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Politics & Government

Political outsider aims for GOP nomination for lieutenant governor

Matt Corey wants to bolster Connecticut's economy

Scott Benjamin, Community Contributor

Posted Sun, Jun 1, 2025 at 4:26 pm ET

By Scott Benjamin

SOUTHINGTON – Sitting within earshot of the Q & A, a customer at Panera Bread approaches Matt Corey’s table to ask if this is an interview? Is it for an article? Will it be posted online, and when?

Corey, a Republican from Manchester, started running for major offices when Tom Foley’s autograph was more valuable than Aaron Boone’s and before Bob Stefanowski submitted a resume that had “savvy negotiator” in bold type.

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Yet, he doesn’t have the name or face recognition of Connecticut’s senior U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Greenwich, who has served as Grand Marshall at garage sales in each of the state’s 169 municipalities.

Corey campaigns on a beer and potato chips budget.

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He has run for the U.S. Senate twice, winning the GOP nomination both times in a primary.

He lost in the general election each time to U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Hartford), who raises enough money to buy a 12-bedroom mansion next to Mr. Magoo.

According to Ballotpedia, last year Murphy raised $15.3 million for his 2024 re-election campaign.

Corey generated $258,156. To put it in context: That is less than what Roberto Alves- the Democratic mayor of Danbury, Connecticut’s seventh largest city – generated two years ago when he initially captured that office.

Before his U.S. Senate campaigns, Corey twice ran for the U.S House seat in the First District. There also was a campaign for the state Senate.

He established an exploratory committee months ago with a plan that he might run for the Republican nomination for governor. He has now converted it into a campaign committee so that he can seek the GOP nod for lieutenant governor.

Corey acknowledges that it wasn’t just Murphy’s campaign treasury that kept him at just below 40 percent of the ballots in last November’s election.

But Corey, a US. Navy veteran, also noted that the rules are different for state office. If he raises a little under $90,000 in small contributions, he will receive a campaign grant through the Citizens’ Election Program (CEP) and compete “on a level playing field” with other candidates, who also are likely to seek a CEP grant.

Corey emphasized that the challenge of raising $350,000 to get a CEP grant run for the gubernatorial nomination did not steer him toward getting the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor.

“I think there are going to be some great candidates running for the Republican nomination for governor,” Corey said in an interview with Patch.com.

Westport First Selectman Jen Tooker has been in the race for months. New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart has an exploratory campaign committee and has accumulated $195,00 of the $350,000 needed to qualify for a CEP grant. She briefly made a bid for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2018 and then eventually placed second in the primary for the nomination for lieutenant governor.

Corey said he believes more candidates might enter the competition, particularly if Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Greenwich) doesn’t run for a third term.

He said that with his campaign experience any of the gubernatorial hopefuls “could benefit” from having him on the ticket.

Dominic Rapini of Branford lost to Corey in the 2018 GOP U.S. Senate primary. He said, “Matt would be an asset to any candidate running in the party for governor.”

Sprague Republican Town Committee Chairman Michael Meadows said that Corey understands that politics is a “people business.”

“He gets around to a lot of events. Connecticut seems like a small state until you start driving it,” he added in an apparent reference to the many parts of the state that are not quickly accessible to the interstate highways.

Over the last decade Corey has been one of the most outspoken supporters of Republican President Donald Trump. He attended the president’s large rally last October at James Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Jonathan Wharton is a professor of Political Science at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven. He formerly chaired the New Haven Republican Town committee.

Wharton said that since Trump’s initial election in 2016 there have been differences among Connecticut Republicans on “how to acknowledge” Trump.

However, Wharton said that Corey was running as a blue-collar Republican before Fox News aired its first MAGA rally.

Wharton noted that former Republican national committee member Leora Levy used an endorsement from Trump as a megaphone to win the 2022 GOP U.S. Senate primary. In contrast, Republican former state Sen. George Logan “didn’t want to acknowledge” Trump during the 2024 race in the Fifth Congressional District when he was trying to unseat Democratic incumbent Jahana Hayes.

