Connecticut governor election: Lamont and Fazio make final pitch

Gov. Ned Lamont enters the final day of Connecticut's race for governor with a double-digit lead in every recent public poll, as Republican state Sen. Ryan Fazio makes a last push to turn voters' frustration over the cost of living into an upset on Tuesday, November 3.

Lamont, a Democrat seeking a third term, and Fazio, a Greenwich lawmaker, both spent Sunday in Enfield, a swing town on the Massachusetts border, as their campaigns shifted from persuasion to turnout. Nearly half a million of the state's 2.2 million voters had already cast ballots early or by absentee by Sunday morning, CT Mirror reported.

What do the polls show?

Three independent polls conducted Oct. 6-12 all showed Lamont comfortably ahead. Quinnipiac University's survey of 1,225 likely voters found him leading 58% to 38%, up from 55% to 38% in September, with a margin of error of 3.8 points. Independents favored Lamont 53% to 44%.

Emerson College Polling found a closer 51% to 38% race among 800 likely voters, with 11% undecided. The final Sacred Heart University/WFSB/CT Insider poll, conducted by GreatBlue Research, had Lamont up 59.3% to 32.7% among likely voters.

Quinnipiac pollster Doug Schwartz called it the biggest lead for a Connecticut governor candidate in two decades, since Jodi Rell led John DeStefano by 24 points in Quinnipiac's Nov. 1, 2006 poll. "Ned Lamont looks headed to a very comfortable victory," he said.

Both bases are consolidated. Democrats backed Lamont 93% to 4%, and Republicans backed Fazio 90% to 10%. Fifty-three percent of likely voters approved of Lamont's job performance, while 29% approved of President Donald Trump's.

Fazio's challenge has been name recognition. In the Quinnipiac poll, 30% of likely voters said they had not heard enough about him to form an opinion, compared with 6% for Lamont. The last major public polls came out in mid-October.

What are they arguing about?

Cost of living tops voters' concerns. Quinnipiac found 24% called it their most important issue, followed by the economy at 21% and taxes at 13%. Lamont led 67% to 30% among voters focused on the cost of living and 73% to 25% among those focused on the economy. Fazio led 77% to 23% among voters who named taxes and 64% to 35% among those who named immigration.

Fazio has built his campaign on that frustration. "After eight years of the Lamont administration, it's harder than ever to get by," he said at the Country Diner in Enfield on Sunday, arguing that voters should hold the governor, not the president, responsible for high costs.

Lamont, campaigning with Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Rep. Joe Courtney, pointed to the budget shortfall and debt he inherited in 2019. "We've come a long way in the last eight years," he said. At a West Hartford rally, he framed a big win as a rebuke of President Donald Trump: "It means the first day of the end of the Trump regime."

What happened in the debates?

The candidates met twice. At the first debate on Oct. 22, co-hosted by WFSB and CT Insider, the Trust Act, a state law Lamont signed that limits cooperation with federal immigration agents, drew the sharpest exchange, Connecticut Public reported. Fazio said the law had let a man who killed a 2-year-old Stamford boy go free instead of being turned over to federal authorities. "I can't believe you're exploiting that one story out of Stamford that has nothing to do with immigration," Lamont responded.

On costs, Fazio promised lower electricity bills, state tax cuts and a gas-tax holiday he said would save drivers 25 cents a gallon, paid for with a surplus in the Special Transportation Fund. Lamont blamed Trump administration policies for higher fuel and heating prices and pointed to a $500 million fund the state set aside to offset federal cuts, which Fazio and other Senate Republicans voted against.

The second and final debate aired Oct. 27 on WTNH News 8 from Mohegan Sun, hosted with the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.

How did we get here?

Lamont, a businessman from Greenwich, won the governorship in 2018 by about 3 points over Republican Bob Stefanowski. He won their 2022 rematch by a much wider margin, becoming the first Democrat since 1986 to win a Connecticut governor's race by more than 5 points. He took office in January 2019 facing the budget shortfall and debt he has cited throughout this campaign.

Fazio, a state senator from Greenwich, is running with Matt Corey. The Republican ticket also appears on the Independent Party line, while Lamont and Bysiewicz also appear on the Working Families Party line, according to official sample ballots.

The campaign's final weekend featured a brief controversy. On Saturday, Fazio's campaign promoted video of Lamont swatting away the phone of a woman who confronted him about an aide's traffic ticket, CT Mirror reported. Lamont's campaign ignored the episode, and Fazio did not raise it in his speeches Sunday.

Who else is on the ballot?

Every statewide office is on the ballot. Attorney General William Tong faces Republican John Bolton, Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas faces Republican Peter Lumaj, Treasurer Erick Russell faces Republican Fred Wilms, and Comptroller Sean Scanlon faces Republican Jennifer Tooker. All four incumbents are Democrats.

All five U.S. House seats are also up. In the 5th District, Rep. Jahana Hayes is seeking a fifth term after winning by fewer than 2,000 votes in 2022. Her Republican opponent, Chris Shea, is a firefighter and retired Navy SEAL making his first run for office. Election analysts have moved the race toward Democrats this cycle, and national spending has largely shifted to other districts, CT Mirror reported. "Everything is on the line," Hayes told volunteers in Meriden on Sunday.

Democrats are also pressing to turn out voters who skipped past midterms. "The opportunity is to make sure that the early vote doesn't just mean that the same folks who are already going to vote on election day vote early," said Luke Bronin, the Democratic congressional nominee, at a rally in West Hartford, which has led the state in early voters.

Democrats on the trail Sunday were also rallying around Sen. Chris Murphy, who was hospitalized after a stroke. NewsCubby reported on his condition; his team expects a full recovery.

What to watch Tuesday night

Polls close at 8 p.m. Eastern. Enfield, which Lamont carried with 50.2% four years ago, is a useful early read on the suburbs. A margin near the polling average would hand Lamont a decisive third term. Enfield also has competitive legislative races, including Republican state Sen. John Kissel's bid to hold a Democratic-leaning seat he first won 34 years ago. In the 5th District, results from Waterbury, Danbury and Meriden will show whether Shea can cut into Hayes' base.

What's next

Connecticut votes Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Find your polling place through the secretary of the state's voter information page. NewsCubby's New York governor preview covers the race next door, our election-eve guide lists Senate races and poll closing times nationwide, and our look at voter priorities explains why costs top the list. For the latest polls across the country, visit PollCubby.

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*ARCHIVE PHOTO: The dome of the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford in February 2026. Photo: Alexbarbershop / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0.*

*NewsCubby articles are produced with AI assistance and reviewed by humans.*