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Some numbers from 2020 that delegates to the 36th Senate District nominating convention for August’s special election:

Leora Levy cast Connecticut’s 28 votes for Donald Trump at the party’s nominating convention.

Donald Trump received 37% of the vote in Greenwich, 39% in New Canaan, and 30% in Stamford.

Ryan Fazio won 48.6% of the vote, in his race against incumbent Democrat Alex Kasser, a margin of 1562 votes out of more than 56,000 votes cast. Fazio won Greenwich and New Canaan against a ferocious tide at the top of the ticket.

Levy, who the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate declined to confirm as Trump’s nominee to be the United States ambassador to Chile, will formally announce her candidacy for the open Senate seat on Tuesday, July 6th. The retired commodities trader has spent the past week haranguing delegates and others to support her based largely on her history of making campaign donations.

It’s not a terrible consolation prize. Dita Bhargava has lost races for the state House of Representatives, governor, and state treasurer. The Greenwich Democrat launched unsuccessful bids for governor and treasurer in 2018. Bhargava left the Democratic contest for governor when Ned Lamont and his fortune entered the race in early 2018. Bhargava is considering a long shot bid for the vacant 36th Senate District.

The former “macro portfolio manager” sought to use her financial sector experience to catapult into that year’s treasurer’s race. She suffered decisive defeats by Shawn Wooden at the nominating convention and the primary that followed.

Bhargava raised campaign contributions for Vice President Kamala Harris before the California Democrat’s 2020 presidential campaign collapsed.

Connecticut’s restrictive ballot access rules are especially favorable to party insiders when a vacancy occurs. Delegates from Greenwich, Stamford, and New Canaan who nominated Alex Kasser, the former Greenwich Democrat who resigned last week to concentrate on her contentious, high stakes divorce, will gather to select a nominee for the summer special election. A simple majority of delegates clinches the nomination. Primaries are prohibited.

Democratic observers believe the delegates are unlikely to support Bhargava.

Ben Proto cruised to an easy first ballot win Tuesday night in the long contest to become chair of the state’s shrinking Republican Party. Proto won 55 votes, Jim Campbell 18.5 and Gary Byron 15.5. After a round of treachery—the switches—Proto increased his total to 69.5 as Campbell’s support fled to Proto.

Proto’s first task will be to provide meaningful support in this summer’s sudden special state Senate election.

The joint mission of the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribal nations to build a slot shack in East Windsor along I-91 is dead. The agreement reached by the tribes with the Lamont administration halts development of the gaming facility for the life of the agreement, 10 years.

East Windsor officials will want to know what MMCT, the joint tribal nations organization, intends to do with the empty parcel.

The Republican State Central Committee chose Susan Hatfield to serve as its chair until a new leader is elected to a full term in June. Hatfield was elected vice chair in 2019, after losing a 2018 bid for attorney general.

J.R. Romano abruptly resigned the chairmanship of the party organization in January after announcing in October he would not seek re-election. Hatfield became the favorite to fill the vacancy after Republican National Committee members Leora Levy and John Frey’s bid to take control of the state party came to grief by violating rules to prohibit the accumulation of power in too few hands.

What a day Wednesday was for money in Connecticut. Governor Ned Lamont released a proposed $46 billion balanced biennial budget. His recorded speech explaining parts of the document was broadcast at noon. Always a big day for a governor, especially when it’s likely the last major address before a re-election campaign begins.

Venture capital phenomenon Ann Huntress Lamont, the governor’s spouse and most powerful adviser, was enjoying a stunning win in her investment business. Mrs. Lamont is co-founder and managing partner of Oak HC/FT, which invests in healthcare and financial technology companies.

Oak HC/FT’s stake in Sema4 received some attention when the state entered into a contract for coronavirus testing services early in the pandemic. The Lamonts, as part of their ongoing management of the state’s ethics laws and their far-flung investments, pledged to donate to charity any benefit they might derive from the deal. Sema4 is merging with CM Life Sciences in a $2 billion deal that will see Sema4 snag $793 million when it closes in the second quarter of 2021.

Read the details of the complex deal here. There’s more here.

State Auditor Rob Kane has died. The Watertown Republican was found unresponsive at his home Friday afternoon after failing to answer attempts to reach him.

Kane served in the state Senate before becoming auditor in 2017, after declining to take the oath of office for another term in the Senate.

Muad Hrezi is running for Congress in Connecticut’s First Congressional District. Hrezi, a Democrat, is making the 2022 race “because we deserve a Representative in Washington who serves us. So as this journey unfolds, I look forward to hearing your concerns, earning your trust, and, ultimately, serving you in the halls of Congress.”

Hrezi offers the aggrieved view of life in 21st century United States from the left, but latches on to the same theme as those perpetually angry Trumpist. “[W]hile working in Congress, I witnessed firsthand how greedy special interests and politicians have rigged the system at our expense, furthering divisions and risking our democracy. It’s why I grew disillusioned and left.”

Hrezi describes himself on his Twitter profile as an educator, running coach, and proud Nutmegger. He is 26 years old, was born in Tripoli, and grew up in Naugatuck. Hrezi worked as a legislative correspondent in Senator Chris Murphy’s office from 2018 until September of last year. He is a substitute teacher at Southington High School and a patient companion for Independent Living Solutions Ltd.

Democratic incumbent John Larson won a 12th term in November.  

Republican Party chair J.R. Romano has resigned. Romano announced in the fall that he would not seek re-election in June. He sent an email to members of the state party committee Tuesday evening as the House of Representatives debated impeaching Donald Trump. Romano has been a vocal supporter of Trump and presided over two calamitous election cycles, 2018 and 2020, as state voters abandon Trump.

Angry Enfield Republican Mary Ann R. Turner enjoyed Wednesday in besieged Washington, D.C., while mourning “what little of America is left.” Turner turned to Facebook to lash out at four-term Republican state Representative Devin Carney for expressing his dismay at the coup attempt. Carney called the attack on democracy “The worst day I’ve ever seen.”

Turner, who was defeated for an Enfield state House seat in November, accused Carney of drinking Koolaid, declaring the gathering of weirdoes, kooks, and insurrectionists peaceful. Turner called on The shoreline Republican to resign his office “because you have proven you are easily manipulated.”