NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (WTNH) — After months of preparation and anticipation, Erin Stewart filed paperwork on Monday to officially become a candidate for governor.
On Tuesday morning, she introduced herself to Republican primary voters with a campaign video, pitching herself as the party’s best shot to win back the governorship after a decade and a half out of power.
“I’m running for governor because the clowns in Hartford have run our state into the ground,” Stewart said in the video.
Watch Erin Stewart’s campaign video below.
Stewart recently left office as mayor of New Britain after opting not to seek reelection to the job she held for more than a decade. A millennial Republican, Stewart was a rare GOP candidate who pulled off a string of convincing wins in an urban Democratic stronghold. She joins State Sen. Ryan Fazio, a 35-year-old legislator from Greenwich, as the second major Republican candidate to open a campaign for the state’s highest office.
For months, Stewart and Fazio have maneuvered to lock up support within their party. Stewart had a head start on the Greenwich senator, opening an exploratory campaign back in January that has raked in more than $350,000. Fazio launched his campaign in August and had raised more than $150,000 by early October. Stewart previously sought the GOP nomination for governor in 2018, before ending her short-lived campaign and losing a subsequent bid to become the party’s nominee for lieutenant governor.
The brewing two-way battle for the GOP nomination has begun to divide Connecticut Republicans into camps. A cadre of state legislators, including the Republican leaders in the House and State Senate, has thrown its support behind Fazio. Stewart has a handful of legislators backing her and has notched endorsements from two dozen Republican Town Committee leaders, who form the backbone of the party’s local political infrastructure.
On the Democratic side, Gov. Ned Lamont recently launched his campaign for a third term in office. He’s being challenged from the left by Josh Elliott, a progressive state representative from Hamden.
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