HARTFORD, Conn. — Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski lost his lawsuit against the state and Connecticut Independent Party Thursday.
He originally sued the party after he lost the Independent nomination in a tiebreak vote.
“This is bad news for Stefanowski, but really not unexpected news,” said Scott Mclean, professor of political science at Quinnipiac University.
After losing the independent nomination, Stefanowski's team claimed the party “flagrantly violated their own bylaws,” filing a suit hoping to force the Secretary of the State to remove independent candidate Rob Hotaling and his running mate from the November ballot.
In a statement, Stefanowski said:
“The court’s ruling that minor party chairmen can choose to effectively ignore their own by-laws in order to achieve a desired political result, is certainly disappointing. I urge the legislature to consider a remedy to address this issue in the future. While disappointed in the decision, we respect it and are moving forward. This race is ultimately about Ned Lamont and how his policies have saddled Connecticut residents with higher taxes and rising crime. This race is a referendum on him and that verdict will be clear: we can’t afford four more years of Ned Lamont.”
“I think if he kept pushing this and taking it to the next level and crying foul and sounding like a sore loser, that would be bad for him,” McLean said, “but he's not, he's taking it well.”
This loss leaves Stefanowski on the November ballot just once as the Republican nominee.
His challenger, incumbent Gov. Ned Lamont, will appear three times, after receiving cross-endorsement from the Working Families and Griebel-Frank for CT parties.
McLean doesn’t think this significantly hurts Stefanowski's chances.
“This is going to be a close election,” he said. “It doesn't matter how many times the Governor is on the ballot. He's not going to get all the votes in Connecticut. It's going to be a neck and neck race, I think, right to the end.”
McLean said the Independent line won’t draw that many votes away from Stefanowksi or Lamont, but could make this race even tighter.
“I think it's going to be obvious to most voters that the real choice is between Stefanowski and Governor Lamont,” he said.
McLean added typically the party in control, with national power doesn’t do as well during midterm elections, but this year Democrats are staying competitive.
“We're seeing all kinds of surveys that show this to be a neck and neck race between Democrats and Republicans nationally,” he continued. “So stay tuned, everyone and buckle up. It could be very close.”
Democrats doubled down this week on their strategy of pegging Stefanowski an “extremist” Republican, putting social and cultural issues like gun control and abortion at the forefront.
McLean said time will tell if this is successful in energizing enough Democrat voters to turn out to the polls.
Emma Wulfhorst is a political reporter for FOX61 News. She can be reached at ewulfhorst@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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