It Begins: Stefanowski to Launch Rematch Bid for Governor Wednesday.

Bob Stefanowski, who astonished Republicans by winning the party’s crowded 2018 primary for governor, will make official Wednesday his return to the arena. The Madison Republican gave Democrat Ned Lamont some nervous moments during the Democratic wave year. Stefanowski lost the Greenwich Democrat by 45,000 votes.

Stefanowski ran a single-issue campaign with a promise to repeal the state’s income tax. The self-funding Stefanowski advertised that pledge on cable news outlets at the start of 2018 while other candidates delayed entering the race or scrambled for months to qualify for public financing and seeking party convention delegates’ support.

Since his 2018 defeat. Stefanowski has become more familiar to party activists. He impressed many with his ability to locate. acquire, and distribute PPE during the traumatic early days of the COVID pandemic in 2020. The former payday loan honcho has been expanding his brief with opinion pieces published in Connecticut newspapers and the Wall Street Journal.

Stefanowski will face former state Representative Themis Klarides in the contest for the party nomination. Lamont is unopposed for the Democratic nomination. Lamont will fund his campaign from his fortune.

Posted January 18. 2022.