Somers Upends Top of the Ticket GOP Races. Will Go It Alone in Primary for LG. Leaves Boughton at the Altar.

Heather Bond Somers will try to rescue Connecticut Republicans from their convention folly. The Groton Republican will proceed to the primary for lieutenant governor without combining her campaign funds with gubernatorial candidate Mark Boughton. The two had announced an alliance early this year that had been expected to include Somers and Boughton raising money individually and then putting their funds together to reach the $250,000 threshold required to collect the public financing bonanza.

Party insiders have been urging Somers, who is close to the $75,000 needed for a $400,000 grant, to go it alone in the primary for lieutenant governor. That strategy will give Somers the resources to take the fight to and draw a striking contrast with convention-endorsed state Representative Penny Bacchiochi. On the eve of last weekend’s convention, The Stafford Republican  accused rival David Walker of engaging in a racist whisper campaign targeted at Bachhiochi’s husband and his children.

The Somers decision will likely have some serious consequences for Mark Boughton’s campaign for governor. He needs Somers’s funds to qualify for public financing in time to make an impact on the August primary campaign.

Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti hopes to join Bacchiochi, Somers, and Walker in the contest for lieutenant governor. He’s abandoning the race for governor and will attempt to collect enough signatures to be included on the primary ballot for the second spot. Lauretti could replace Somers on a Boughton ticket and get the Danbury mayor to $250,000.