Clay Cope Runs for Fifth Congressional District

BROOKFIELD, CT--

First of a four-part series written by Scott Benjamin

Clay Cope says since he moved to Sherman in 2001, people have asked him to run for various offices.

He was president of the library association, served on the Planning & Zoning Commission and then in 2011 he defeated the incumbent Democratic first selectman.

He said it is gratifying to be able to help “my friends and neighbors. It’s a 24/7 job and it is a joy."

Before being elected to a third term last fall some residents urged him to run for the congressional seat in the Fifth District, which stretches from Newtown to Salisbury.

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Two-term Democratic incumbent Elizabeth Esty has called it one of the “most diverse” districts in the country.

Cope formally announced his candidacy in Danbury City Hall January 27 to an audience that included Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, 2014 Republican congressional nominee Mark Greenberg of Litchfield and other municipal officials from the region.

Cope spent 28 years in marketing for Victor Costa Inc. a fashion brand that is on the QVC home-shopping network. 

Cope faces three other contenders for the Republican nomination - John Pistone of Brookfield, Matt Maxwell of Newtown and Bill Stevens of Newtown. Pistone. first ran in 2010 and took .9 percent of the vote as an independent in 2014.

Cope said during a recent interview that former U.S. Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-5) of New Britain, who served longer in the U.S. House than any Republican in Connecticut history, is a role model. About a decade ago she helped him secure federal funds for expanding the library by enlisting the support of a Democratic colleague.

“She seemed to be everywhere as she tried to help people,” he said.

Cope said his goal is to raise $2.75 million to capture the seat in what has largely been considered a swing district since the early 1970s. Esty raised $2.952 million during the 2014 race, according to OpenSecrets.org.

Cope said there appears to be more revolt among voters this year as a result of the dawdling economic recovery from the Great Recession and heightened concerns about homeland security.

Since undergoing a transformation in 2002 when Connecticut’s allotment was cut from six to five districts, the results in the five cities in the district has become the biggest factor in the outcome, as what was a Democratic problem has become a Republican problem.

Longtime GOP operative Dave Boomer, who managed Johnson’s 2002 and 2006 campaigns, told reporters during each race that the Democratic nominee would have to win Waterbury, New Britain, Danbury, Meriden and Torrington by at least a combined 15,000 votes to overcome the Republican pluralities that accumulate in many of the suburbs and rural towns in the 41-municipality district.

Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Maloney of Danbury couldn’t reach that threshold in 2002, but U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Cheshire) won the five cities by more than a combined 19,000 votes in 2006 and the Democrats have met the 15,000 vote-plurality target in the four subsequent congressional races.

For example, in 2010 then-state Sen. Sam Caliguri of Waterbury was outpolled by Democratic incumbent Chris Murphy of Cheshire in the Brass City. Murphy’s victory gave him a third term in what was a strong Republican election nationally and a springboard for winning a U.S. Senate seat two years later.

Additionally, parts of the rural Northwest Corner of Litchfield County have gone Democratic recently. In 2012 Esty captured Salisbury and Kent over former state Sen. Andrew Roraback (R-30) of Goshen, even though he had represented them in the upper chamber for 12 years. Two years ago she also broke through with victories against Greenberg in New Milford, Simsbury, Newtown and Sharon.

Esty defeated Roraback by 7,361 votes in 2012 and upended Greenberg by 15,786 with a lower turnout during the midterm election in 2014.

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5th Congressional District Towns Include:

Avon, Goshen, Newtown, Southbury, Bethel, Harwinton, Norfolk, Thomaston, Bethlehem, Kent, North Canaan, Warren, Bridgewater, Litchfield, Plainville, Washington, Brookfield, Meriden, Plymouth, Watertown, Burlington, Middlebury, Roxbury, Wolcott, Canaan, Canton, Morris, Salisbury, Woodbury, Cheshire, New Britain, Sharon, Torrington, Cornwall, New Fairfield, Sherman, Waterbury, Danbury, New Milford, Simsbury and Farmington.

Image via "Clay for Congress" Facebook page