Andrew Rice stood outside Hamden’s Miller Memorial Library Monday evening as he made an “11th hour” push to garner roughly 1,000 more signatures from local Democrats in order to force U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro to face a primary election. Along the way, he received encouragement from some pros pective voters to keep running in November — even if he doesn’t make the Democratic primary ballot. Rice, a 37-year-old democratic socialist from Milford, is running to represent the Third Congressional District, a seat that has been held by DeLauro since 1991. Rice was in the final hours of his bid to petition onto the Aug. 11 Democratic primary ballot. In order to qualify, he needs to gather signatures from 2 percent of registered Democrats in the district — or around 3,386 names in total — by 4 p.m. Tuesday. By his own count Monday, Rice was still around 1,000 signatures away. “I was hopeful, and maybe that was naive,” Rice said. But he wasn’t ready to give up yet. Outside the 2901 Dixwell Ave. library, Rice paced the sidewalk holding a clipboard and stopping occasional library-goers to introduce himself and ask if they were registered Democrats. Rice posted a video on social media urging voters to come to the library, which a few did in the first hour of Monday evening’s petitioning. Rice got 20 signatures between 6:00 p.m and 8:00 p.m, “a very special 20,” he said. Rice began his primary petition after coming up just six votes short of qualifying for the primary ballot at the May 11 convention, where Democratic delegates voted 294-45 in support of endorsing DeLauro for a 19th two-year term in office. Rice wound up filing an official complaint about state Democrats’ nomination procedures; a panel of party insiders dismissed that complaint last week. Frank Romano of Guilford saw Rice’s Facebook post on Monday and drove 30 minutes to the Hamden library so he could sign Rice’s petition. He energetically shook Rice’s hand and told him he hoped he would run as an independent in the November general election, because he said he wants the “opportunity to vote for a change.”  Annika Fisher, another voter who drove out to sign Rice’s petition Monday, said she saw Rice as a “viable alternative” to DeLauro. Fisher noted that DeLauro — the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee — is 83 years old. After Fisher and Romano left the library, Rice started to tear up. “It’s a grueling process. It’s very dispiriting going up to people and hearing how much they hate the Democratic party,” he said, rubbing his eyes. “Sometimes you don’t know if you’re just a fool on a fool’s errand or if you’re actually making a change and inspiring anyone.”  Rice said he has “expended his life savings” on his campaign. He resigned from his job as a lab manager at the Yale Department of Immunology to run for Congress.  “I have to evaluate what I can financially handle,” before deciding whether to continue campaigning as an independent, Rice said. For now, “anytime someone does sign the petition it gives me a little more hope,” he said — and he still has “his convictions” and a progressive platform that he believes appeals to many Connecticut voters. Petitioning requires a “lot of footwork,” said campaign volunteer Courtney Bernet. As a lesson from his campaign, Rice said that if he were to somehow win the general election, “in two years, someone should be able to challenge me and not have to go through these same hurdles.” Rice shows off a few of his bracelets, one reading “Fun Fights Fascism,” and another, which a petition signatory gave him: “Be Stronger than Your Excuses.” Rice and one of his campaign volunteers, Courtney Bernet: “Andrew can read the room, especially with the things that actually seem to matter to, like, the average middle class person in Connecticut,” she said. The post In Primary Petition’s Final Hours, Rice Mulls Independent Run appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less