PPP Surveying Governor’s Race, Education.

Public Policy Polling (PPP) contacted Connecticut voters this week. The polling firm, associated with Democratic campaigns and interest groups, posed questions about the 2022 contest for governor.

Participants of the online survey measured Governor Ned Lamont’s support against his 2018 Republican opponent, Bob Stefanowski, and former state Representative Themis Klarides. The poll included questions on education and school choice, according to one participant.

Lamont is expected to seek a second term and has recently settled on a new campaign manager. The first left for a North Carolina Senate race. Stefanowski has continued to comment on issues and circulate among Republicans activists. Klarides formed a campaign committee months ago and has also been appearing at party gatherings while unsuccessfully seeking to forge a deal with Stefanowski to serve as his running mate.

The three candidates are expected to self-finance their campaigns. Klarides has spent $200,000 of her own money on consultants and legal fees. She’s getting legal advice from Ross Garber, who served as counsel to felonious former governor John Rowland until the end came the first time in July 2004. Garber was contemptuous of the legislature’s power to investigate Rowland—Klarides was a member of the House at the time. Garber has gone on to make a career of defending politicians who betray their public trust.

Lamont will likely for the fourth time carve off a slice of his vast fortune to finance his campaign. He’s spent $50 million on his three previous campaigns, causing Democrats who traditionally advocate for campaign finance restrictions as essential to democracy to abandon their public posturing.

Stefanowski spent millions on his 2018 campaign, though not nearly as much as Lamont. The Madison Republican purchased ad time early that year while his opponents were scrambling to collect enough small donations to qualify for public financing late in the spring. If he runs, watch for Stefanowski to make a big early commitment of the green stuff that folds in his campaign.

Posted October 22, 2021.