Steven R. Mullins is a Connecticut politician from West Haven. On July 26, 2011, he accepted the Republican nomination for Mayor of West Haven. He faces three term incumbent Democrat mayor John M. Picard. This is the second time Mullins has challenged Picard. In 2009 Picard won in a landslide against Mullins and City Councilwoman Nancy Rossi, a Democrat that ran for Mayor on the Better Future Party ticket.
In 2002, at the request of then-Governor John G. Rowland, Mullins was taped to complete Rowland's underticket as the Republican candidate for State Comptroller.
The Connecticut state comptroller is the state's fiscal guardian. The comptroller is also responsible for overseeing the state health plan for 188,000 state employees, retirees and their dependents.
Mullins faced two term incumbent Comptroller Nancy Wyman of Tolland.
In an Associated Press interview, Republican state chairman Chris DePino said "We think very highly of Steve. He's so much the future of our party. He's young, he's bright, he's African-American."
With no party opposition, Mullins was nominated by the state Republican convention in Bridgeport. In his acceptance speech, Mullins said that his nomination was the "embodiment of the American Dream."
At the age of 28, Mullins was and remains the youngest nominee for the position of comptroller Democrat or Republican in Connecticut history. He was also the first African American to seek the post since Gary Franks attempted in 1986. Franks was elected to represent the 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1990. Mullins was the only minority on the Republican ticket in 2002.
Before being elected comptoller in 1994, Wyman spent eight years in the state House where she served on the budget committee.
During the campaign, Mullins denounced former Democratic State Chairman Ned Coll for his comments during his invocation at the Democratic State Convention in Hartford. During the invocation, Coll referred to Rowland as a "snake" and a "glorified thug."
"The fiery rhetoric from Ned Coll at the Democratic State Convention lends nothing to useful political debate, let alone an invocation at a political event," Mullins said. "Nancy Wyman has yet to take a public stand against Coll's comments, and until she does, the public should believe that she condones such statements."
Mullins entered the campaign late, having only filed to run the same week of the Republican convention on July 12 and 13. According to the Hartford Courant, Mullins, a real estate manager by profession, attempted to campaign while holding a full-time job.
Two weeks before the November general election, Mullins married his fiancee, a registered nurse at a New Haven hospital. According to news reports, the wedding was planned before Mullins accepted Rowland's invitation.
Despite the landslide re-election victory of Rowland and his running mate, Lieutenant Governor M. Jodi Rell, over Democrat gubernitorial nominee and former state comptroller Bill Curry, Mullins lost to Wyman 61% to 38%. Libertarian candidate Leonard H. Rasch of Plymouth, Connecticut took 1% of the vote.
In 2004, Rowland resigned from office during a corruption investigation. Rell succeeded him as governor.
Mullins was no stranger to politics. At the age of 21, he ran for the state senate against two term New Haven state senator Toni N. Harp.
Mullins was elected to the West Haven Planning and Zoning Commission in 2005. He is also Justice of the Peace and until recently served as Chairman of the West Haven Drug and Alcohol Commission.
Mullins and his wife Gene have two children. A devout Roman Catholic, Mullins is a communicant of the Church of the Resurrection in West Haven.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]