Convention fever has hit Connecticut. More than 1,000 delegates will attend the Republican convention at Foxwoods this weekend where up to nine candidates for governor seek the necessary support to make the ballot, among them Bridgeport resident David Walker, the former U.S. comptroller general. Democrats will conduct their convention next weekend.
The GOP delegate battle for governor will take place Saturday. CT Mirror reporter Mark Pazniokas explains the dynamics.
Rules drafted over the past two weeks, refined Thursday and to be finalized Friday call for a series of elimination votes: Candidates are eliminated if they fall short of 8 percent of the delegate vote on the first ballot or 15 percent on the second ballot. The last-place finisher falls out on subsequent ballots.
To win the convention endorsement, a candidate must win a majority–50 percent, plus one vote. But for most of the nine candidates for governor, the goal is to reach 15 percent on any one ballot: Under state law, that is the threshold to qualify for a primary in August.
Only two of the nine, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton and former First Selectman Tim Herbst of Trumbull, are widely seen as already possessing commitments from more than 15 percent of delegates on the first ballot, winning them a ticket to the primary. Unclear is who will fall short of 8 percent in the first ballot–and who would get their delegates on a second ballot.
The other seven gubernatorial candidates competing at the convention are: Mike Handler, a city finance official in Stamford; Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti; Peter Lumaj, an immigration lawyer and 2014 nominee for secretary of the state; Steve Obsitnik, a technology entrepreneur and former congressional candidate; state Rep. Prasad Srinivasan; New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart (dropped out Friday for LG run); and Dave Walker, the former U.S. comptroller general.
Full story here.
Hope you win Dave. He is for term limits and state wide binding referendums. Dave wants the people to have the power not professional politicians.
How does Dave Walker do that when he doesn’t even know how to talk and meet voters in Bridgeport outside of Black Rock whenever he’s in Bridgeport?
Ron,
What do you call a person who keeps repeating himself about someone else’s character in a mistaken manner? And when that accuser himself refuses each and every opportunity to personally meet, speak, listen and become informed? If the person’s working years are behind him, perhaps you might look at the onset of some memory failure, or not? And when someone else who has heard from that person in question reports items of good governance news from the candidate, rather than praise the positive policy stands, Ron continues this singular, low-key rant. Consider binding referendums and term limits as potential tools of revolution in Bridgeport? Who is listening to you, Ron? Time will tell.
John Marshall Lee, who’s listening to you, evidently the City Council is not or any other elected official, time has told. It’s Dave Walter’s problem to get black votes, not me.
Taking a hard look at the R gubernatorial candidates, the delegates are going to realize that the smartest, most reasonable candidate, with the broadest and deepest experience and exposure relevant to Connecticut’s 2018 gubernatorial needs, is David Walker. The other candidates fall into the categories of personality instabilities/immaturity (Herbst), radical extremism (Lumaj), convalescing from serious medical conditions (Boughton), and too inexperienced and/or politically inept and/or politically stale (fill in the blanks)…
Don’t be surprised to see David Walker take the nomination along with Erin Stewart as his running mate… It would be a geographically and demographically smart move by the Republicans to run with these two excellent candidates…
At this point, I can’t say who I’m voting for — except that it won’t be Gold Coast Ned Lamont, which would translate into a seamless continuation of the Malloy years… None of the other candidates have said enough about how they will fix the state and its cities — although all of the candidates have said that they will… Same mantra by all of the candidates for any given Connecticut gubernatorial election — with the only variations being on where they will cut spending and where they will increase revenue even as they decrease taxes… Same bs, different election… So far nothing new, so can’t say who I will vote for until I hear something(s) specific and exciting — and new — about fixing the state that makes sense and doesn’t put us in competition with surrounding states that already have a jump on us… (If worst comes to worst, I’ll just do a write-in vote… (Too bad that Rosa DeLauro isn’t running for governor — I would vote for her in a heartbeat just based on her Congressional performance… Now, if she were to run as Gold Coast Ned’s running mate, considering that he’ll most-likely abandon ship to run for the US Senate in 2020, then I could vote for that team… But, on the same token, if she wanted to run for US Senator, she could probably win… One has to wonder what is on her mind, politically, especially since she has served so long and might well be considering retirement…)
What is David Walker and Erin Stewart base of voters? They will lose the urban cities where the largest votes come from, that also includes the black vote, votes, union vote, progressive vote.
The Hispanic vote.
Erin Stewart is the mayor of New Britain, a melting pot city. Just like Bridgeport.