Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont has named former Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz as his running mate for the lieutenant governor position, following Bysiewicz”™s suspension of her own campaign to be Connecticut”™s next governor.
“Having Susan join our campaign makes our ticket stronger and makes our party stronger,” said Lamont, who was defeated by current Gov. Dannel Malloy in the 2010 Democratic gubernatorial primary.
Lamont, a Greenwich resident, served on that town”™s Board of Selectman and its Board of Estimate and Taxation before launching a bid to unseat then-U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman from his seat in 2006. Lamont defeated Lieberman in the Democratic primary, but ultimately lost to him in the election when Lieberman ran as an independent.
Lamont is the chairman and founder of Greenwich’s Lamont Digital Systems, a provider of satellite TV and telecommunications services to colleges and universities. He is seen as the Democratic front-runner, having picked up endorsements from New Haven Mayor Toni Harp, Waterbury Mayor Neil O”™Leary and State Rep. Matt Ritter (Hartford).
He also won an AFL-CIO straw poll in April with 48 percentage points to second-place finisher Jonathan Harris’s 14.7 percent. Harris, the former state senator and commissioner of the state”™s consumer protection department, dropped out of the race on April 27 and endorsed Lamont. Bysiewicz finished fourth in the poll.
Other Democratic candidates for governor include Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim and Sean Connelly, the former commissioner of the state Department of Veteran Affairs. The incumbent governor Malloy announced in 2017 that he will not seek a third term.
The state Democratic gubernatorial primary takes place on Aug. 14.
