With a little over a year until the 2026 election, the candidates for Connecticut governor are scrambling to raise money and put themselves in the best position to win.
Republican candidate Ryan Fazio, a state senator from Greenwich, announced this week that he has raised the most money for a single quarter of any Republican in the history of the Citizen’s Election Program for public financing with more than $157,000 in small contributions.
At the same time, New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart raised about $102,000 in the quarter and more than $350,000 overall. While Stewart has been in the race longer than Fazio, she is technically in a different category as an “exploratory” statewide candidate who has not yet officially announced her intentions to run for governor.
After getting into the governor’s race relatively late on Aug. 13, Fazio raised the money in contributions of $250 or less that is required for candidates seeking to obtain public financing of their campaign. The money was collected in 49 days from more than 1,000 individuals statewide, covering 114 of the 169 cities and towns.
Fazio has not raised the most on a quarterly basis for public financing for all candidates in state history because then-Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat, raised more money when he was running for re-election in 2018.
“It’s an indication of our broad support, and the hunger people have for positive change in Connecticut — to protect taxpayers, reduce electric rates, and protect the public safety,” Fazio told The Courant. “It is a serious achievement of our team and our campaign to have the highest single quarter fundraise of any Republican candidate for statewide office under the CEP, and the highest single quarter fundraise of any non-incumbent. We think Dannel Malloy in his re-election run is the only quarterly report ever to report higher than us. I think it’s a sign of positive things to come. People are uniting around a message of positive change.”
Stewart also touted her numbers, saying she has largely completed her fundraising. The amounts that candidates receive will be adjusted for inflation, but those who qualify would receive more than $3 million for an expected primary in August 2026 and more than $15 million for the general election in November 2026.
“We have exceeded our internal goals and have turned a lot of heads in Hartford,” Stewart said in a statement. “This is a people-powered movement, and that is evident in the sheer volume of donations we’ve received. A lot of hard working people kicked in whatever they could afford, $10, $25, or $50 to make this happen. That’s the most important endorsement anyone can get. Everyday residents of Connecticut are looking for something different, and that’s what my potential candidacy represents.”
Without explicitly saying that Lamont and Fazio live in wealthy Greenwich, Stewart said, “It’s evident that residents of Connecticut are yearning to be represented by a different type of leader – someone who comes from a working-class background, someone who is intimately familiar with the challenges of raising a growing family in Connecticut.”
While Stewart and Fazio have been raising money, Westport first selectwoman Jennifer Tooker quietly dropped out of the race last month as political insiders had not viewed her as a major contender against Lamont.
While his supporters and detractors say Lamont is certainly in the race, he has not made any formal announcements.
When asked by The Courant how many times he has been asked if he will be running in 2026, Lamont responded, “I think a few hundred.”
As part of his low-key political style that differs sharply from partisan politicians in Washington, D.C., Lamont has avoided sharply criticizing any of his potential challengers. Regarding the recent fundraising numbers posted by Fazio, Lamont said, “More power to him.”
Unlike candidates who need to travel across the state to raise money, the independently wealthy Lamont can delay announcing his campaign because he can simply write a large check and get the campaign off to a fast start. He has spent more than $60 million of his own money in statewide campaigns against U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman in 2006, Democrat Dannel P. Malloy in 2010, and gubernatorial runs against Republican Bob Stefanowski in 2018 and 2022.
Lamont’s Democratic opponent, state Rep. Josh Elliott of Hamden, said he raised about $45,000 over eight weeks. That included about 570 individuals with an average contribution of $40. He said Wednesday that he has been helped by the chairs of Democratic Town Committees across the state, as well as committee chairs from various committees at the state Capitol in Hartford.
With Democrats struggling nationally over their future direction, the party in Connecticut is facing some similar questions of ideological and generational lines as younger liberals challenge the “Old Guard” that has held office for years. The generational shift includes a challenge by Elliott, 40, against Lamont, 71, with liberals saying that Lamont has not been progressive enough on the taxation of the wealthy and disagree with his vetoes earlier this year of key bills on affordable housing and unemployment compensation for workers on strike for more than 14 days.
Polling
Lamont’s supporters counter that polling in the summer by Morning Consult showed Lamont among the most popular governors in the country with an approval rate of 63% and a disapproval rating of 29%.
In addition, the latest poll by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center showed that 43% of Connecticut voters say Lamont deserves to be re-elected next year and 40% say he does not. Those saying he deserves reelection includes 60% of Democrats, 40% of unaffiliated, and only 10% of Republicans. Overall, 54% approve of the job Lamont is currently doing, 36% disapprove, and 10% are unsure. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
The poll also showed that only 6% of conservative radio listeners believe Lamont deserves to be elected, compared to 31% of Fox News viewers and 80% of CNN viewers.
One of the defining issues in the governor’s race is that liberals oppose Lamont’s stance on blocking any tax increases on the state’s wealthiest residents beyond the current highest rate of 6.99%. Democrats have called for a surcharge on capital gains, which generate huge amounts of money for the wealthiest investors. But the surcharge proposal was eventually dropped this year and did not become part of the final budget.
A Greenwich multimillionaire, Lamont has opposed tax increases for the past seven years as the state has rolled up large budget surpluses.
“For some people, a tax increase is a first resort,” Lamont told reporters earlier this year. “For me, it’s an absolute last resort. We don’t need it. We’ve done well. We’re growing the economy. People are moving into the state.”
Elliott, 40, represents the other end of the spectrum, saying that the middle class pays too much of a percentage of their income in a variety of taxes, including sales and property taxes.
Connecticut state Sen. Saud Anwar looks on as state Rep. Josh Elliott speaks with reporters before announcing his candidacy for governor during a press conference at Hamden Town Hall on July 14, 2025. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)
Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com
