Manny Santos, a former Marine and the state Republican party’s endorsed choice to break the Democratic deadlock on Connecticut’s representation in Congress, hopes to win Rep. Elizabeth Esty’s seat with a traditional GOP message of lower taxes and fewer regulations. But he first has to beat other Republicans who want the party’s nomination instead.
2018 campaign
Posted inPolitics
In this neighborhood, at least, no one says no to Joe Ganim
On a brick sidewalk along Park Street in Hartford, Henry Jemison was railing about the stupidity of corrupt politicians, potentially an awkward encounter for Bridgeport Mayor Joseph P. Ganim. But no, Jemison was talking about Eddie A. Perez, who never went to prison. And not Ganim, who did. Now, Ganim was asking Henry Jemison to help him run for governor,to give him one of 15,458 signatures he needs to get on the ballot.
Posted inPolitics
Connecticut’s lieutenant governor primaries confront gender, generation and race
The office is derided as the spare part of government, a job with few duties other than being available should the boss fall ill or worse. But primaries for lieutenant governor in Connecticut are asking Democrats and Republicans to think about their openness and appeal to millennials and minorities in a decidedly unsettled election cycle.
Posted inPolitics
Manny Sanchez won’t wage Democratic primary in CT-5
Manny Sanchez, the third-place finisher at the Democratic convention in the 5th Congressional District, said Wednesday he will not pursue the nomination for the open seat in a primary with Mary Glassman and Jahana Hayes.
Posted inJustice
Newtown group asks Ryan for action as gun control heats up as campaign issue
The Newtown Action Alliance, a gun-control group formed after the Sandy Hook shooting of December, has demanded House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., allow votes on dozens of gun control bills that run the gamut from an assault weapons ban to establishing federal funding research on gun violence.
Posted inPolitics
Lamont wins, while Ganim fails to qualify for primary
Democrats endorsed Ned Lamont for governor Saturday, putting their stock in a wealthy Greenwich businessman who became a national figure in 2006 with his antiwar challenge of U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman. They rejected an 11th-hour plea by Bridgeport Mayor Joseph P. Ganim to overlook his criminal record and place him on the primary ballot. But they offered only lukewarm support to Lamont’s running mate, Susan Bysiewicz.
Posted inNews
Murphy tells Democrats to fight Trump, not each other
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy accepted the Democratic nomination for a second term Friday with a speech framing the 2018 election up and down the ballot as an existential battle for control of Hartford and Washington with a Republican Party that has lost its compass with President Donald Trump at the helm.
Posted inPolitics
A collision of insider politics, open primaries and race
At the chaotic conclusion of a congressional nominating convention, teacher Jahana Hayes briefly had at least 171 votes, the minimum necessary to win. Young spectators, some of them Hayes’s former students getting their first peek at politics, wildly cheered Connecticut’s endorsement of a black woman for Congress. It turned into something else, with angry questions from the NAACP, complaints about the role of a U.S. senator — and just a whiff of a voting irregularity.
Posted inPolitics
Ganim the last to oppose Lamont at convention
Intrigue over down-ballot races for lieutenant governor, treasurer and attorney general are expected to dominate this weekend’s Democratic convention as an unopposed U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy is nominated by acclamation for a second term Friday night and Ned Lamont is poised to win the endorsement for governor on a single ballot Saturday.
Posted inPolitics
Jahana Hayes, Art Linares to run in primaries
Two candidates who narrowly lost convention endorsements for Congress and state treasurer, Democrat Jahana Hayes and Republican Art Linares, said Thursday they will seek their parties’ nominations in primaries in August. Hayes is a candidate for Congress; Linares for state treasurer.
Posted inPolitics
Floor challenge promised to Bysiewicz as Lamont’s L.G.
Eva Bermudez Zimmerman, who had a conversation with gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont about the possibility of becoming the Connecticut Democrats’ first Hispanic statewide nominee as his running mate before he picked Susan Bysiewicz, said Wednesday night she will seek the nomination for lieutenant governor Saturday.
Posted inNews
Oz & Monte, independents searching for an audience
The candidate is named Oz, so the tornado warning Tuesday might have been a nice touch, a metaphor for a campaign intent on disruption. But it turns out that dire forecasts, downpours and lightning don’t do much to draw a crowd for an independent gubernatorial campaign, even one with an open bar, free appetizers and live music.
Posted inPolitics
As LG candidate, Bysiewicz’ public-financing bid is complicated
Susan Bysiewicz’ shift Tuesday from a Democratic gubernatorial candidate to Ned Lamont’s running mate creates a significant complication in her quest for public financing of her campaign: The money she raised for governor cannot be easily switched to a bid for lieutenant governor.
Posted inPolitics
Lamont-Bysiewicz: ‘United, we have the best chance’
NEW HAVEN — Ned Lamont and Susan Bysiewicz glossed over scrapes and differences, the way political rivals do when they suddenly pivot, ending their competition for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. The task now is to frame themselves as capable of offering a fresh take on governing to a state deeply unhappy with its Democratic governor.
Posted inPolitics
Mary Glassman edges Jahana Hayes for CT-5 endorsement
WATERBURY — On a wild series of vote switches Monday night, former First Selectman Mary Glassman of Simsbury edged Jahana Hayes, the charismatic newcomer encouraged to run by U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, to win the Democratic endorsement for Congress in Connecticut’s most competitive district, the 5th.
