CT Republicans Pick Governor Candidate, Primary Expected

HARTFORD, CT — The race to succeed Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is picking up steam and Republican delegates met this weekend at Foxwoods Resort Casino to pick its party-endorsed candidates for the fall election and delegates chose Popular Danbury Mayor Mark D. Boughton to be their Gubernatorial candidate.

Boughton beat back a strong challenge from Former Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst. Steve Obsitnik, a Navy veteran and tech consultant finished third.

Boughton secured the party's nomination after some major wheeling and dealing by delegates who left Obsitnik after the initial third round voting, and decided to back Boughton, which pushed him over the top. Boughton needed to secure 556 votes from the delegates, which is the number he ended up with.

After Boughton looked to have secured the nomination around 6:30 p.m., some delegates protested and indicated they wanted to keep voting, but it was quickly decided that Boughton was the winner, according to the assembled media including the Hartford Courant's Neil Vigdor.

While Boughton can enjoy tonight's victory, it's still very likely he will be engaged in a primary on Aug. 14 with Herbst, Obsitnik, and two other candidates, who bypassed the convention altogether.

Other challengers: Prasad Srinivasan and Mike Handler were eliminated after the first round, and Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti, self-proclaimed political outsider, David Walker, and Peter Lumaj, of Fairfield, were all eliminated after the second round of voting.

New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart bowed out of the race on Friday and lost her bid to run for lieutenant governor Saturday night as State Sen. Joseph Markley earned the endorsement. Stewart can force a primary though.

In the first round of balloting Herbst got off to an early lead over his challengers including Boughton but by the end of Round 1 Boughton was on top with 24 percent and Herbst ended up with 19 percent.

Srinivasan and Handler were eliminated after they both failed to receive the required 8 percent of the vote.

In the second round, Lauretti, Walker, and Lumaj, of Fairfield were eliminated after failing to secure 15 percent of the vote in order to advance to the third round. Once again Boughton edged Herbst in Round 2 by a tally of 36 to 28 percent. Obsitnik secured 17 percent of the vote to advance to the next round of voting.

In the third round after several delegates kept switching who they were supporting, Boughton secured the magic number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination. At one point in the third round, Herbst was only 5 percentage points behind Boughton.

Boughton, 54, is in his ninth-term as Danbury mayor and is well-known on social media, especially Twitter as 'Mayor Mark' where he live-tweets about the popular AMC TV show, 'The Walking Dead,' and quips with students about snow days. Of course, he also documents numerous events going on in Danbury too. Before becoming mayor served in the General Assembly's state house of representatives.

Herbst was first elected as first selectman in 2009 at the age of 29, the youngest in Trumbull's history, and decided to not seek reelection last year and instead focus on a gubernatorial run.

Herbst ran a close race for state treasurer in 2014 and narrowly lost to longtime Democrat incumbent Denise Nappier.

Republicans this weekend also picked Susan Hatfield to run for the attorney general position, and backed Matthew Corey, of Manchester, to run against U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-CT. For State Treasurer it was a very narrow victory for Thad Gray who turned back State Sen. Art Linares, of Westbrook, by one percentage point. For Comptroller Kurt Miller, who is Seymour First Selectman received the nod, and Susan Chapman was endorsed to run for secretary of the state.

For the U.S. Congressional races, Republicans picked: Jennifer Nye to challenge U.S. Rep. John Larson, Dan Postemski to challenge U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, Angel Cadena will challenge U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, and Harry Arora will challenge Jim Himes.

On Friday, former Meriden Mayor Manny Santos won the CT GOP endorsement in the 5th Congressional District, which is currently held by Elizabeth Esty, who has said she won't seek reelection, NBC Connecticut reports. However, Ruby O'Neill states she plans to primary.

For in-depth coverage and analysis on the GOP convention check out the Hartford Courant's coverage here, Connecticut News Junkie here and Hearst Media here.