Former Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy easily captured the Democratic endorsement for governor at the state party convention Saturday morning in Hartford winning roughly two thirds of party support. This sets up a hotly contested primary by well-financed challenger Ned Lamont.
Bridgeport, led by Town Chair Mario Testa, cast all 74 delegates for Lamont. City pols are betting Lamont’s money will catapult him to a primary win and then the governor’s office in November. Malloy received votes from 1,232 delegates to Lamont’s 580. Malloy is expected to receive his first infusion of public financing, $1.2 million, within the next week. From here it will be a 10-week spending blast by both sides to the August primary. The endorsement will provide Malloy a nice free-media lift against his better-known opponent.
Following a bizarre week in which the state Supremes ruled Susan Bysiewicz unqualified to serve as attorney general, former Majority Leader George Jepsen received the Dem AG endorsement by acclamation.
From Malloy:
MALLOY WINS DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION BY WIDE MARGIN
May 22, 2010 – The Connecticut Democratic Party today overwhelmingly endorsed former Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy as the chosen candidate for Governor in 2010. Malloy won the Party’s endorsement by more than a 2-to-1 margin; one of the largest margins in a recent gubernatorial primary history.
“It’s an honor to have the support of so many hard-working Democrats,” said Malloy. “Together, we’re prepared to put Connecticut back to work, to fix what’s broken in state government and to bring real and lasting change this November. Change that’s based on a Democratic belief in the power of good government. A belief that government can be fiscally responsible and improve the quality of life for all Connecticut residents.”
As the Mayor of Stamford for 14 years, Malloy helped the city grow nearly 5,000 jobs, lowered crime by 63 percent to make Stamford one of the safest cities in the country, built more affordable housing than any municipality in Connecticut, expanded access to health care, and instituted the state’s first universal pre-Kindergarten program.
“As I’ve traveled the state over the past year, I’ve found a common feeling among the people I’ve met with,” continued Malloy. “They share a sense that we can do better. A sense that we must do better. A sense that with the right kind of leadership – we will do better. I’m confident that my experience has left me well prepared to be that leader. I’ve turned government around before, and I’m prepared to do it again.”
As a candidate for Governor, Malloy has traveled the state in recent months sharing his ideas for moving Connecticut forward. To date, his campaign has been endorsed by 52 Democratic Town Committees, 51 DTC Chairs, more than 100 elected officials and community leaders, and numerous labor organizations which combined represent tens of thousands of active and retired workers throughout the state. The campaign also has the support of more than 4,000 individual contributors who helped Malloy become the first gubernatorial candidate to qualify for the Citizens’ Elections Program, giving him access to up to $8.5M for his campaign.
From Ned Lamont:
Lamont Congratulates Malloy on State Party Endorsement
Hartford, CT – Businessman and Democratic candidate for governor Ned Lamont released the following statement congratulating Dan Malloy on his Democratic party endorsement at the state convention:
“I want to congratulate Dan on his showing today at the state convention, and on his endorsement by the state party. I also want to thank my supporters for the energy and enthusiasm they brought to Hartford today. But the message today was clear: Connecticut voters are going to choose their nominee in August, and they’ll choose their next governor in November. I look forward to continuing to talk directly to voters about my plan to create jobs and move Connecticut forward,” said Lamont.
Lamont won 32% of the delegate vote today, more than doubling the amount of delegate support needed to qualify for a spot on the Democratic primary ballot in August.
From Tom Foley:
Tom Foley’s Statement on Winning the Republican Nominating Convention
Stamford, Conn., — Today Connecticut Republican Convention delegates nominated Tom Foley as their candidate for governor.
In response to being endorsed Tom released the following statement:
“I am honored to have earned the support of the Connecticut Republican Party. I am confident that my vision of a thriving Connecticut, with good jobs and growth opportunities, is shared with voters statewide and will lead to victory in November. I look forward to working with the other endorsed Republicans to increase our numbers in state government, and achieve our shared vision for a brighter tomorrow.”
