Republican challenger Ryan Fazio has gotten $18 million from Connecticut’s public financing to take on two-term incumbent Democratic Governor Ned Lamont this year.
It's given Fazio’s campaign a major boost, according to election experts.
The money helps level the playing field for the Fazio campaign, said Bilal Sekou, a political scientist at the University of Hartford.
“They are able to get out there and not spend tons of time trying to raise money from donors,” Sekou said.
"The campaign can now spend more time talking to voters and getting their message out through advertising in a way that allows them to really compete with the governor, who has personal wealth that would allow him to pump a lot of his own money into the system,” he said.
That’s what the Citizens’ Election Program was designed to do.
“What’s really important about this program is that it frees these candidates up,” Sekou said. “They can actually go out to communities, meet with people, knock on doors. And really respond to questions that ordinary citizens have and not have to sit in their offices on the phone dialing for dollars.”
Democratic state lawmakers and Republican Governor Jodi Rell created the program after her Republican predecessor, John Rowland, resigned amid a federal corruption probe in 2005.
Fazio is the first major party nominee for governor to use public financing since 2014.
Lamont, a wealthy former businessman, has self-financed his campaigns. He spent more than $25 million on his re-election four years ago, and he’s spent more than $10 million so far on this year’s campaign.
