Bysiewicz, an insider in an outsider’s year

Susan Bysiewicz rarely cracks a joke. When she does, her humor is so dry it’s easy to miss.

“There aren’t any homeless people in Greenwich, right?” she deadpanned, following an anecdote about wealth disparity along Connecticut’s Gold Coast.

The joke was funny, but it took the crowd of women business leaders at the Hamden Chamber of Commerce a minute to catch on, and drew only a few laughs.

For the most part, Bysiewicz is more comfortable talking policy, at ease with wonky detail and quick to pull out facts and figures to make her point.

“She’s not the backslapper or the kind of charismatic politician that most people are looking for,” said Jonathan Wharton, an expert in identity politics at Southern Connecticut State University.

Bysiewicz, 56, first entered the Connecticut political arena nearly 30 years ago. An outsider at the time, she became the first unendorsed candidate in either party to win both the primary and the general election. She’s spent the three decades since building up her resume — and the list of critics that comes with it — by running campaign after campaign.

But now, the tables have turned. Bysiewicz is the party-endorsed, establishment candidate seeking to become lieutenant governor, and she’s facing a surprising challenge from a young, charismatic outsider, Eva Bermudez Zimmerman. In a season when progressives are challenging the Democratic orthodoxy and grabbing all the

headlines, having the party’s nod could be a liability for Bysiewicz.

“I really think that the national trend line works against her,” Ronald Schurin, an associate professor of political science at the University of Connecticut, said. “It must be said that Zimmerman has served in local office so she’s not a true outsider in that sense. She has some organization support and she’s waging an active campaign that’s attracted some significant endorsements so she has momentum.”

Campaigning since 1993

Bysiewicz was first elected state representative in 1993, she served as secretary of the state from 1999 to 2011, and she’s made attempts to become state attorney general, governor, lieutenant governor and a U.S. Senator.

She’s worked as a private sector lawyer for the better part of the past decade.

“I’ve been blissfully in the private sector since 2011,” she often notes.

While many praise her resume and remember her efforts to bring the state’s voting systems into the 21st century, others roll their eyes at the name, recalling the way her run for attorney general ended — she wasn’t qualified — and the brutal campaigns she has run against her competitors for state representative and secretary of the state.

“If the worst thing that somebody could say about me is that I tried to run for a job to stand up and fight for people and it didn’t work out, I’m good with that,” Bysiewicz said during an interview in Middletown where she lives, brushing over the less glamorous headlines from her political past.

“I know she has a reputation with some people in politics in Connecticut,” said state Rep. Bob Godfrey, who has known Bysiewicz since her time in the state Legislature. “She’s a strong woman and a lot of people don’t like strong women.”

From farm to politics

Bysiewicz was raised on a potato farm in the outskirts of Middletown. The farmhouse where she grew up is hidden behind a small forest. The land surrounding it is still farmed, though it’s much smaller than when Bysiewicz lived there — about 12 acres compared to more than 100. Bysiewicz’s father, a World War II veteran in his late 90s, still lives on the property, she said.

“I learned by example, a strong work ethic,” she said, describing her upbringing on the potato farm her grandparents bought in the 1920s. “I have three siblings, two sisters and a brother, and we spent summers, weekends, and afternoons working on our family’s farm. Picking potatoes from August to November.”

Her father also managed a small insurance business. Her mother, who went to law school at a time when not many women did, became the first tenured female law professor at the University of Connecticut. Bysiewicz attended law school at Duke, and became a working mother to three children.

When she first ran for office, her eldest daughter was just 5 months old. Many questioned whether she should be at home instead, she said, but to this day, she maintains her political motivation is the well-being of her children.

“I think that anyone who’s ever been in public service and seen how their time and talents make a difference for people, gets addicted,” she said.

A different kind of campaign

Wharton said the charisma problem is bigger than Bysiewicz. It’s a Connecticut trend.

“Of course, one could also make the same argument for Ned Lamont ... really any of the candidates for governor,” he said. “One could argue Joe Ganim is the only one that offers any kind of enthusiasm and charisma ... It’s tough to find someone who has that connectability in Connecticut. We’re the land of steady habits. How many times has Mark Boughton been elected? So you have to wonder, is that something that’s beyond Susan Bysiewicz. I would argue it’s a pattern. I don’t think she’s an anomaly.”

Bysiewicz isn’t counting on charisma, she’s banking on experience as she works to connect with voters.

During a recent visit to Atria Larson Place, a senior living facility in Hamden, Bysiewicz stood close to an elderly woman who leaned on her walker and took her time asking questions. With her hands clasped in front of her, a slight bend in her waist and her head tilted slightly to one side, Bysiewicz waited patiently for the million-dollar question.

“Why did Ned Lamont pick you?” the woman asked. Bysiewicz and gubernatorial candidate Lamont have teamed up as running mates.

“I think he picked me for my experience,” Bysiewicz said, launching into a rundown of her resume — routine at this point — and the balance she feels she brings to Lamont, who has won primaries before, but never been elected to public office. She tucked pamphlets and a business card into the basket on the front of the woman’s walker, before moving on to the next person.

“My phone number is on there. You call me anytime,” she told the woman.

Bysiewicz said she welcomes a primary challenge. She relates to Bermudez Zimmerman, she said. She’s been in her shoes — the kind worn thin from door-knocking — before. But that’s the most she’ll say about her competitor, a different tone from Bysiewicz campaigns of the past, which were known for brutal attacks on her opponents.

This time, she’s keeping the campaign about herself. She’s focused on her upbringing, her resume and her experience as a woman in politics. She’s known as one of the hardest workers her campaign aides have ever witnessed. When she’s not engaging with people in person, they said she’s attached to her phone (covered with a custom case featuring her dog), calling and emailing voters, political insiders and her field team.

Schurin said it’ll be a tough race for Bysiewicz, but he still placed her as the front runner. She’s likely to win the Democratic primary on Aug. 14, he said. But it’ll be close.

“Of course, I, like everyone else, thought Hillary Clinton was going to be president,” he added, a fitting comparison.

Bysiewicz