Good for Malloy. Why am I not surprised all 74 Bridgeport delegates voted for Lamont? Not one single delegate would recognize the great job Dan Malloy has done for Stamford as its mayor. Lennie, you think there were marching orders? Good luck Dan!
I’m thinking what Jim Himes is thinking. Does Himes support the endorsed candidate (Malloy) or the primary challenger backed by all the Bridgeport delegates? Will all delegates support Lamont in a primary? I hear some Bridgeport delegates calling Malloy: Hey Dan, sorry about that, I said I will support the party-endorsed candidate.
I understand mayor Finch, you gotta do what Mario says.
Hey Joel, you mind if the Lamont campaign uses your endorsement in their materials?
“Not one single Delegate would recognize the great job Dan Malloy has done for Stamford as its mayor.”
Maybe they just think Bridgeport is likely to continue as the bastard stepchild when it comes to state development aid to Stamford if Malloy were to become Governor.
Ned Lamont 2010!
Spent the last 2 days as a delegate to the Democratic State Convention. I am so thrilled all the candidates I supported will be the official endorsed Democratic slate. Congratulations to our next Governor Dan Malloy, Lieutenant Nancy Wyman, Attorney General George Jepson, Secretary of State Denise Merrill, Comptroller Kevin Lembo and Treasurer Denise Nappier.
I picked everyone … Bridgeport didn’t have a winner in the bunch (well, a few winners were allotted a few votes). I guess I am glad to live in Monroe where every delegate gets to pick their own candidate. Talk about making sausage! It really is unpleasant.
Is this a testament to MCAT being right in line with the mainstream Dems in the state or a testament to her ability to pick the winners at the 11th hour?
By the way since George Jepsen and Denise Nappier won by acclamation EVERYBODY picked those right.
And Kevin Lembo??? That is right up there with Mario Testa forcing all of the Bpt delegation to go with Lamont. He was chosen as part of the deal to get Nancy W on board and does not add a single vote to that losing ticket.
Lamont is an airhead who cut deals to get BPT votes.
Finch was headed to Hartford with him and Mario Spaghetti made ’em all go Lamont.
LOSERS
Can you imagine McCarthy against Gomes 2011? lmao
The machine is dead. Gomes 2011.
Malloy 2010 no more machine and lying.
I wasn’t in the delegation, and I certainly have no idea about any deal that was cut, but if you want Gomes in 2011, wouldn’t dispatching Finch to somewhere in the vast state bureaucracy constitute a win in your view?
Whatever you’re after, Mr BPT–keep your eyes on the prize.
I give up. Is Mr BPT John Gomes or Carol Curry???
We are also glad you live in the land of milk & honey.
We need one of our own advocating for us, vote Mike Jarjura for comptroller!!!
Thanks TC, I’ll remember that when I get to Hartford. 😉
Ah so you are supporting Malloy because of job promises in his potential administration. He still has to win 2 elections. In either case you will be a good addition to Hartford if you work like you did when you were working for BPT.
I think the message today was clear, more than 2/3rds of the Delegates want Dan Malloy to be their governor not Ned Lamont. Bridgeport, Finch and Testa and New Haven, DeStefano wanted Ned Lamont, everyone else wanted Dan. Lamont finished with a lower percentage against than the dreaded Lieberman (Finch’s man). Democrats do it to themselves every time. Mr. Lamont spent excessive amounts of money to wine and dines delegates, pays “volunteers” and spent a lot of political capital promising big-city mayors jobs. (He is putting his team together with all political “insiders,” for those of you purists.) All his money couldn’t buy the Democratic endorsement, or the win against Lieberman and it won’t buy him the election now. I once supported Lamont but now I am embarrassed he is spending huge amounts of money to join the ranks of Linda WWF and Foley too and trying to buy an election. Bridgeport and New Haven are going to get left out in the cold.
John B supports Ned Lamont spending a lot of money when he is running against a candidate he doesn’t like but it is shameful to use his own money when he runs against a candidate he likes. Talk about a two-faced liberal!
