Former Hartford City Council President Shawn Wooden won the Democratic endorsement for state treasurer Saturday, but will face off in a primary with fellow Hartford lawyer Arunan Arulampalam and former Wall Street trader Dita Bhargava of Greenwich.
Wooden won the endorsement on the second ballot with 58 percent of the vote to 42 percent for Arulampalam. Bhargava qualified for a primary on the first ballot, then withdrew to allow the delegates to make an endorsement on the second ballot.
“I am truly humbled by your support,” Wooden said. “Today you have made a statement. You have said that experience matters and values count.”
“As I stand on this stage, I can’t help but think about how unlikely my own journey has been,” said Wooden, who grew up just a few miles from the Hartford Convention Center, the youngest of six children. “After all, the odds of a kid from the North End of Hartford ending up in a casket are far greater than the odds of a kid standing on a stage like this on a night like this.”
“He will lead us with sound, smart, strategic financial experience in his head, with strong democratic values in his heart,” said John W. Olsen, a former state chairman who delivered one of the nominating speeches. “Those of you who know me know that I always give it to you straight, so here it is, as a friend of Shawn’s, someone who knows the type of experience he has with finances, I know without a shadow of a doubt that he is by far the most qualified candidate for state treasurer.”
Both Arulampalam and Bhargava secured their places in a primary by taking 32 percent and 21 percent of the first-ballot delegate vote, respectively — easily clearing the 15-percent threshold.
Greenwich Democrat John Blankley, former chief financial officer of BP North America, also had sought the nomination, but received just under 5 percent of the delegate vote on the first ballot.
“I feel very good, we’ve got a lot of momentum,” Arulampalam, a lawyer at Updike, Kelly & Spellacy who advises financial institutions on debt and equity issues, said after securing his place in the primary. “We’re surging.”
“I am just so much more in love with our state at this point,” said Bhargava, who addressed the convention after locking in her spot in the primary on the first ballot. “This is a year for diversity, for women. If there’s ever a year, this is it.”
Five-term incumbent Treasurer Denise L. Nappier, a Hartford Democrat, is not seeking re-election.