CT Republicans double down on Bob Stefanowski at convention

MASHANTUCKET — Hungry to regain the governor's office that they last held a dozen years ago, Republicans from throughout the state on Friday flocked to Foxwoods Resort Casino to double-down on Bob Stefanowski of Madison, a former corporate executive who lost to Ned Lamont in 2018 by more than 44,000 votes.

By 7:45, Woodstock's votes for Stefanowski gave him 1,129 votes to 39 votes for Susan D. Patricelli Regan of Granby, far short of the 174 votes needed to achieve the 15 percent she would need to force a primary. After a vote-changing opportunity, Regan lost three votes and by 8 p.m., Stefanowski was declared the endorsed candidate.

During a 15-minute acceptance speech, which led into his nomination of state Rep. Laura Devlin to be his running mate, Stefanowski attacked “40 years” of Democratic-led government. Without naming Gov. Ned Lamont, Stefanowski said that Democrats have hindering the development of school kids in the pandemic and squandered taxpayer money.

Like 2018, Stefanowski promised smaller government.

Unlike 2018, when the state GOP had a five-way primary for governor, the party will emerge united at the top of the ticket with state Rep. Laura Devlin, of Fairfield, Stefanowski's hand-picked candidate for lieutenant governor. But what happens Saturday, in four-way jockeying for the U.S. Senate endorsement, could affect the party, which is dwarfed by the combined statewide registration of Democratic and unaffiliated voters.

Stefanowski, two weeks shy of his 60th birthday, was the highlight of the evening, which began with the uncontested race for the attorney general won by Jessica Kordas, of Norwalk.

Twenty minutes later, House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford, charging the Democrats' “anti-business, job-killing agenda,” nominated state Rep. Harry Arora of Greenwich for the open treasurer seat. Arora promised to return the treasurer's office to Republicans this fall for the first time in 25 years.

Friday is the warm-up for the Saturday showdown pitting Themis Klarides, former House minority leader; Leora Levy of Greenwich; Peter Lumaj of Fairfield; and Robert Hyde of Simsbury for the U.S. Senate endorsement to run against U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal. Rick Gorka, Levy's communications director promised that if she doesn't get the 15-percent support, Levy's will seek a petition campaign to get on the August primary ballot.

Klarides, who pivoted from a campaign for governor earlier this year, is the apparent front runner, with Levy, Lumaj and Hyde scrambling to gain 15-percent of the delegate support to qualify for an August primary without gathering petition signatures.

Earlier, as lights dimmed in the Premier Ballroom, Republican State Chairman Ben Proto stood at the podium and kicked off the quadrennial two-day statewide reunion. “Welcome to Republicans,” Proto shouted to the mostly white and unmasked crowd filtering into the ballroom, sitting near signs of their towns, arranged by congressional district.

“I want to thank you all for helping us with this process,” Proto said. “Democrat rule has destroyed our great state.” He told delegates not to believe what Democrats say about cutting taxes. While the budget approved in the legislature this week has $600 million in tax cuts, Republican lawmakers offered $1.2 billion in relief. “It's not about purity. It's about unity.”

In Hartford, during a pre-convention news conference at the Democratic State Convention, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said the $600 million is important for working families.

“We've also had three balanced budgets and we've made an unprecedented $5.2 billion payment on our credit card,” Bysiewicz said. “So, we've gotten rid of debt, we've balanced our budget, we're giving tax cuts and we've done some great work for families in our state.”

In Foxwoods at about that time, conservative commentator and former Trump ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, blasted Democrats for political correctness. “It's easy to say that when we say that this country is systemically racist, what we mean is the system creates and promotes racist policy. Nothing could be further from the truth. Stop being afraid of being called a racist, sexist or homophobe,” Grenell said to applause. “Turn it around to them.”