Connecticut Republicans failed to win congressional and statewide seats in the midterm elections because of strong voter approval for Democratic Governor Ned Lamont, according to state GOP Chair Ben Proto.
He said the governor’s coattails were responsible for more straight-party-line voters in this election than usual for Connecticut.
“Once you kind of start on a line, you go one or two and think people continue," said Proto. "Although we are known as a ticket splitting state, we’ve always been a ticket splitting state. And I think we saw less ticket splitting in 2022 than we have seen in the past."
Proto adds that Republicans had a good message but failed to connect with enough voters.
“I’m a big believer at the end of the day that campaigns are about candidates," said Proto. "They are not about a message. If you have a really good candidate, you can do well. If you don’t have a really good candidate, you are less likely to do as well,” he said.
Proto said the Republican Party’s ideologically driven primaries produced weak general election candidates.
