Submitted by Alexandra Penny, Partner of Uranium Markets based in Greenwich
To the Editor:
I’m writing to endorse Joe Kelly for State Senate, and I want to do it not as a political ally, but as someone who has spent over a decade in the trenches with him in business.
Joe was my boss for five years before he became my business partner. In 2014, we decided to venture out on our own and start Uranium Markets LLC. If you remember 2014, you’ll remember it was about the worst possible time to bet on nuclear power. Fukushima was still fresh in people’s minds, and the world was turning its back on the industry. Starting a business built around the uranium market looked less like an opportunity and more like a mistake.
Joe didn’t see it that way. He was convicted that nuclear power was the way forward, and he was determined to build something real in a market nobody else wanted to touch. There was no liquidity, no transparency, and frankly, not much interest. Joe went to work anyway — grinding, negotiating, and slowly building trust with clients who had no reason to give it to industry newcomers with an unpopular thesis. Twelve-plus years later, that business is still standing, and still succeeding, because Joe refused to quit on it.
That’s who Joe Kelly is. He’s a hustler and a grinder. He doesn’t back down once he believes in something, and he doesn’t stop until the mission is accomplished. I don’t agree with Joe on every political issue — not even close. But he is, honestly, the person across the aisle I most enjoy talking to, because he’ll listen, he’ll engage seriously, and he’ll push back with substance instead of noise. You won’t change his mind by being loud. You might change it by being right.
Connecticut doesn’t need another senator who tells people what they want to hear. It needs someone who will fight hard for the causes he believes in, and who treats the people on the other side of the table — or the aisle — with enough respect to actually hear them out.
I’ve spent twelve years watching Joe Kelly do exactly that. He’s the kind of person you want in your court. You do not want him against you.
I hope you’ll join me in supporting Joe Kelly for State Senate.
Alexandra Penny,
Partner of Uranium Markets based in Greenwich