Gubernatorial candidate Mark Boughton collected the Republican endorsement at a raucous party convention Saturday, providing him with a key boost to his quest to become Connecticut’s 89th governor.
The Danbury mayor to beat back a fierce challenge from former Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst and a surprisingly strong showing from tech entrepreneur Steve Obsitnik. Both men plan to challenge Boughton in a primary.
“Wow!” Boughton exclaimed before thanking his parents, both of whom are dead, and supporters. This is his third run for the state’s top office, but the first time he won the party’s endorsement.
“Whether you voted for me or not, I’m gonna earn your vote,’’ Boughton, 54, told convention delegates, who were packed into a ballroom at Foxwoods Resort and Casino.
Also on Saturday, Republicans endorsed state Sen. Joe Markley of Southington, one of the legislature’s most conservative members, for lieutenant governor. He edged past New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart, and Darien First Selectman Jayme Stevenson. Columbia First Selectman Steven Everett also ran.
Both Stewart and Stevenson earned enough support to qualify for the primary and Stewart said she plans to continue her campaign.
"I'm not a party insider and that is what is here today," said Stewart, who gave up her bid for governor for the number two spot on Friday.
"You need a balance on a ticket,’’ Stewart added. “Two white men on a ticket is not the message that the Republican party should be sending. I add a generational balance. I add gender balance. I add geographic balance to a ticket and that's what we have to remember in the next couple of months."
In the governor’s race, Boughton hit the 50 percent threshold to win the endorsement after multiple rounds of voting. At the conclusion of the daylong convention, chaos briefly broke out as delegates squabbled over whether to close the balloting and Herbst supporters sought use parlimentary motions to keep the voting open.
Winning the endorsement at the party’s convention does not mean Boughton will be the Republican nominee in November. He faces a potentially bitter primary because Herbst and Obsitnik netted enough votes to earn a spot on the August ballot.
Two other contenders who did not seek the convention endorsement—former hedge fund manager David Stemerman and retired executive Bob Stefanowski—are collecting signatures to petition their way into the primary. And at least one of the candidates who fell short at the convention—Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti—said he is also considering a primary petition drive as well.
Herbst consoled a supporter who was on the verge of tears at the back of the convention hall. He said he looked forward to making his case to Republican primary voters in August.
“This is inside baseball,’’ Herbst said after the votes were counted. “There’s horse-trading. We live to fight another day.”
The process of endorsing a candidate for governor was a tense, drawn out affair. Nine men competed for the Republican endorsement for the state’s top job, which has been held by Democrat Dannel P. Malloy since 2011. Malloy, who has been consistently rated one of the nation’s least popular governors, is not running for a third term and Connecticut represents one of the Republican party’s top opportunities to pick up a governor’s seat in the 2018 election cycle.
Herbst, who came in second at the convention, did well in Fairfield County, an crucial region for Republicans. He also picked up votes in Eastern Connecticut, where Boughton’s stance on gun control cost him support.
After the vote, Boughton savored a moment he has been looking forward to for nearly a decade.
It represents years of work, and I’m just so honored, and I know my mom and dad are really happy,’’ Boughton said. He recalled his parents and was briefly overcome with emotion.
Sen. Michael McLachlan, one of Boughton’s closest allies, has been intensely focused on this day. “It’s been a long road for him and I’ve never seen anyone…work so hard to earn the support of the delegates,’’ McLachlan said as he accompanied the mayor from his war room to the convention floor just before the vote.
The convention win is “another flag in the road, there's a lot of work ahead,’’ McLachlan added. “It’s a big one but there's much more work to do.’’
Boughton’s supporters say his pragmatic brand politics can help the party win over unaffiliated voters and even some Democrats.
State Sen. Kevin Witkos noted that Boughton has consistently won in Danbury, a city where just 20 percent of the voters are registered Republicans. Boughton “has taken a Democratic stronghold and made it a Republican fortress,’’ he said in his speech nominating Boughton.
“He is a uniter, not a divider,’’ state Rep. Rosa Rebimbas told delegates. “At every turn, he brings people together.’’
The “Danbury miracle” looms large in Boughton’s campaign narrative. Rebimbas noted that the Danbury economy has thrived while much of the rest of Connecticut continues to struggle.
But Boughton has stumbled in efforts to connect with gun owners, a key constituency with the Republican party, especially in eastern Connecticut. They were roundly critical of his support for tougher restrictions on firearms.In 2014, Boughton publicly severed his ties with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a move that angered gun control activists, including family members of those killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.
On Saturday, the leader of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, the state’s largest gun owners group, had a blunt message for Boughton.
“CCDL feels that Mark Boughton is the worst nominee for gun owners in the Republican party,’’ said Scott Wilson, who served as a convention delegate from New London. “Our concern is having a governor who will sign whatever anti-gun legislation that comes his way. Tens of thousands of gun owners probably will not show up in a general election if he wins in a primary."
Both Herbst and Boughton have long had aspirations for higher office.
At 36, Herbst is something of a political wunderkind; he was first elected Trumbull’s first selectman at the age of 29. He narrowly lost a race for state treasurer in 2014.
A hard-charging, occassionally pugnacious competitor, Herbst cast himself as an outsider, saying he has no patience for “the Hartford ballet under the Gold Dome.’’
State Sen. Heather Somers, who ran for lieutenant governor in 2014 on the ticket with Boughton before the two had a parting of ways, nominated Herbst.
Somers spoke of Herbst’s relentless campaign trail work ethic. Whether at the Greenwich train station of in “90 degrees in Hebron at a fair, Tim was always there,’’ Somers told delegates. In the battle against longtime Democratic state treasurer Denise Nappier, Herbst came within one hald of 1 percent of defeating a 15-year incumbent.
Obsitnik, a Navy veteran and CEO of several tech companies, has emphasized competance over ideology. He criss-crossed the state in an specially outfitted RV to promote his platform, which includes boosting the state’s business climate by building “knowledge corridors.’’
“People...want a new path and my path is a local kid who served in the military and has created some jobs,’’ Obsitnik said, as he worked the convention floor looking for additional support. “I’ve worked hard, I’ve left everything on the field.”
Boughton first ran for governor in 2010 but dropped out of the race to become fellow Republican Michael Fedele’s running mate. In an odd twist, Boughton won the Republican primary for lieutenant governor, even as Fedele lost the gubernatorial primary. Boughton wound up on a ticket with Fairfield County businessman Tom Foley, but they narrowly lost the general election to Malloy.
This time, Boughton sought to set himself apart in a packed Republican field by promising to phase out the state income tax over the next 10 years.
Like his Republican competitors, Boughton spent months on the campaign trail seeking to win over delegates to the convention. The process of running for office can be grueling and in March, Boughton, who underwent brain surgery for a benign tumor last year, collapsed during a candidates forum in Avon.
A rival Republican candidate, state Rep. Prasad Srnivasan, a physician, rushed to his aid, as did two other doctors in the room.
At an unusual press conference featuring his physicians, Boughton attributed the incident to dehydration, though he later revealed that he may have failed to take the anti-seizure medication prescribed to him following his brain surgery.
Boughton alluded to his medical scare in his brief acceptance speech. He told delegates he was happy to be there, then added, “I’m happy to be alive.”
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