I first met Aundre Bumgardner almost a dozen years ago, when he impressed me as a hardworking young man, a committed volunteer for Republican Rob Pero’s unsuccessful bid to become New London’s first full-time mayor.

I was glad to see a young man so interested in politics and the ideas of what good government can do for communities.

Pero lost that race for mayor, but Bumgardner, applying all his ambitions and interest in politics, got into the game himself, running a hard-fought campaign as a Republican to unseat a Democratic stalwart in the 41st District, becoming the youngest person ever elected to the House, at the age of 20.

Among the harshest attacks I’ve heard lately against Bumgardner, in a bid this year to reclaim his seat in the 41st, is that he is too much a politician. Indeed, in running for office and dedicating so much time in his youthful service as a Groton town councilor, this young man seems to have delayed and sacrificed other career and education opportunities for public service that he clearly feels passionate about.

I’m not sure why voters should hold that against him, given a clear record that has earned him endorsements for his dedication to important social and conservation issues in the town and state, including his work to stop unpopular tax-discounted, polluting data centers in Groton, which were supported by many Groton establishment Republicans and Democrats.

Bumgardner switched parties in 2018 after comments by former President Donald Trump in support of the white supremacists who rallied in Charlottesville. He called out national and local Republicans for complicity in their silence.

His comments about Trump’s racism led to harsh criticism from Groton Republican Chairman John Scott, who is now the treasurer for the campaign of Bumgardner’s Republican opponent, Robert Boris, also endorsed by the Independent Party.

In his newest mailer, Boris launches, in a section highlighted in yellow, a series of attacks against Bumgardner, most of them absurd, including one asserting that Bumgardner supported the development of Mystic Oral School by a criminal.

Indeed, Bumgardner, as Boris says, was part of a unanimous vote by Democratic councilors initially in support of the project, before the developer’s criminal past became public. But he was among a minority that subsequently tried hard to stop it, out voted most recently by a majority of councilors who, incredibly, refused to even vote to ask the governor to stop the sale of the school.

Boris told me in an email that the criticisms of Bumgardner were not “attacks” but rather part of a “process to provide information to voters.”

Some in the Democratic party are as hostile to Bumgardner as Republicans. Chairman Scott recently unearthed an old police report this election season, disclosing that Democratic councilor Rachel Franco actually went to police to complain that her colleague tried to talk to her during a recess.

The most visual example of the bad blood among Groton Democrats is a recent video that has been appearing locally on social media. It shows Bumgardner and Groton Mayor Keith Hedrick jostling at a press availability for Sen. Richard Blumenthal,  with the mayor’s elbow making a big thrust Bumgardner’s way.

One bright spot in the race in the 41st has been the emergence of a political newcomer, Jake Dunigan, who has been a thoughtful and gracious campaigner, as an unaffiliated candidate.

I hope to have a chance to consider him as a choice in the future, when he is not running against someone who has worked so hard and with such optimistic dedication to listen to his constituents, fight an establishment often pledged to insiders’ interests and improve the quality of life and the environment in his community.

This is the opinion of David Collins

d.collins@theday.com