Bringing Democrats back to their roots

By Scott Benjamin

Connecticut is a commuter state with interstate exits every country mile and rural roads that have more turns and veers than the loop on the Candy Land board.

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Some of them are dotted with speed scoreboards.

With no tolls, Connecticut also is a pass-through state as I-95 and I-84 have become the best 18-wheel route in New England.

Speeding is more predictable than the Dodgers winning the National League West.

Fifteen municipalities have been approved for speed cameras.

“I’m hesitant about using them as a tool,” says state Rep. Josh Elliott, who is running against two-term incumbent Ned Lamont in the August 11 Democratic gubernatorial primary.

“The problem with speed cameras is that we can’t have them inter-connected to a network of information gathering to show” that people are speeding, added Elliott, who lives in Hamden.

“People in our denser suburbs and the cities are concerned about speeding,” he commented. “I am more interested in building our transportation infrastructure so it is harder that you’re going to have accidents, that you are going to have fast drivers.”

Lamont of Greenwich is trying to become the first Democrat to win a third term as governor since the state adopted four-year terms with the 1950 election. If he serves out a third term – 12 years total – he would become the longest serving governor in Connecticut since it made the transition from being a colony to a state.

Lamont would surpass Democrat Bill O’Neill of East Hampton, who served for 10 years and one week – 1980 to 1991.

O’Neill had convention challenges, but never faced a primary. At the time, a losing contender at the convention needed at least 20 percent of the delegates to automatically qualify for a primary. State House Speaker Ernie Abate of Stamford only garnered 13.8 percent in 1982. Former U .S. Rep. Toby Moffett, who grew up in Suffield, had just 18 percent of the delegates at the 1986 convention.

The last time a governor faced a primary challenge was Democrat Ella Grasso of Windsor Locks. Her Lt. Gov., Bob Killian of Hartford, annexed 20.5 percent of delegates in 1978, but was trounced in a September primary.

The threshold is now 15 percent and Elliott took nearly 26 percent of the delegates at the convention in May.

Grasso and O’Neill, who had served as her lieutenant governor, each underscored their opposition to enacting an income tax. That levy weas enacted under A Connecticut Party candidate Lowell Weicker in 1991.

Now Elliott had made increasing taxes on the top one percent the hallmark of his progressive platform. He has cited research from Cornell University sociologist Cristobal Young that the wealthy won’t move out of state if they have to pay a higher levy.

Polling indicates that a large majority of residents support raising taxes on the rich.

Will Elliott, a small business owner, make his state and federal income tax returns public before the primary?

“I really haven’t thought about it,” he commented. “I have no problem with doing that.”

He also is running simultaneously this year for his state House seat in the 88^th District.

Former Bethel First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker said when he graduated from high school in 1971 the tax rate for the top earners was much higher and it helped fund schools, highways and hospitals.

Wall Street Journal columnist Andy Kessler recently wrote that nearly two out of three people age 30 and under approve of socialism.

‘It doesn’t surprise me,” Elliott said in an interview with Patch.com. “They are struggling more than they have before. The average age to buy your first house is now 40.”

Knickerbocker, who is the Democratic nominee in the 32^nd state Senate District, said the emergence of the Democratic Socialists of America is a boon for the party.

“I don’t view the far left as being radical,” remarked Knickerbocker, who had not endorsed either candidate in the primary. “Many of the things discussed today by the Social Democrats were discussed by Democrats decades ago. I think they are moving the Democratic Party back to its roots.”

Elliott cites Democrat former President Franklin Roosevelt as a role model.

Earlier this year as gasoline prices surged during Operation Epic Fury in Iran, Lamont proposed a temporary gas tax suspension. The state took that step for nine months in 2022 as inflation soared.

“I think basically it is a shell game,” said Elliott, pointing to the revenue that would be lost in the special transportation fund, which finances road repairs and plowing during the winter storms.

He said with the boosts in electric and hybrid cars on the roads, Connecticut needs to be less reliant on the gas tax.

On another issue, Elliott said he supports efforts by the New England governors to increase utilization of nuclear energy. Connecticut reportedly has the highest electric rates in the 48 contiguous states and has held that distinction for many years.

“I want to get off of anything that is carbon-producing with the recognition that nuclear is not the be-all,” he explained.

Elliott, who was initially elected to the state House in 2016, also wants to limit cell-phone use in the public schools.

“I don’t believe in a wholesale ban,” he remarked. “There are kids that are at risk that might need a cell phone. “But I do believe in less cell-phone use.”

Critics have said this should be a school district decision.

“I think having a base that is set from the state makes the most sense,” Elliott said. “I do think the school districts should weigh in heavily.”

Enrollment has ebbed in recent years at the four-year universities in the state’s Board of Regents system.

Ovin Adedoyin of The Wall Street Journal recently reported that there are people in their 60s who are delaying retirement because they’re still paying college student loans. Republican former Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst told Patch.com nine years ago when he was running for governor that the next Great Recession would result from delinquent college student loan debut.

College-for-all appears to be an outdated concept.

In fairness to the taxpayers, should the four-year campuses be downsized?

Elliott commented, “Over the last 15 years there has been chronic disinvestment in higher education, which has made it more expensive. If students do a cost/benefit analysis they’re going to be less interested in going.”

“We should be investing in our higher education system,” he remarked.

Mark Pazniokas of CT Mirror has written that former Gov. Dannel Malloy (D-Essex), Lamont’s immediate predecessor, established a second chance society for prison inmates and turned Connecticut “into a nationally watched laboratory for criminal justice reform” with revised parole and pardon procedures.

Elliott said Malloy provided the “resources to make sure that our prison policies were successful and people could become productive and were less likely to return to prison again. his program was a success.”

He said Lamont has failed to make a similar commitment.

Rob Blanchard, a senior advisor on Lamont’s campaign, disagreed, stating, "Governor Lamont has continued to invest in proven reentry programs while strengthening supervision and accountability to protect public safety. Under his leadership, Connecticut has enacted landmark second-chance policies like Clean Slate while maintaining historically low crime rates, demonstrating that rehabilitation and public safety go hand in hand."

Blanchard wrote, "Governor Lamont's administration is focused on reducing recidivism through results and Connecticut is stronger and safer because of that approach."

Remarked Elliott, “There is a disinvestment. We’re pulling away. I’m not only afraid for the people of our state but for the people being incarcerated.”

Resources:

Phone interview with Josh Elliott, Patch.com, on Thursday, July 2, 2026.

Phone interview with Matt Knickerbocker, Patch.com, on Friday, July 3, 2026.

E-m ail statement from Rob Blanchard, Patch.com, on Monday, July 6, 2026.

https://ctmirror.org/2019/01/04/malloy-leaves-office-national-leader-criminal-justice-reform/

https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/student-loan-debt-retirement-865978d2

https://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/08/nyregion/a-crackdown-in-connecticut-cuts-highway-speeding-29.html

Tim Herbst, 2017 interview with Patch.com.