Gary Rose, a professor of Government at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield who has written books on Connecticut politics, has said, for example, suburban women usually trend equally for Republicans and Democrats. However, he said at a forum shortly after the 2018 election that largely due to Trump, suburban women had trended more to the Democrats, which may have been one of the reasons that Lamont bested Stefanowski in that year’s gubernatorial race.

However, in a recent phone interview, Rose said circumstances have changed.

He commented that Trump’s vote percentage in nearly 80 percent of the Connecticut municipalities improved between his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 and his election to a second term in 2024 over Democrat Kamala Harris.

“I don’t think Trump is necessarily a liability to whoever the Republicans decide to nominate for governor,” Rose explained.

Said Corey, “President Trump has brought the Republican Party to the working-class people.”

He pointed to the president’s efforts to eliminate the income tax on tips for wait staff.

Corey declared, Trump is “taking care of the people who are doing the hardest jobs. Working in hotels, cleaning bathrooms, waiting tables. He is letting the hardest-working people keep more of their money.”

Meadows said in Connecticut, “The Republican base is very pro-Trump.”

He said that Corey’s “upset victory” in the 2024 Republican U.S. Senate primary “had a lot to do with his embracing the president. When you run away from the president, it hurts you.”.

”Your primary voters will come out to support the candidate that did embrace Donald Trump,” Meadows remarked.

Rapini said, “Matt is very strong in his principles. That is what makes him an outsider. He won’t compromise what he believes in just to fit in. Not all Republicans do that in Connecticut because they’re under the mistaken belief that you have to please everybody, and they end up pleasing nobody. Matt doesn’t suffer from that delusion.”

Last November, Corey distributed a news release criticizing Connecticut Republican Party Chairman Ben Proto of Stratford, stating that, “during our campaign, [he] advised us that embracing President Trump or even mentioning his name would hurt candidates in the state. He justified this by citing past races, like the 2022 Senate race, where President Trump’s endorsement was said to have negatively impacted Republican campaigns in Connecticut.”

Proto has told Patch.com that Corey’s statement is “a flat-out lie.” He noted that he served on the National Republican Platform Committee and sat in Trump’s box on the night that he was nominated last July.

Should Proto be elected in June to another term as state party chairman?

“I think he is the only one running,” said Corey. “We need someone in there.”

Should there be a challenger?

“I stay neutral,” he said. “I’m not an inside guy.” He added that it is up to the Republican State Central Committee to elect the chairman.

Corey commented “I would like to see him more vocal like I am and call out what is not right.”

Rose wrote in his 2023 book on Connecticut’s Republican Party that the GOP{gubernatorial candidates before or at the nominating convention should “let it be known” who they want to have as their running mate for lieutenant governor.

He added that if there is a primary, voters should “be alerted” to the gubernatorial candidates’ choices. Rose wrote that “Oddly paired:” tickets are usually less effective in the general election, as was the case in 2018 when Stefanowski of Madison and former state Sen. Joe Markley of Southington were paired.

Corey disagreed, saying, “I don’t like being anointed as a candidate.”

He indicated that could lead to him having to pursue “a ceremonial” role serving as lieutenant governor.

Commented Corey, “I believe we need an ambassador” in that position. The conservatives in Connecticut need a voice.”

He said he initially ran in 2012 as a petitioning candidate in the First Congressional District after witnessing the economic distress at layoff parties held at the pub he owned on Asylum Street in Hartford. The employees had worked in financial services, insurance and health care. Some of them were too young to retire but too old to get hired elsewhere.

“I want to make Connecticut more affordable,” declared Corey.

However, state House Deputy Speaker Pro Tempore Bob Godfrey (D-110) was saying last December that since being elected to the General Assembly in 1988 he never had seen as much concern about a potential loss in federal funding than what had surfaced after Trump won a second term.

