1. Now that the Republican and Democratic primaries in Connecticut have come and gone, it’s a good time to assess what we have learned. More importantly, what we think we learned.
2. What we think we learned goes something like this: 2018 is a year for outsiders.
3. How else to explain Tuesday’s results? Republican @bobforgovernor came from behind to beat party-endorsed candidate @MayorMark in the race for governor. Democrat @JahanaHayesCT did the same, overtaking party-endorsed candidate Mary Glassman in the race for CT's 5th District.
4. Davi Lynn Morse, an aide to Glassman, told the @connpost that outsiders are in, insiders are out. “I’m very disappointed,” Morse said. “I’ve known Mary for 30 years. It sucks. Mary lost because of that. They [voters] just are not supporting long-term politicians.”
5. There’s something to the outsider story, but only something. Look closely and other things come to light. For instance, the fact that Jahana Hayes is electric. She is a radiant Obama-esque personality ready for primetime.
6. Democratic voters didn’t know that in the beginning. A combination of fear and caution compelled them to get behind Glassman after U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty said she wouldn’t run. That was sensible. Glassman is a known quality.
7. (She’s run for statewide office numerous times; she was Simbury’s first selectwoman for eight terms.) But with a nudge from U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, and fundraising power from a former Esty aide, Hayes found her groove.
8. Did Democratic voters want an outsider?
Sure, an outsider named Jahana Hayes.
Sure, an outsider named Jahana Hayes.
9. You could say, in choosing businessman Bob Stefanowski, that Republican voters wanted an outsider. You could also say the Connecticut GOP was too weak to winnow the candidate field down to a manageable couple of candidates the way the Dem Party did. The latter is more likely.
10. Think about it. Businessman Ned Lamont faced off with Bridgeport Mayor @joeganim. The electorate was split two ways. But Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton faced four candidates, preventing his campaign from building momentum. The electorate was split five ways.
11. To be sure, voters might have seen a little Donald Trump in Stefanowski, but that says less about a yen for outsiders, in my view, than it does about weakness in the state GOP. Matters outside the state matter more than matters inside.
12. Moreover, if Democratic voters wanted a political outsider, they would have, in addition to picking Jahana Hayes, picked for lieutenant governor Eva Bermúdez Zimmerman, a Latina activist with no experience in public office.
13. Instead, they voted for Susan Bysiewicz, a former secretary of the state and candidate for governor, a perennial presence in state and local affairs, the insider’s insider.
14. Why Bysiewicz, but not Glassman? That’s a good question. Partly, it’s due to Hayes’ electricity. Partly, it’s due to Bysiewicz’s alleged liabilities being over-hyped.
15. (Recall that she was at the center of an intra-party convention fight over the future of @CTDems, particularly the role of people of color in that future; well, I guess that amounted to nothing in particular.) But it mostly had to do with the offices they are running for.
16. The job of lieutenant governor is a fairly meaningless one. Aside from ceremony, it matters in two ways: to break ties in the state Senate, and to replace the governor if he/she dies.
17. The job of being a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, however, is meaningful, especially in that Democrats want to send Hayes to Washington now, in an era dominated by an unpopular president.
18. Hayes brings not only a contagious story, but a set of morals state Democrats see missing from the halls of power.
19. The biggest takeaway from the 2018 primary season, in my view, is that endorsements still matter. Candidates for statewide office endorsed by the state Democratic Party went on to win the party’s primary:
20. Lamont, Bysiewicz, William Tong, for attorney general, and Shawn Wooden, for state treasurer. (Secretary of the State Denise Merrill and Comptroller Kevin Lembo were unchallenged.)
21. So parties still matter in Connecticut.
Especially if they are strong.
Especially if they are strong.
22. I write about state and local politics for the @nhregister. Many of my peers and counterparts do too in small newspapers around the country. Subscribe to one! Thanks for reading this thread. nhregister.com/opinion/articl…