And if John B BELIEVES Dan Malloy does not cut any backroom John B did not see what a thug Dan Malloy was 4 years ago and the intimidation tactics and outlandish promises he used to get the convention nomination.
And by the way John, the actual Democratic endorsement occurs in August when the members of the party vote in the primary. It did not occur yesterday.
And four years ago when Dan Malloy was running on the same record of accomplishments he is now (absent the fact that he no longer is mayor because he was afraid of losing if he ran again), he was unable to get the Democratic nomination then.
Go Ned Lamont!!!
It’s time to “Schiff” gears.
www .youtube.com/watch?v=koiXvCzvGlw
I hope Ganim runs for AG!!!
*** Though it’s not over ’til it’s over, a big message was sent today to “silver spoon” Lamont backers. *** Bpt just may be left out in the cold in Nov.? *** Your political choices are important, so pick the right person for the right job, not the party! ***
Malloy gets the nod w/o any help from B’port. So my pretties, don’t expect much from him if elected. He doesn’t need us. Now can somebody please tell the lemming local Democratic party it’s time to dump Mario and his clan? We had change in DC, now change in Hartford is in the air. When will the people of B’port learn???
Hey Indie, the worst-place expectation would be expecting Malloy to win the primary. Pul-ease.
He couldn’t do it four years ago and he won’t do it this year. No political capital lost on Lamont and maybe a big payday!!!
Go Ned!!!
Grin Reaper you are correct Ned Lamont all the way!!!
A must read!!!
blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2009/04/amann-malloys-sons-arrest-not.html
donj, that is old news and helped Amann to his way out. People who slam other candidates do so because they have nothing of substance to say about themselves. Don’t lower yourself.
“People who slam other candidates do so because they have nothing of substance to say about themselves.”
Since when did Malloy supporters become so adamant about positive campaigning?
donj: I don’t support Malloy but I have to tell you Amman is and was a lowlife. I don’t believe that bringing family into the election is the right thing to do. There are not too many people in or out of politics who don’t have or have not had family problems. Let’s leave family out of this after all Malloy is running for office not his family.
Let’s look at this from Mario’s perspective. He still has a hair across his ass from Malloy tanking Bridgeport in the past.
Mr. Moneybags will finance his own primary costing the Bridgeport committee nothing, and maybe the boys and girls pick up a few bucks at the end of the day.
The Bridgeport delegates may have voted as a unit at the convention, bowing to their party leader, but now they’ll be off on their own.
Mario knows that.
The cards fall where the cards fall.
It’s hard to imagine Mario as a born-again liberal for Lamont. Mario was never a liberal to begin with. This is strictly a business arrangement, seasoned with a mistrust of Malloy.
If Lamont wins the primary, swell.
If Malloy wins, well so what? He still has to come through town for November. Stafstrom, the mayor, et al., will be working for Malloy anyway in the primary. They don’t pick a local fight with the party leader and maintain their standing with Malloy.
Everyone’s happy.
The fight for the mayoral nomination next year will wait until next year. Just like it was going to do anyway.
Presidents, governors, come and go. Mayors, jobs, and appointments to the zoning board of appeals etc. are the coin of the realm.
Mario survives. He is the leader.
Hi Folks, I discovered this site a few weeks ago and I like it very much. I have to disagree with you on a few points: 1. This is not 2006 and 2. The next governor (Malloy) will not ignore the needs of Bridgeport. In order for our State to succeed Bridgeport needs to be successful too. So don’t worry you will not be ignored. On a second note, the endorsed ticket is the strongest one I have seen in years.
TC I 100% agree with you but what caught my eye was I saw a lot of people write on those articles saying they got off of 2 serious felonies because he was the son of the mayor I don’t know if that is the truth but if it is that is wrong ’cause I’m pretty sure if I committed two felonies my butt would be in prison, some people get better treatment than others and that stinks!!! Not too pleased to hear that at all. TC are you even going to vote in this race?
Yes. I have voted in every election since 1964.
