundaries when it included a portion of New Canaan and nothing in Norwalk.
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