Joe Visconti, who ran for governor as a petitioning candidate in 2014, will run for run for governor once more. Visconti will seek the Republican nomination for governor against many opponents. Visconti sought the Republican nomination for governor in 2014 but received almost no support.

Visconti endorsed Republican Tom Foley the weekend before the election. Foley was defeated by incumbent Dannel P. Malloy.

Mike Jarjura, the former Waterbury mayor, is running for judge of probate as a Democrat in a November special election. Jarjura earned a place in political history in 2005 when he won re-election as mayor with write-in votes. Jarjura had lost the Democratic primary to Karen Mulcahy, the city tax collector.

Jarjura ran for governor as a Democrat in the eventful 2010 political cycle and switched to the comptroller’s race. He lost that summer’s primary to Kevin Lembo, who is in his second term as comptroller and is contemplating a race for governor. In that race, Jarjura accused Lembo of working as chief of staff to a right wing Republican in New York. That was Betsy McCaughey, who served as lieutenant governor of New York from 1994-1998.

Jarjura ran for re-election in Waterbury in 2011 as a Republican and was defeated in a bitter contest with retired police chief Neil O’Leary, the Democratic candidate.

He’s back. Litchfield real estate developer and persistent congressional candidate Mark Greenberg is running for State Comptroller. The Republican ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010, 2012, and 2014. Greenberg was the party’s nominee in his last bid, losing to incumbent Democrat and Cheshire millionaire Elizabeth Esty. He lost primary challenges in 2010 and 2012. The 2012 primary was notably brutal, with Greenberg and Lisa Wilson Foley, the wealthy Simsbury Republican who later pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations.

Greenberg provided damning evidence in former Governor John G. Rowland’s  2014 criminal trial for campaign finance violations, the same ones that caused Wilson Foley so much trouble.

That did not take long. Governor Dannel P. Malloy had not begun his announcement that he will not seek a third term when his Boston fundraiser, Ben Josephson, sent an ominous email to donors–many with interests in state government. Malloy will continue to shakedown donors for political contributions. Josephson’s message also included a copy of the speech Malloy will deliver this afternoon.

Here’s the Josephson message:

Good afternoon–

At 2:00 today Dan Malloy will announce that he will not be running for a third term as Governor of Connecticut in 2018.

He is most appreciative for the great support you have provided and wanted to be sure you were among the first to hear this news.

Governor Malloy hopes to be in contact in the coming weeks about the work he still plans to accomplish in his remaining 20 months as Governor, including working tirelessly on elections in 2017 and 2018.

I will be back in touch shortly, including with the remarks he delivers at 2pm

Thank you for your friendship and support.

Ben Josephson

Governor Dannel P. Malloy is expected to announce at 2 p.m. today that he will not seek a third term. The unpopular Democrat won a narrow victories in 2010 and 2014 over Greenwich Republican Tom Foley. The 2014 was a particularly grim lesser-of-two-evils contest. Malloy devoted the first year of each term to proposing and imposing crippling tax increases on Connecticut residents.

Malloy’s surly personality and his destructive economic policies combined to deny him successes in reviving the state’s economy. Democratic challengers to a third term began to stir early this year, including state Senator Ted Kennedy, State Comptroller Kevin Lembo, Middletown mayor Dan Drew, and former state Senator Jonathan Harris.

A dozen Republicans have been looking forward to facing Malloy in the 2018 general election. They will need to do some quick calculating in remaking themselves and figuring out how to tie Democratic hopefuls to Malloy.

A small circle of Malloy advisors has been urging their benefactor to seek a third term. Persistently dire poll numbers have made that impossible, as Malloy’s announcement confirms. He remains the most unpopular Democratic governor in the nation.

Republican gubernatorial hopeful Mark Boughton got some help from 2010 running mate Mike Fedele in a tough week for the Danbury mayor. Boughton posted mediocre fundraising numbers ($64,801) in the first quarter of the year in his third bid for the state’s top office. It has caused much comment among supporters and competitors. The quarterly report was a reminder that fundraising has always been a trouble spot for Boughton. A third bid for governor ought to mean has a lot of low-lying fruit to harvest from loyal donors.

To change the subject, Boughton announced Wednesday that Mike Fedele, the former lieutenant governor who ran a close race in the 2010 Republican primary for governor, will serve as the chairman of the Boughton campaign’s executive committee. That sounds bureaucratic in a campaign that needs to be lean and flexible due to the limited amounts of money the state’s taxpayer financing system imposes. Boughton was Fedele’s running mate in the 2010 contest. Boughton won his primary for lieutenant governor, defeating his BFF of later years, Lisa Wilson-Foley.

Fedele is one of a handful of Republicans who have won statewide office in Connecticut in the the past 60 years–and one of even fewer still living in Connecticut.

For the first quarter of the year, here’s how candidates did in collecting qualifying funds for the $250,000 required of candidates for governor to receive millions in taxpayer funds for the primary and general election campaigns.

Mark Boughton:  $63,298

Tim Herbst:  $80,319

Peter Lumaj:  $14,610

Steve Obsitnik:  $72,143

Prasad Srinivasan:  $120,000

These include some or all of a candidate’s out-of-state contributions. Candidates are limited to $25,000 in out-of-state contributions in the calculations for what counts to ring the bell.

Peter Lumaj, former candidate for the U.S. Senate and also secretary of the state, raised $79,905.00 in the first quarter of the year. That brings his exploratory committee total over two quarters to $206,705.00.  That allows him to collect contributions of up to $375 each. No word in the Lumaj announcement on how much of that qualifies for public financing.

One cautionary note on the Lumaj report. The Fairfield Republican has $110,000 on hand. That’s a fast burn rate in a time when there’s little going on in the race for governor other than raising money, meeting local town committee members, and spending time tracking down rumors and insults in the teeny tiny world of state party activists.

Lumaj also announced today that he has added Carl Higbie to his campaign team. “Higbie will be overseeing Lumaj Explore’s communications with both state and national media.”

Republican Steve Obsitnik raised $108,727 in the first fundraising quarter of 2017. Obsitnik received contributions from more than 900 supporters in his bid for an unnamed statewide office that is expected to be governor.

“I am overwhelmed and very thankful for the support that I received from across Connecticut and excited to announce we exceeded our first quarter goal,” said Obsitnik. “As I cross the state, two things are clear. First, voters are tired of sending the same people to Hartford who continue to make things worse. And second, that my record of creating innovative technologies, driving common sense solutions, and vision for a more competitive Connecticut, is resonating with voters.”

The Westport resident is a decorated Navy veteran who served on a nuclear submarine. He earned an MBA from Wharton.

No word on how much haul Obsitnik’s qualifies toward the $250,000 in small contributions necessary to ring the bell for Connecticut’s generous public financing scheme.