Stefanowski qualifies for GOP primary

Bob Stefanowski, the conservative former corporate executive, on Monday became the first of the political outsiders to qualify for the Aug. 14 Republican primary.

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said that by 4 p.m., Stefanowski, of Madison, had 10,951 qualifying petition signatures, well over the 9,081 he needed to challenge Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, Tim Herbst, the former Trumbull first selectman, and Steve Obsitnik, of Westport, a tech entrepreneur. who qualified by last month’s GOP convention.

“I will bring the same leadership, organization and discipline required to meet this herculean task to fixing the damage done by Dan Malloy and his Democratic legislators,” Stefanowski said in a statement. “The extensive state-wide field organization we built and our database of over 16,000 registered Republicans is unmatched by any other Republican or Democratic candidate.”

The deadline for submitting petitions was June 12, but local voter registrars had until Tuesday to deliver them, postmark them or otherwise report them to Merrill, who expects to have final totals by the end of the month.

Merrill reported that at this point, Republican hopeful David Stemerman, of Greenwich, has 6,572 valid signatures. Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti last week abandoned his petition campaign, but is weighing the option of petitioning onto the November ballot as an independent.

Also Monday, Merrill reported that Democrats Joe Ganim, the Bridgeport mayor, and Guy Smith, a Greenwich business executive, had 11,486 and 3,542 signatures, respectively, toward the 15,458 needed to challenge Ned Lamont, of Greenwich, who won the party’s endorsement at last month’s convention.