Justin Farmer has spent his whole life turning hard lessons into collective power.

He grew up in New Haven, where he learned early how unforgiving systems can be. Two of his brothers were incarcerated and deported to Jamaica—a wrenching education in how the criminal legal system dehumanizes Black men and tears families apart. In high school, Justin was diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome. When seizure-like episodes forced him out of high school for nearly a year, no one handed him the care he needed; he and the people around him had to fight for the accommodations that finally enabled him to graduate.

That fight taught him something that has shaped everything since: advocating for yourself isn't enough when the struggle is systemic. So Justin turned outward—to disability support groups, to union organizing, and, at just 25, to elected office as Hamden's Fifth District Councilman.

Six years later, he has become one of the most effective grassroots organizers in the state, building some of the strongest people-powered campaigns Connecticut has seen. He brings his lived experience into every fight, challenging a politics that still clings to the medical model of disability—one that blames people for being under-resourced and exploited rather than confronting the systems that fail them.

Inspired by leaders like Jumaane Williams, Public Advocate for the City of New York, Justin is running to do more than represent his community. He's running to build power for the next generation to lead. And after nearly a decade in the work, as we face our gravest political challenges yet, he's more energized than ever.