With battle lines not only being drawn but fortified, Gov. Ned Lamont and liberal challenger Josh Elliott are fighting for the soul of Connecticut’s Democratic Party as they head toward a potential primary in August 2026.
Lamont started the race for Democratic nominee for governor with clear advantages in fundraising, popularity and name recognition and Elliott remains relatively unknown outside of the state legislature and the Greater New Haven region that includes his hometown of Hamden.
The latest poll by the University of New Hampshire showed Lamont with a wide lead of 55% to 7%. In addition, the survey showed that Lamont is popular with a favorable rating of 69% among likely Democratic primary voters, while 79% of those polled said they did not know enough about Elliott to form an opinion.
A Greenwich multimillionaire who has spent more than $60 million of his own money in four statewide races, Lamont is going up against an underfunded challenger who has raised $60,000 in the time-consuming quest to collect $350,000 in small contributions to qualify for public matching funds.
Lamont has been under pressure from the left wing of his party to adopt more liberal policies as Elliott is a longtime leader of the legislature’s progressive caucus. Elliott, who founded and chairs the legislature’s Tax Equity Caucus, says working and middle-class residents pay proportionally more than the wealthy and proposes a plan that “fairly taxes those earning over $1 million annually” to adequately fund public services.
For years Lamont has resisted the pressure to raise taxes on the wealthy and said that Elliott’s views do not have an impact when he is making policy decisions.
“It doesn’t factor in,” Lamont told The Courant in an interview. “Look, talk is cheap. Look what we’ve been able to deliver. Everybody was talking about the fight for $15 for 10 years before I got here. Now, we have a minimum wage that’s almost $17 and tied to inflation. … They talked about paid family and medical leave for years before I got here. We got it done. I think the business community and the moderates trusted me to get it done in a way that was fiscally responsible, and that’s what we were able to do. The same thing on child care. I don’t know whether this is left or right. You could figure that out. … I think things have changed the state for the better.”
Elliott, who is a deputy speaker and majority caucus co-chair, laughed out loud when told that Lamont said his presence doesn’t factor into Lamont’s decisions.
“Ned spent the last four months poll-testing his message,” Elliott told The Courant in an interview. “If he doesn’t know, after two terms, what he wants to do as a governor, then he’s not ready to lead. He’s talking about housing, but he’s slowing us down. … He’s unwilling to ensure that property taxes don’t explode under his watch, which they have been. If he doesn’t address it, then they will continue to do so.”
Elliott added, “He is unable to meet the moment when it comes to this federal administration. … He is a governor who is unable and unwilling to lead. If he needs polls to tell him what he needs to do, then he is not the person for the moment.”
Elliott scoffed at the notion that Lamont is not thinking about him.
“I’m quite certain I’m living rent free in his head right now,” Elliott said.
Lamont’s supporters, though, say that his high poll ratings are attributed partly to the restoration of the state’s finances after years of budget deficits and tax hikes. Since Lamont became governor, an additional $10 billion in supplemental payments has been set aside for the long-underfunded pension funds for state employees and public school teachers. The state has generated operating surpluses for the past seven years as Wall Street has broke all-time records under Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump. With a stronger financial footing, the state’s bond rating has improved, which leads to lower interest costs when selling bonds to raise money.
Amid the good financial news, Lamont has not gone out of his way to criticize any of his opponents. That includes Elliott and his two chief Republican rivals, Sen. Ryan Fazio of Greenwich and former New Britain mayor Erin Stewart.
Lamont said in an interview that he purposely delayed making his official announcement for a third term as governor in an attempt to postpone the politics and continue running the state.
He admitted that his low-key personal style represents a sharp contrast to politicians who deliver one liners and political barbs. His predecessor, Dannel P. Malloy, often clashed sharply with Republicans both inside and outside Connecticut during eight years in office and went out of his way to criticize then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. But Lamont does not focus on hurling political zingers.
“I’m not very good at that,” Lamont said. “That’s not my thing. I hope that me doing my job is the best way to campaign, and people can see the results.”
Some candidates, Lamont noted, are influenced by out-of-state political operatives who pressure them to adopt an aggressive, harsh tone in order to blast their opponents.
“Sometimes you get captured by a consultant,” Lamont said. “They talk about drawing contrasts. All of a sudden they’re throwing punches, and it’s not really their way of doing things. This is a state that likes people to work together.”
Longtime Hartford political operative Matthew J. Hennessy, who is a Lamont supporter, said that polling shows that Lamont’s personality is appealing to many voters across the political spectrum.
“Ned’s got advantages and the largest bipartisan support of any candidate,” Hennessy said. “Ned is not going to get into a scrap. He’s a Connecticut candidate. People in Westport are happy with him. People in West Hartford are happy with him.”
