Sighting: Mauro and Arulampalam Enjoy Saturday Cigar.

Lobbyist favorite Arunan Arulampalam took his bid for state treasurer to The Owl Shop in New Haven Saturday for a stogie with Democratic town chairman Vincent Mauro, Daily Ructions can report. Arulampalam, a Hartford Democrat, is searching for delegates in his race against Shawn Wooden and, more recently, wealthy Greenwich Democrat Dita Bhargava.

Toni Harp, New Haven’s mayor, gave an early and full-throated endorsement to Wooden in the competition to succeed five-term incumbent Democrat Denise Nappier. That ought to provide Wooden with a significant tranche of the city’s large delegation to the state nomination convention, even in this tumultuous year.

Neither Arulampalam nor Bhargava has held elective office. Wooden served a term on Hartford’s city council before losing a ferocious 2014 primary to then-state Senator Eric Coleman. Bhargava was exploring a race for governor, shopped herself around for lieutenant governor without finding any takers, and last week settled on a run for treasurer.