Democratic party endorsed candidate Ned Lamont of Greenwich will be the Democratic candidate for Governor. Defeating defeating Bridgeport mayor and ex-convict Joe Ganim, Lamont seeks to replace two-term Democratic governor Dannel Malloy, who chose not to run for re-election.
Because Tuesday’s elections were state-wide primaries, the Town of Greenwich was required to use the Secretary of the State’s Election Night Reporting System (ENR).
But while polls closed at 8:00pm, but the state system had yet to publish results as of 9:25pm.
By 8:30pm the Associated Press and multiple outlets reported that Lamont, leading by 70 percentage points with 11% of precincts reporting, won the Democratic nomination with Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim at just 15 percentage points.
Ganim, who had tried to paint Lamont as an elitist unable to relate to working people, criticized the businessman for, among other things, his net worth and former membership in the Round Hill Club. The former mayor of Bridgeport was re-elected after serving seven years in prison on corruption charges, which was something of a comeback.
He had been convicted by a federal jury in 2003 of racketeering, extortion, bribery and mail fraud, and other felonies, for his part in a six year scheme to shake down Bridgeport contractors for over a half million dollars in cash, meals, clothing, wine and home renovations.
Mr. Lamont, now 64, who was endorsed by the Greenwich DTC on Aug 7, an unprecedented move, wound up staging his own comeback.
In 2006 Lamont challenged three term Senator Joe Lieberman, who was a Democrat, for his unwavering support of the unpopular Iraq war. Though he beat Lieberman in the Democratic primary, Lieberman won the general election by about 10 percentage points, running as an independent.
In 2010 Lamont lost the Democratic primary for Governor to Malloy by 15 percentage points.
“We understand that having a local town committee endorse a primary candidate for statewide office is unusual, by these are unusual times,” said DTC leader Tony Turner after announcing the endorsement. “Many in our community know Ned as a neighbor, businessman, elected official and friend. He is a man of great integrity, ethics and honesty who puts his dedication to serving above self-interest. More than ever, we need that moral strength and leadership.”
According to the Town of Greenwich registrar’s email alerts, a combined total of 5,872 voters voted on Tuesday in both primaries out of a total of 22,478 eligible voters. That translated to a turnout of 26.12% overall.