Connecticut GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski narrowly lost the Independent Party nomination on Tuesday. That means his name won’t be on two lines on the ballot in November.
Four years ago, Stefanowski got 25,388 votes on the Independent Party line. Ned Lamont got 17,861 votes on the Working Families Party line. Those cross-endorsements helped both candidates in the tightly contested gubernatorial race that was narrowly won by Lamont.
Stefenawski missing out on the Independent Party endorsement, is a blow to his campaign, UConn political scientist Ron Schirin said.
“Losing another line cannot help. There would be people in the state who would most likely be inclined to vote for a challenger but not want to vote for somebody on the Republican line. And that was the case last time around when there were a few thousand votes for Stefanowski. So this is something of a loss,” Schurin said.
Stefanowski’s campaign has issued a statement, saying he will challenge the Independent Party caucus results. It claims that the chair violated party bylaws when he broke a tie vote and awarded the nomination to the party endorsed candidate Rob Hotaling.
In the meantime, Lamont, a Democrat, has again been endorsed by the Working Families Party.