Will the president’s cost-cutting make Connecticut even less affordable?

Corey remarked, “If you are that reliant on federal funds, you’re mismanaging the budget.”

He said Connecticut lacks a job growth blueprint.

He pointed to City Place I in Hartford, which, at 38 stories, is the tallest building in the state. Yet, it is only 49 percent occupied.

“That should scare the heck out of everybody,” declared Corey, who for years operated a window-washing company that serviced office buildings in the state.

“You wouldn’t hear it from the Connecticut biased media,” he exclaimed. “I’m not saying they are all biased.”

“Why aren’t they asking the big questions? Corey said.

“Why aren’t they asking the all-Democratic Connecticut congressional delegation why the border is secure now under President Trump and it wasn’t two, three years ago when Biden was in office?” he added.

“Where is the Connecticut media when it comes to asking these tough questions?” Corey declared. “I’ll tell you where they are: They’re afraid that [the Democratic office-holders] won’t keep going on their shows if they ask the tough questions. They want to keep the ratings up.”

“It didn’t help [that last fall Murphy] didn’t debate until nine days into early voting,” Corey said. “That’s unfair. Where were the Connecticut media calling that out?”

The state has raised its minimum wage by more than $6 an hour over the last eight years. It is now at $16.35 an hour. What is the impact on businesses?

Corey declared, “When you pay somebody coming out of high school $16.35 an hour: If that person is working for you for another five or six years, you are going to have to increase that salary by at least 10 percent.”

“You are paying someone $26, $27 an hour,” he continued. “I’m in the hospitality business. What happens is you price working families from going out to dinner, because you’re got a $25 for a burger or $7 or $8 for a bottle of beer.”

“You know who is washing the dishes now?” exclaimed Corey. “The bartenders, the waitresses, the cooks. You can’t bring someone else in at $16.35 an hour. I’m not saying that is a lot of money. But if you break it down, how many sandwiches are you making before you’re seeing a profit? If you do the math, you have to put out 150- sandwiches before you see a profit.”

Connecticut lowered its income rates two years ago. The middle-class rate was reduced from five percent to 4.5 percent and the lower-class rate went from three percent to two percent.

Should they be lowered further?

“If you can find savings and you can do that, yes, I’d love to do it,” Corey commented.

Some Democrat progressive want to increase taxes on the wealthy because the gap between the haves and have-nots has grown.

Corey said that he agrees with economist Art Laffer – the author of the supply-side Laffer Curve tax package – who recently told The Wall Street Journal that when you increase taxes on the wealthy they spend less and invest less.

“If you broke off Fairfield County, this state would be bankrupt,” Corey remarked, making reference to the capital gains revenue that Connecticut’s Gold Coast generates.

The state Senate Republicans want to establish an Office of Inspector General with a team of forensic auditors similar to the federal government’s operation.

Corey commented, “It definitely would absolutely pay for itself.” Among other things, he indicated that it would be a place for the “whistle-blowers” in the state work force to go to make complaints of waste and fraud.

What about changing the state’s practice of mandating above-cost minimum per bottle prices on wine and liquor in package stores? In 2016, CT News Junkie columnist Terry Cowgill called the practice “indefensible.”

“I am always for the free market,” said Corey. “However, I want to hear both sides” before making a decision.

He said there may be concerns that major retailers could put the family liquor stores out of business the way that “Lowes and Home Depot” have had an impact on the small hardware outlets.

He said he supports the two-year wage freeze on the state employees that has been endorsed by the Republican state Senate caucus. State Senate Republican Leader Stephen Harding (R-30) of Brookfield has said that the state workers have received through salary hikes and bonus pay a 33 percent boost since Lamont took office six years ago.

Corey opposes Lamont’s recent decision to legally exceed the state spending cap by one percent in the next budget.

He said it sets a dangerous precedent.

