A widow’s story: “Strange and thin-skinned” Tony Hwang did not speak to my husband Bill Gerber for the last 15 months of his life.

Jessica Gerber, widow of Fairfield’s late first selectman, Bill Gerber, has had enough of Tony Hwang, the Republican state senator who forced February 2nd’s special election. Hwang is the Republican nominee whose candidacy has been dogged by unhappy Republicans maintaining an odd silence or trying to hole his campaign below the waterline.

Jessica Gerber provided a devastating indictment of Hwang’s treatment of her late husband in the last 15 months of his life. Hwang refused to speak to Gerber because the Democrat endorsed Fairfield Democrat Rob Blanchard in his 2024 campaign for the seat Hwang holds. Democrats endorse other Democrats all the time, especially when they are friends. Hwang took considerable offense at the endorsement and, according to Jessica Gerber, stopped speaking to Bill Gerber for the rest of his life. The rest of his life—15 months.

The St. Baldrick’s event referred to in her statement is the fundraiser the Gerbers sponsored to raise money for pediatric cancer. The Gerbers’ son Teddy, died of cancer in 2010. Bill Gerber died two weeks after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor last year.

Jessica Gerber’s statement:

After we lost Bill six months ago, I took some comfort in knowing our town was left in Christine’s capable hands. I certainly did not think we needed a special election. But with that day now less than three weeks away, I want to clarify some things:

Bill and Tony Hwang were friendly, but not friends. Tony came to our St. Baldrick’s event for a number of years—some years he signed up as a shavee; other years he simply came and posed for pictures. Some years he raised money; other years, not so much.

In May 2024, Tony stopped talking to Bill after Bill publicly endorsed Rob Blanchard, Tony’s opponent in that year’s State Senate race. Rob was a friend who had worked on Bill’s First Selectman campaign. Rob even helped out during his honeymoon in Italy. Bill had never made any assurance, nor implied, that he would endorse Tony. After sending a couple of angry emails, Tony refused to talk to, acknowledge, or engage with Bill—despite the fact that they often saw one another multiple times a week.

Bill wasn’t personally upset by this strange and thin-skinned behavior; he was bemused. But what he did find noteworthy was that, because of a perceived personal slight, Fairfield’s State Senator refused to speak with Fairfield’s First Selectman for 15 months. I imagine this might have continued as long as Bill was in office. How can a State Senator truly be doing their job if they refuse to work with the leader of the largest town they represent?

This is especially concerning given the many issues they could have discussed and collaborated on during that time—the UI monopoles, the Housing Bill, and the potential Aquarion sale, to name just a few. Tony’s claims that he is the best person to run Fairfield don’t align with his past behavior, when he neglected to do the job Fairfield voters entrusted to him as their State Senator.

Recently, Tony recycled a four-year-old campaign video of his, this time with a new voiceover referencing the First Selectperson race. It opens with Tony dramatically staring at the camera and intoning, “This is not about me.” Considering his past behavior—and the personal experiences others have shared, including a high-ranking member of his own party who worked closely with him—those words ring hollow. So do his claims that he is running to “heal” and “unite” Fairfield following its First Selectman’s passing, while invoking the tragic loss of a man he refused to speak to for more than a year, and whose name he still won’t even utter in campaign videos.

I have already spoken about why I believe First Selectperson Christine Vitale should continue to lead the town of Fairfield. I hope that sharing this personal story provides important context as to why I believe that Tony Hwang should not.

Published January 19, 2026.