Laura Glesby Photo
Streicker (center right) with police union supporters.
The city’s police union waded into political waters with a rare election-year endorsement — throwing its weight behind Republican Congressional candidate Margaret Streicker, whom the union’s president praised for her unwavering support for officers amid nationwide protests against police brutality.
Local police union President Florencio Cotto announced Elm City Local’s endorsement at a presser held Monday night outside the New Haven Police Department headquarters at 1 Union Ave.
The local endorsement came alongside a similar show of support by the Connecticut Fraternal Order of Police, a statewide organization.
Streicker, a Republican, is running to represent the 3rd Congressional District, which includes all of the City of New Haven as well as suburbs in New Haven, Middlesex, and Fairfield Counties.
She is challenging longtime incumbent Democrat Rosa DeLauro, who has represented the district since 1991, and Green Party candidate Justin Paglino.
Streicker: “I will never call for defunding the police.”
On Monday night, Streicker and her police union supporters highlighted her loyalty to cops at a time when the Black Lives Matter movement has placed police violence — and the system of policing itself — under heightened scrutiny.
“While it’s highly uncommon for the New Haven Police Union to get involved in the political process, the executive board believes that Margaret visualizes the challenges that New Haven police officers encounter,” said Cotto.
The endorsement echoed comments Cotto recently made on social media when he criticized Mayor Justin Elicker, a Democrat, for a statement the mayor had issued condemning a Kentucky grand jury’s decision not to charge the officers who killed Breonna Taylor.
Florencio Cotto.
“The safety and security of our nation is at a turning point,” said John Krupinsky, the president of the Connecticut Fraternal Order of Police, on Monday night. “We need a law and order candidate.”
As she accepted the endorsements, Streicker pledged to support “the equipment, support, and money that [the police] need to keep their families safe and our families safe as well. That means more training, not less.”
While she noted that “we are all imperfect beings,” hinting at the police killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and other Black Americans who have gained national attention in recent months, Streicker called for national unity and support for the police.
“As we see the turmoil throughout the country with calls for defunding our police, violence against officers, chance of death to police, and even assassinations and attempted assassinations, it breaks my heart,” Streicker said.
“As your next congresswoman, I can tell you that I will never turn my back against the police… I will never call for the defunding of the police and I will not stand quietly by others who may.”
Streicker explicitly named her Democratic opponent Rosa DeLauro in her speech, suggesting that DeLauro “barely recognizes that it means something to put on the uniform.”
“Those like my opponent Rosa DeLauro and her radical left friends, like Ayanna Pressley — who she was campaigning with only yesterday — [and] the rest of ‘the squad,’ will find themselves on the wrong side of history,” said Streicker.
DeLauro’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment in time for this article. In a Sept. 23 Tweet issued soon after the Breonna Taylor grand jury decision, DeLauro wrote, “Breonna Taylor’s horrific killing and the lack of accountability represent a system that is failing so many Americans. Today’s news exemplifies why the Senate must pass the #JusticeInPolicing Act. There must be justice. We cannot back down.”
She is a co-sponsor of the Justice In Policing Act, a House bill that pledges “to hold law enforcement accountable for misconduct in court, improve transparency through data collection, and reform police training and policies. “
Streicker has issued other statements in support of the police this campaign season.
In one video posted to her campaign’s Facebook page, Streicker said she was “utterly disgusted” by the “rioting, the looting, and the mayhem currently engulfing our American cities,” referring to Black Lives Matter protests.
She promised to “amend the stimulus package to state that anyone caught engaging in these activities immediately loses any eligibility they might have for federally enhanced unemployment benefits.” The video received 202 likes on Facebook, as well as 37 shares.
In another Facebook post, she expressed support for the Blue Lives Matter countermovement, sharing a grayscale American flag image with a single blue stripe and condemning the shooting of L.A. Sheriff’s deputies.
Streicker said she has also received endorsements from police unions in West Haven, East Haven, North Haven, Ansonia, Derby, North Branford, and Madison.
Click on the Facebook Live video below to watch the full press conference.