Poll
Despite his low poll numbers, Elliott expressed optimism and said he was not concerned about his numbers or his status in the race.
“Nothing about this surprises me,” Elliott said in an interview. “Even after seven years, 37% of likely Democratic voters still don’t know or are undecided who they would vote for. These numbers that Ned is showing are his high water mark. It’s not like these numbers get better for him. My feeling, too, is that people can like the governor, but also still not vote for him. … I think these numbers are great. I have plenty of time to continue making my case. Onward and upward.”
About being down by 55% to 7% in the poll, Elliott said that Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani “was at 1% in the polls for six months” before winning both the Democratic primary and then the general election to become New York City’s next mayor.
Lamont, Elliott said, needs to take a stronger stance on policy issues.
“There’s a number of reasons that he wants to paint himself as the person who is fixing the problems out there,” Elliott said. “Even when you look at the housing bill, he vetoed the housing bill and only allowed us to come back into session when it was watered down. He wants to eat his cake and have it, too. He wants to be seen both as a progressive governor and as a moderate governor, and at some point, he’s going to have to choose a lane.”
Lamont’s campaign did not respond to various comments made by Elliott and instead focused on the work ahead.
“Every day, the governor is focused on lowering costs for working and middle class families, seniors and all residents by advancing a Connecticut Option for health care, expanding housing options, making universal pre-K a reality and making Connecticut more affordable,” said Lauren Gray, the campaign press secretary. “We’ve done a lot of work, and Governor Lamont has a plan to continue leading our progress.”
Mostly out of the spotlight
Compared to Lamont’s constant appearances on television at press conferences and events around the state, Elliott has not often been in front of the cameras and microphones. He instead spends his time both raising money and generating support among key insiders as he looks ahead to the state party convention in May.
“It’s telephone calls all day to the people who have been delegates in previous cycles,” Elliott said. “It’s [Democratic Town Committee] meetings at night and talking to insiders there. The people I’ve been speaking with are Democrats who are internal and close to the process because May is the main inflection point, and winning the convention is the goal of this campaign. … It’s constant. It’s go, go, go.”
Elliott is working long hours, saying his busy schedule is “grueling.”
While no date has been announced, the state convention will be held after the 2026 General Assembly session ends on May 6.
The immediate hurdle for Elliott is that candidates need to raise $350,000 in small contributions under state law in order to qualify for public financing in the governor’s race. The amounts that candidates receive have been increased and adjusted for inflation, meaning that those who qualify would receive more than $3 million for an expected primary in August 2026 and more than $15 million for the general election in November 2026.
If Elliott reaches the goal for the public matching funds, he says he will run in a primary. If not, then he will not forge ahead.
“It really all depends on where the money is,” Elliott said. “If we’re not able to raise money, then we’ll make sure that a Democrat wins next November because the goal, as a Democrat, is to make sure that we have a Democrat who is victorious next November.”
If he qualifies on time, Elliott would receive $800,000 leading up to the state convention in May as part of the $3 million for the primary. He notes that he still needs to raise more than $250,000 in the coming months, which is about four times the amount that he has already raised.
Age and issues
With Democrats struggling nationally over their future direction, the party in Connecticut is facing some similar questions of ideological and generational lines as younger liberals challenge the “Old Guard” that has held office for years. The generational shift includes the challenge by Elliott, 41, against Lamont, 71, with liberals saying that Lamont has not been progressive enough on the taxation of the wealthy and disagree with his vetoes earlier this year of key bills on affordable housing and unemployment compensation for striking workers.
One of the defining issues in the governor’s race is that liberals oppose Lamont’s stance on blocking any tax increases on the state’s wealthiest residents beyond the current highest state income tax rate of 6.99%. Democrats have called for a surcharge on capital gains, which generate huge amounts of money for the wealthiest investors. But the surcharge proposal was eventually dropped this year and did not become part of the final budget.
A Greenwich multimillionaire, Lamont has opposed tax increases for the past seven years as the state has rolled up large budget surpluses.
“For some people, a tax increase is a first resort,” Lamont told reporters earlier this year. “For me, it’s an absolute last resort. We don’t need it. We’ve done well. We’re growing the economy. People are moving into the state.”
Elliott represents the other end of the spectrum, saying that the middle class pays too much of a percentage of their income on a variety of taxes, including sales and property taxes.
If he wins his third term, Lamont would be 73 years old when he is inaugurated in 2027 and would be 77 at the end of his third term. With a high level of personal financial security, Lamont could easily retire and spend the rest of his life traveling around the world.
But he is not doing that and instead wants to spend four more years heading the state.
“I love the job,” he said.
Christopher Keating can be reached at [email protected]