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If Gov. Ned Lamont wins a third term as governor, he could become the longest-serving governor since Jonathan Trumbull during the Revolutionary War.

But the chances of him outlasting John Winthrop “The Younger,” an early governor of the Connecticut Colony in the 1600s, are slim — it would require a fourth and fifth term (and an amendment to the state Constitution) before Lamont or anyone else could serve longer than Winthrop’s 18 years.

The Connecticut governor who served the shortest time was Hiram Bingham III, a remarkable figure who might have served as inspiration for the fictional Indiana Jones. Bingham was elected simultaneously as governor and to the U.S. Senate. He chose the Senate role, but to ease the transition for his lieutenant governor, Bingham was sworn in as governor of Connecticut on Jan. 7, 1925 (101 years ago Wednesday). He attended the parade and the inaugural ball, then, the next day, he resigned and left for Washington, D.C.

In modern times, the longest-serving Connecticut governor was William A. O’Neill, a Democrat who served for more than 10 years. O’Neill was sworn in on the last day of 1980 after Gov. Ella T. Grasso resigned. He was reelected twice and served until early 1991 after he decided not to seek a third full term.

As CT Mirror's Managing Editor Stephen helps manage and support a staff of 16 reporters.  His career in daily journalism includes 20 years at The Hartford Courant, where he served as a member of the editorial board, data editor, breaking news editor and bureau chief.  Prior to that Stephen was city editor at the Casper Star-Tribune in Casper, Wyo., and the editor of the Daily Press in Craig, Colo.  He has won many awards for editorial writing, data journalism and breaking news. While he was breaking news editor, The Courant was a named finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news for its coverage of the Sandy Hook shootings.  Busemeyer is a Koeppel Journalism Fellow at Wesleyan University, where he teaches data journalism, and he has also taught at the University of Hartford, the University of Connecticut and the University of Colorado.