“You just keep making another excuse to break it again,” Corey commented. “I’ve never seen a temporary tax.”

On another topic, in 1992 Republican Vice President Dan Quayle caused “a major campaign controversy” when he delivered his “Murphy Brown” speech. Quayle included a reference to the title character on the CBS television show as he discussed the hazards of raising children outside of wedlock.

“Bearing babies irresponsibly is simply wrong,” Quayle explained.

Months later, shortly before the 1992 presidential election, Murphy Brown aired an episode with footage of some of Quayle’s comments and the characters mocked him. There were Democratic town committees in Connecticut that raised money at watch parties that night for their candidates and the Clinton-Gore ticket.

In 2012, Brookings Institute senior fellow Isabel Sawhill wrote in The Washington Post that the speech was “controversial” at the time but now seemed “prophetic.” In 1992, 30 percent of the babies were born outside of marriage and then, 20 years later, it had grown to 41 percent.

She wrote that it appeared to be an “irreversible trend.”

Sawhill stated that statistics show that the breakup rate for co-habituating parents is greater than for married couples with children.

Corey noted that he grew up in a home with seven children - five boys, two girls - who were cared for by a mother and father.

“Kids need both parents,” he remarked. “I’m not saying that single people can’t raise their kids. The success rate with marriage increases in my opinion.”

Will he discuss the benefits of marriage during the campaign?

“Absolutely,” Corey commented.

Columnist Chris Powell wrote recently in CT Insider that about 40% of births in the state are to women on Medicaid.

Said Corey, “Day care is one of the biggest problems that we need to address. We need to get you up the ladder. Let’s get you off to the work force.”

Who is the greatest sportscaster of all time: The late Jim McKay of ABC, who lived in Westport, or Jim Nantz of CBS, who formerly lived in Westport?

“That’s a tough one,” said Corey. “I like them both.”

Does Nantz get the nomination since he played golf with Republican former President George H.W. Bush, who grew up in Greenwich?

Corey says he is not sure.

Curt Smith, who wrote more presidential speeches for H.W. Bush than anyone, has said he probably is the best foreign policy president ever.

Columbia University presidential historian Timothy Naftali wrote a biography on H.W. Bush. He amplified Smith’s comment, stating that, “ no one of his generation was better prepared for the challenges facing the United States as the Cold War ended. Bush wisely encouraged the liberalization of the Soviet system and skillfully orchestrated the reunification of Germany. And following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, he united the global community to defeat Saddam Hussein.”

Corey says he admires H.W. Bush’s accomplishments. However, he noted that he grew up during Republican Richard Nixon’s presidency. Nixon ended the Vietnam War and visited China.

“My commander in chief was Ronald Reagan,” remarked Corey, who was in the Navy from 1982 to 1987. “I thought he was the best I’ve ever seen as a negotiator. That’s who I would go with.”

For example, Corey said Reagan took the proper steps in the 1980s with former Soviet Union leader, Mikhail Gorbachev.

“He didn’t embarrass Gorbachev” he said. “He made a point: Do you want to be looked at in the world as an Evil Empire? Take down that wall soon.”

Declared Corey, “That was one of the biggest things ever.”

Resources:

Interview with Matt Corey, Patch.com, on Saturday, May 24, 2025.

Phone interview with Matt Corey, Patch.com, on Tuesday, May 27, 2025.

Phone interview with Matt Corey, Patch.com, on Thursday, May 29, 2025.

E-mail interview with Matt Corey, Patch.com, on Saturday, May 31, 2025.

Phone interview with Jonathan Wharton, Patch.com, on Wednesday, May 21, 2025.

Phone interview with Michael Meadows, Patch.com, on Wednesday, May 28, 2025.

Phone interview with Dominic Rapini, Patch.com, on Wednesday, May 28, 2025.

Phone interview with Gary Rose, Patch.com, on Monday, March 17, 2025.