Republican Governor’s primary race starts to heat up. Three questions for a leading GOP. Spotlight on 14th Senatorial District Republican primary. Links to live by.
Welcome to another edition of the Tuesday Ticket CRMA’s attempt to keep folks up to date on all that is going on in what promises to be an exciting election season.
As you know all members of the CT General Assembly are up for reelection as well as all statewide offices. After November, we will have a new Governor, Treasure and Attorney General and maybe more. We hope you enjoy this report and we would appreciate your feedback. Please let us know by, emailing us at tim@ctretailnetwork.com or by visiting our website, www.crmaonline.com.
Republican Governor’s race starts to heat up.
- This week, some Republican gubernatorial candidates took off the gloves and started hitting each other pretty hard.
- Republican David Stemerman’s campaign has gone public with a hard hitting ad about one of his opponent Bob Stefeanowski.
- Stemerman’s ad, which you can view by going here, claims that Stefeanowski is actually a Democratic. The ad claims that the republican candidate has donated to the Democratic Party and has even voted Democratic. It also states that Stefeanowski did NOT vote for Donald Trump.
- It’s interesting to that Stermerman went directly after Stefeanowski and not the other Republican’s in the race.
- Three quick questions about the Stermerman ad to our GOP friend:
Why would Stemerman go so hard after Stefeanowski?
- David Stemerman wants to be the alternative candidate and he needs to dispatch Bob Stefanowski who got an early jump with television advertising when all candidates were dark. Stefanowski was the only candidate Republicans outside the town committee and rank and file members were seeing.
- Do you expect Stemerman to hit other candidates?
- Stemerman saw a weakness in Stefanowski’s lack of voting and financial support of Democrat candidates loathed by Republicans. Stemerman will now likely shift to attacking Boughton and Herbst as politician too wedded to the business as usual in Hartford.
- Right now if you had to handicap the race who do you think would win the GOP primary?
- Herbst followers believe in him. Herbst wants to burn a few buildings down and his people are all for that, including shooting the people fleeing the flames. Boughton’s followers are traditionalist, establishment who see him as a nice, safe guy who has earned his shot. Obsitnik has a small, very small base but can’t bring himself to wear a tie in debates. Stefanowski is flaring. Stemerman comes off as serious but no one knows him.
- Boughton’s plan is to not make mistakes, act like the sober leader and watch the other four tear each other and split the “other option vote.” Being the endorsed candidate is worth five percent so Boughton is still the favorite.
Spotlight on 14th Senatorial District
This week, CRMA takes a deeper dive into the State Senate Race for the 14th Senatorial District.
- The 14th district incorporates the towns of Milford, parts of West Haven and parts of Orange.
- The D’s have held this seat since 2004 when Gayle Slossblerg, the first democrat to ever hold the seat, defeated Win Smith. Before Smith, two other republican’s Tom Scott and Max Chase repesesented the district since 1980.
- It would not be any surprise if the winner of this Republican primary goes onto win the General election and allow the Republican’s to win a Democratic seat and maybe tip the balance back in their favor.
- Here is a little background on both Republicans who will face off in August:
- Pam Staneski is currently serving her second term in the state House of Representatives; she is a member of the Appropriations Committee and the Public Health Committee. Staneski is the lead House Republican on the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee. This week, the House Republican Leader Themis Klarides gave her support to Staneski in her race for the Republican nomination.
- Anthony Giannattasio is the Republican Minority Leader of the Milford Board of Alderman. Giannattasio has been a member of the Milford Board of Alderman for 11 years, and currently serves on the Ordinance, Public Works and Police Building committees. In May, he won the GOP backing to run for the seat, this came as a great surprise to the supporters who thoughts the two-term state representative was a natural to win the party’s endorsement.
- Michele Gregorio, recently retired as controller of the BIC lighter plant in Milford, also plans to primary to run for the state senate seat. As controller of BIC’s lighter division, Gregorio managed a $90 million budget, and was responsible for negotiating union contracts. Gregorio serves on the West Haven Board of Finance and was Republican town chairwoman from 2016-18.
Links to live by: