CT Sen. Fazio officially enters race for governor in 2026 against Lamont, Stewart, others

Yahoo

3 days ago

State Sen. Ryan Fazio is no longer considering the idea but is instead heading full steam ahead into the 2026 race for governor.
Unlike some other candidates who have launched exploratory campaigns, Fazio announced Wednesday that he is all-in for the governor's race.
In a 90-second campaign commercial that outlined his views, Fazio pledged to reduce electric rates, his signature issue as the ranking Senate Republican on the legislature's energy committee.
'Connecticut was once an affordable place where families could build a future,' Fazio says in the online video that is available on YouTube. 'But after years of failed leadership in Hartford, it's where dreams get buried under sky-high electric bills and taxes.'
Fazio said the state's economic issues are obvious as many families are struggling from paycheck to paycheck.
'We all see it. We all feel it,' Fazio says in the video. 'Families are hurting. There is something broken in our state Capitol. But it doesn't have to be this way. Connecticut is a great state with great people. It's time for leadership that lives up to both. I'm Ryan Fazio, and I'm running for governor because this state is my home, and I refuse to just sit back and watch the decline. I still believe that Connecticut's best days are ahead of us. Together, let's cut electric rates by 20% and eliminate the public benefits charge. Let's reduce income taxes by $1,500 for the average family and cap property taxes.'
Fazio is the second Republican to launch an official campaign, following First Selectman Jennifer Tooker of Westport. New Britain mayor Erin Stewart has filed an exploratory campaign, which sets limits on the amount of money that can be raised to qualify for public campaign financing. The final amounts that candidates can receive in public dollars will be adjusted by inflation and will not be released until next year, but candidates predicted that the total for the general election campaign in November 2026 will be around $15 million.
While many political insiders expect Gov. Ned Lamont to seek re-election, he has not yet made any official announcements. He is expected to face state Rep. Josh Elliott, a liberal Democrat who has filed a gubernatorial campaign committee.
'Look, he's a good guy,' Lamont told reporters recently of Fazio. 'I've gotten to know him along the way down there in Greenwich. He can do what he wants to do. I like working with him. … I worked with him on the energy bill, for example.'
When asked by a television reporter if he would rather run against Fazio or Stewart, Lamont said, 'That's probably not a great issue for me to get into. Look, I think I saw Ryan is going to run as a fiscal conservative. He doesn't want to raise taxes. Keep the balanced budget. I think we've done a pretty good job of that over the last six years.'
Despite an amiable relationship on a personal level in their hometown, Fazio's campaign video is not complimentary of Lamont.
'Under Ned Lamont and his radical legislature, electric rates and taxes have soared to the third-highest in the country,' Fazio narrates. 'They've undermined law enforcement and driven out jobs, opportunity, and hope.'
On Wednesday, Lamont's chief spokesman, Rob Blanchard, said, 'From cutting taxes for working families to championing free child care for families making less than $100,000, and getting our state budget and economy back on track, Governor Lamont is proud to put his record on affordability and opportunity up against anyone.'
On the Republican side, Stewart has gained an early advantage by raising more than $300,000 in small contributions on her way toward qualifying for public financing against Lamont, a wealthy Greenwich entrepreneur who has spent millions to self-fund his statewide campaigns.
Stewart has been campaigning for months in the race against Fazio, a fiscal conservative whose supporters say he will catch up in the fundraising battle. Another candidate in the race is perennial candidate Peter Lumaj of Fairfield, who ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2012, secretary of the state in 2014, and governor in 2018.
A fiscal conservative who has been outspoken at the state Capitol on electricity and taxes, Fazio blames Democrats for the state's problems.
'Under years of one-party Democrat rule in Hartford, Connecticut has become simply unaffordable,' said Fazio. 'I believe our state deserves better than the third-highest taxes and electricity bills in the country and jobs and opportunity leaving our state.'
Fazio, a Greenwich Republican who also represents parts of Stamford and New Canaan, won a hard-fought race in the 2024 cycle against Democrat Nick Simmons, a well-funded former Greenwich resident who moved to Stamford.
Fazio reenergized Republicans statewide by winning his seat in a special election in 2021 after former Sen. L. Scott Frantz had lost the district in 2018 to Democrat Alex Bergstein, now known as Alex Kasser. Fazio then won a squeaker against Harvard graduate Trevor Crow in 2022 by a margin of only 89 votes after recounts in all three towns in the district.
Fazio's supporters believe he can defeat Stewart in a primary, adding that the pair could be a strong ticket if Stewart runs for lieutenant governor as she did in 2018 after dropping out of the governor's race. She was defeated in a three-way race by state Sen. Joe Markley, a conservative Republican who later ran on the ticket with Madison business executive Bob Stefanowski in a losing effort against Lamont.
As a fellow Greenwich resident, Lamont has worked together with Fazio on various issues, including the much-debated Senate Bill 4 that aimed to reduce the cost of electricity for consumers across the state.
Without explicitly saying that both Lamont and Fazio live in wealthy Greenwich, Stewart said recently that her campaign contributors are trying to make ends meet in hardscrabble towns across the state.
'People are investing because they're looking for a leader that fundamentally understands their concerns and worries — someone who, like them, understands the financial difficulties of raising a family in Connecticut, someone who comes from a community like theirs,' Stewart said.
Christopher Keating can be reached at [e-mail]