Former Newtown Councilor Eva Bermudez Zimmerman has been in the race for lieutenant governor for a week -- and although she's a relative newcomer to state politics, she's found herself a real contender.

She got 40 percent of the vote for the position at the state Democratic convention Saturday. She still has to face off with Susan Bysiewicz in an August primary, and she is dismissing concerns that Saturday's convention was just a protest vote against an all-white gubernatorial ticket.

"It'll be an opening for a conversation, but at the end of the day, a voter doesn't go and vote just because a person looks like them," she says.

If she does succeed in her quest to become lieutenant governor, she will be the first minority person to achieve that office in the state.

Some of her ideas include bolstering the state's broadband infrastructure.

"Why not bring in information and technology?" she says. "Why not have high-speed internet? Why not have, like Amherst, Massachusetts, Wi-Fi in our major cities as an attraction to entrepreneurs, to young people?"

She also has a background in union organizing, which she says could be a huge benefit for her campaign.