The Connecticut Working Families Party announced on Monday that it’s endorsing Waterbury high school teacher Jahana Hayes in the race for Connecticut’s open 5th Congressional District seat being vacated by U.S. Representative Elizabeth Esty.
The Working Families Party is making a rare foray into a Democratic Party primary by picking Hayes over the party endorsed-candidate, former Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman. Hayes narrowly lost to Glassman at the state Democratic Party Convention in May.
With the Working Families endorsement, Hayes can now expect that if she wins the August 14th Democratic Party primary, her name will appear on two lines on the ballot in the November general election – the Democratic Party line and the Working Families line. The Working Families party is a union-backed organization that usually endorses Democrats in the general election, if it is not running its own candidate.
In other endorsements announced on Monday, the state’s largest gun owners association, the Connecticut Citizens Defense League says it’s supporting Republican Tim Herbst, a former Trumbull first selectman, for governor. Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont picked up the endorsement of his fellow Democrat, Connecticut 1st District Congressman John Larson.
