Wildaliz Bermúdez

Democratic Candidate for State Representative, Connecticut’s 97th House District

Wildaliz Bermudez is an Afro-Puerto Rican mother, homeowner, and longtime public servant running for the open State Representative seat in New Haven’s 97th District, which covers Fair Haven, Fair Haven Heights, Quinnipiac Meadows, the Annex, and Morris Cove. She lives on Front Street in Fair Haven with her husband and daughter, and she is a proud Democrat.

Roots

Wildaliz was born in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, and moved north to Connecticut with her family as a young child. Her father, Pedro Bermudez, taught in the Hartford Public Schools,and her mother Carmen Bermudez, a paraeducator, believed their children’s futures could not be separated from the futures of every child in the city. When the family was enrolled as named plaintiffs in Sheff v. O’Neill, the landmark Connecticut school desegregation case, Wildaliz and her siblings Pedro and Eva became part of a decades-long fight that reshaped how the state thinks about equal access to public education. That experience taught her early that ordinary families can change state policy, and that public schools, public housing, and the conditions of everyday life are the ground on which equality is either built or denied.

Education

Wildaliz graduated from Hartford Public High School in 2000 and earned a Bachelor of Arts from Trinity College in Hartford in 2004. She completed her Master of Science in Environmental Science at Universidad Metropolitana in San Juan, deepening her ties to the island while building the technical foundation that now informs her work on housing, land use, and climate resilience in Connecticut’s cities and along its coast.

A Career in Public Service

Wildaliz first put her training to work in New Haven, organizing with the Connecticut Center for a New Economy on the coalition work that grew into New Haven Rising. She went on to serve as a Policy Analyst and Constituent Services Director where she stewarded a city-wide environmental task force, under two mayoral administrations in the City of Hartford, learning municipal government from the inside.

In 2015, she won a seat on the Hartford City Council with the endorsement of the Working Families Party. Over six years, including her tenure as Minority Leader, she led legislation to fund a work program to assist re-entry and homeless residents along with spearheading the universal representation program which collaborated directly with New Haven nonprofits, building a record as a council member who listened first and legislated with care.This garnered her to receive New Haven's Amistad Award in 2020 for her outstanding collaboration across municipalities. 

She left Council in 2021 to return to New Haven and join Leadership, Education and Athletics in Partnership (LEAP), where she served as the Deputy Development Director helping fundraise for afterschool youth sports and programming for New Haven children.  

Since 2022, Wildaliz has served as Executive Director of the City of New Haven Fair Rent Commission. Under her leadership, the Commission has dramatically expanded its caseload, its public visibility, and its reach into the neighborhoods most affected by housing-cost pressure, while operating as a fair and lawful forum for tenants and property owners alike. In 2024, she co-founded the Statewide Fair Rent Commissions Network and serves as its Co-Chair. What began as a handful of cities is now a coalition of more than 40 Connecticut municipalities working together to resolve tenant and landlord disputes. In 2024, Wildaliz received the New Haven Board of Alders Black and Hispanic Caucus Advocacy Award for her work in New Haven's Fair Rent Commission. 

Family and Community

Wildaliz and her husband, civil rights attorney Ken Krayeske, are raising their daughter in the New Haven Public Schools. She is bilingual in English and Spanish and remains closely connected to her family’s home in Yabucoa and to Puerto Rican and broader Latino communities across Connecticut. She has served on boards such as the Connecticut Center for Latino Progress and currently as a board member for the New Alliance Foundation out of New Haven. 

Why I’m Running

I have spent my entire career working collaboratively to improve our communities living conditions. My background as a legislator, researcher, environmentalist, and community organizer, provide me with a unique skill set for bringing neighbors together to problem solve and create lasting solutions that benefit all!    I want to continue making a difference alongside our New Haven state delegation, to bring in more funds to our New Haven community and meet the needs of our neighbors.