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A nutty screed appeared in Killingworth mailboxes today. It provides a reminder that we are fighting two viruses, one is respiratory, the other launches a ferocious assault on reason.

The campaign for the next chairman of Connecticut’s Republican state party organization has begun. Milford Republican Christopher Lancia launched in an email to the party’s state central committee members. Lancia managed Margaret Streicker’s campaign in the Third Congressional District. Incumbent Democrat Rosa DeLauro defeated Streicker by 68,000 votes, according to unofficial returns.

Lancia is seeking to replace party chairman J.R. Romano, who announced before the election that he would not run for re-election. The election takes place in June.

Lancia wrote:

Hi, I wanted to reach out to everyone On the committee and introduce myself before I make a public announcement. 

I am 49 years old I am the father of 3 children I was born and raised in Bridgeport now reside in Milford I am on the RTC in Milford and was Margaret Stickers, [sic] campaign manager. I have been trying to call each one of you introducing myself and answering questions for each one of you. I will be sending out another e-mail soon explaining what I want to focus on and how I would like to take the party to victory in a PowerPoint presentation.

I will be laying out a path for everyone to be involved in as one team with one vision. Please feel free to call me with any questions. This has to be an all hands on deck.

Streicker self-financed her bid against DeLauro, who was running for a 16th term from the New Haven-area district. DeLauro won by nearly 20% but Streicker mounted the first challenge that caught the popular DeLauro’s attention and caused her to pay attention to a Republican opponent for the first time in more than two decades.

Expect others to join the race to lead state Republicans.

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) injected a dose of reality to the complex art of jockeying for a cabinet position in the formation of the Biden administration. The Greenwich Democrat told Politico, “There’s so much talent outside the Senate…This is going to be a really, really challenging two years because President Biden is going to need strong leadership in the Congress. … And I think he’ll prefer to have people he trusts be here.”

Connecticut’s junior senator, Democrat Chris Murphy, disagrees. He says in the same story, “I understand that one or two vacancies can make a difference, but if President-elect Biden thinks there’s someone in the Senate who is going to serve him well and is the clear best choice then he should choose that person…I would hope that Vice President Biden would look to members of Congress to fill out some key slots.”

Murphy was mentioned in Politico stories before last week’s election as a prospect to lead the State Department.

Democrats defeated two Republican Senate incumbents, considerably fewer than expected, last week. They picked up the seat held by Alabama incumbent Democrat Doug Jones. Two Georgia seats held by Republicans will be decided in a January 5th runoff. Democrats will need to win both those to reach 50 seats.

Senate special elections can be unpredictable. Jones scored an upset win in the contest to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Jeff Sessions to become Donald Trumps tormented attorney general. In 2010, Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown won a stunning victory in a winter contest to fill the vacancy created by the death of Senator Edward M. Kennedy.

State Senator Kevin Kelly has been elected leader of the dozen members of the Senate Republican caucus. Kelly beat back a challenge by Canton Republican Kevin Witkos in what had become an intense, personal fight in among the Republican survivors of another disappointing year.

Kelly will need to make swift and extensive changes in the upper reaches of the Senate Republicans’ management team if they party is to have any chance at increasing its numbers in 2022–and making itself felt in the Senate before that.

State Representative Robyn Porter (D-New Haven) has been telling supporters that she is ending her bid to become the House Majority Leader. House Democrats will meet Thursday afternoon to elect new leaders.

Porter was competing with East Hartford Democrat Jason Rojas in the contest to succeed Representative Matthew Ritter, who will be elected Speaker of the House at the same meeting that will see Rojas win with the unanimous support of the 98 member caucus.

State Senator George Logan issued a statement Thursday morning:

“I just called Mr. Cabrera to congratulate him on the election win. I have certainly enjoyed the whole experience. It’s been great in terms of working with a group of such wonderful legislators, staff and especially everyone in our community to help improve the lives of folks living in the 17th SD and to fix Connecticut. For now, I will continue my community service work at the local level. Thank you for all your time and support. Be well.”

Logan, a Republican, was seeking a third term against Hamden Democrat Jorge Cabrera in a rematch of their close 2018 contest.

We will elect more than a president Tuesday. Connecticut elects five members of Congress, 36 state senators, and 151 state representatives. Duby McDowell and I will join the WFSB news team, and will have results and reactions from a constellation of political pros.

If you have not already, download the WFSB app to your devices and start watching at 8 p.m.

During the last two days of the 1960 presidential campaign, John F. Kennedy made five stops in Connecticut: Waterbury, Wallingford, New Haven, Bridgeport, and Hartford.

JFK was astonished when he arrived in Waterbury in the middle of the chilly night to see 30,000 supporters gathered on the green.

He stopped in Hartford on Monday.

Retiring House Minority Leader Themis Klarides’s unofficial gubernatorial exploratory committee, Fight for Connecticut, had trouble complying with federal campaign finance rules in its first quarter. The committee, formed during this campaign season, exceeded limitations on contributions to two Republican candidates.

The Klarides committee, which features photographs in its ads and on its website of the Derby Republican, sent contributions to the Margaret Streicker campaign in the 3rd Congressional District and David X. Sullivan in the Fifth. The committee’s low number of donors and short duration limited its contributions to $2,800 each.

The most recent federal campaign finance report shows Klarides’s committee making a $2,800 donation to Streicker on October 14th and contributions of $2,800 and 2,200 to Sullivan on the same day. It also reveals Sullivan returned $2,200 to Klarides on busy October 14th. A Fight for Connecticut spokesperson had indicated the committee would be making a $5,000 contribution to the Streicker and Sullivan campaigns.

The committee’s most significant expenditure was to a political analytics firm associated with Ted Cruz, the Texas senator and 2016 presidential hopeful turned ardent Donald Trump supporter.