'A time of unity.' CT Republicans look to move on from Erin Stewart scandal at convention
Both major parties are holding statewide conventions Friday and Saturday. But neither side plans to bring up Republican Erin Stewart's spending investigation – at least not publicly.
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It’s that time of year again.
The Democratic and Republican party faithful from across Connecticut are gathering for their statewide conventions starting on Friday night.
But hanging in the backdrop is Republican Erin Stewart’s bombshell decision, just one day earlier, to drop her bid for governor amid a criminal fraud investigation.
Will Stewart come up this weekend?
Both parties say, don’t count on it – at least not in front of the cameras.
ERIN STEWART BOMBSHELL
As Republicans gather at Mohegan Sun to pick their candidates, one name is off the list.
Former New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart suspended her campaign on Thursday after Connecticut State Police launched an investigation into $207,000 of spending on her city-issued credit card. An outside law firm detailed Amazon charges totaling $47,582; $19,222 at Costco; and $7,476 on Instacart. Another $113,533 was spent on “other vendors.”
“The findings of this investigation point not to isolated lapses in judgment, but to a pattern of behavior that violated public trust,” the report stated.
“A TIME OF UNITY”
GOP leaders, who urged Stewart to exit the race, said it’s time to move on.
“Overall, it’s a time of unity for the Republican Party,” Connecticut House Republican leader Vin Candelora (R-North Branford). “And that’s why you’re going to see convention coalescing around Ryan.”
He’s talking about state Sen. Ryan Fazio (R-Greenwich), who is expected to easily get the party endorsement. Stewart urged her delegates to support him.
“The good news is, when you only have two candidates, you can pretty much assure that someone is going to get a majority on the first ballot,” said Connecticut Republican Party chair Ben Proto.
But Fazio has a challenger.
Newsmax host and former New York lieutenant governor Betsy McCaughey, also from Greenwich, is also seeking the nomination. If she gets 15% of delegates’ votes on Saturday, McCaughey will face Fazio in an August primary. If not, McCaughey could still force a primary by gathering enough signatures from Republican voters.
“She hasn’t hit the [Citizens Election Program public financing] threshold, so money is a problem for her,” Candelora said. “And that won’t bode well for a primary.”
With Stewart out, Republicans are shifting their focus to the lieutenant governor’s race. Stewart’s chosen running mate, state Rep. Tim Ackert (R-Coventry) is battling for delegates with Matthew Corey, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress five times, most recently against Sen. Chris Murphy in 2024.
DEMOCRATS: LAMONT FACES CHALLENGER
If you expected Democrats to gloat about Stewart’s troubles, think again.
At least, not publicly.
“It’s not going to be a topic of conversation on stage by candidates,” said Connecticut Democrats chair Robert Alves. “They’re going to be focused on the elections that are in front of them. And anything else is just distracting of that point because she’s no longer running that race.”
Democrats have their own drama this year.
Although delegates gathering in Hartford are expected to endorse Gov. Ned Lamont for a third time, he has a competitor too – progressive Josh Elliott. It’s the first time a sitting governor has faced a challenge from within his own party in nearly 50 years.
“The Democrats are the ‘big tent’ party, and in Connecticut we’ve been doing a phenomenal job of expanding that tent,” Alves said. “That tent isn’t expanding to just the left, or just the right, or up and down. It is a tent.”
Lamont argued that he is the best candidate to attract moderate voters. And when it comes to taking on President Donald Trump, he said experience matters.
“My pitch to delegates is, ‘Look where we were seven years ago and look where we are today,’” the governor told reporters on Friday. “We’re doing everything we can for affordability. We just recently brought down the price of electricity.”
Republicans plan to focus on affordability too.
“We’re going to be talking about the issues that directly affect the people of the state of Connecticut – the question of affordability. of public safety, of parental choice and rights,” Proto said. “The things that the Democrats are not talking about and failing to act on. That’s what we want to talk about, and that’s what we’re going to talk, about between now and November.”