MCAT this is going to be one very good race and it will be close and it will be down to the wire and Malloy has the endorsements but he will lose at the end!!! The Bridgeport, New Haven vote will sink team Malloy come primary day!!! The only way I see Malloy winning is if he could get good ground game in Bridgeport and New haven. Remember small towns like Monroe and others will only deliver victories in the hundreds but cities like Bridgeport and New Haven will deliver victories in the thousands!!! I predict the endorsed candidate Malloy will lose huge in Bridgeport and Lamont winning big in every precinct … I can’t wait until August 10 to cast my ballot for Lamont … I’m tired of career politicians like Malloy let’s get someone fresh in Hartford and that’s Lamont.
Wow TC that is what I call a statesman right there. I wasn’t even born anywhere close to 1964. So if you walk into that li’l booth who will you fill in that oval for, Lamont or Malloy? That’s a million-dollar question!!!
Sorry that’s my secret but I will tell you this I don’t really like any of the candidates for governor that means both the Democrats & Republican. Quite a quandary.
It really is a sad state of affairs when these 3 are the best the state can do. 2 Millionaires and a wannabe.
donj, what happened at the convention is very telling. The suburbs really came through. The DTC’s of suburbs control their get out the vote operations and the suburbs get a much higher turnout during primaries. Even with all the money on the Lamont side, it will be tough for him to counter entrenched suburban DTC’s. I am not saying it is right, but it is evident in CT big cities are being ignored, years ago the cities controlled the candidates, not so much any more. I bet my money on experience, Dan Malloy knows about big cities. I doubt Lamont has any understanding of what it takes to run a cash-strapped municipality. In the end if you were going to a Dr., who would you go to, one who was proven and experienced or one who inherited a lot of money?
Also, there are many Democrats who believe you must be loyal to your endorsed candidate and frown upon primaries that hurt either candidate’s chances in the general. Without trying to sound egotistical, when it comes to elections (no matter who I was supporting) my first instincts (even if I wished differently) were mostly dead on. My instincts are telling me Malloy will win.
So what happened four years ago???
DeStefano had the big cities, Malloy the same old suburbs.
Malloy had the same old Stamford experience but it didn’t do anything for the rest of the state.
And with Malloy being out of office for two years can’t help.
And as far as political campaigning goes, Malloy is for clean elections (because he is using taxpayers’ money) and Lamont is not (because he is using his own). If that isn’t a negative piece I don’t know what is.
How is it negative to compare clean financing to someone who is not participating? Anyway whoever wins will do well against a Bush Fundraiser.
MCAT what cash-strapped big city was Malloy in charge of?
I agree with MCAT–the small cities and towns have higher voter turnout in primaries, budget referendums (cities don’t have direct voter participation in the budget arena or it’s too burdensome to do because of the high population making it harder to get the percent you need, you name it smaller cities and towns get into fights about everything. The trend is between 22-33% and in cities it’s 10-12%. It’s not 4 years ago when you had town and city mayors go at it and the one who lost the primary had Lieberman on his side. This endorsed ticket is well balanced. Not the same story but I guess we’ll see.
In spite of what you may think, the big cities are still where the preponderance of Democrats are. They may turn out smaller but a smaller percent of a big number is still a big number.
Secondly, for anyone to think that Mario’s work is over now that the convention is done is foolish. If he does not deliver B’port big for Lamont all deals are off. And the same holds true for Finch.
And finally, public financing is aimed at taking special-interest money out of campaigns. If an individual commits his own funds to the campaign it does not imply a dirty campaign. That is how Malloy is trying to paint it but the rank and file won’t buy it. If anything, in the current budget crisis ordinary people may look at a Malloy who is using $2.5 million of their hard-earned money to tell them how to vote as a same old selfish, greedy politician.
It’s going to be interesting. How soon we forget when Mr. Malloy had a chance to help BPT he did nothing. So what make you think he’s going to help now? BPT’S vote was needed to send a message. We’ll support those who support us.