February 26, 2023
Connecticut Republican party insiders are considering using money they have raised to fund party endorsed candidates. The State Central Committee will vote in the following change to its by-laws in the near future:
During a pre-convention contest or in primary for statewide office, the state committee shall not, without the prior approval of a vote of two-thirds of the total members of the state central membership at a duly noticed state central meeting, expend any funds of the state committee on behalf of an endorse candidate for statewide office.
This is a bad idea.
First some background. Unlike the vast majority of states, access to the ballot in Connecticut is controlled by Town Committees who meet at conventions to chose the candidates. This means that prospective candidates must waste endless hours of time travelling to Town Committee meetings to garner support then spend more endless hours chasing down the delegates the town committee appoints to attend the Convention.
The candidate who receives at least 50% of the Convention delegate vote plus one is the endorsed nominee. But other candidates can force a primary by garnering 15% of the delegates or gathering 2% of the signatures of Republicans in the contested district. Neither of these is easy to do but in the last election, three candidates pulled it off: Leora Levy and Peter Lumaj in the US Senate race and Michael Goldstein in the 4th District (Fairfield County) Congressional race.
Backed by President Trump’s endorsement, Levy vanquished the party endorsed candidate Themis Klarides in the primary. Goldstein lost his primary to the party endorsed candidate, former Darien First Selection Jayme Stevenson.
Both Levy and Stevenson went on to lose to the Democratic incumbents, Senator Blumenthal and Congressman Jim Himes respectively. Party insiders believe these primaries weakened each candidate and want to discourage future ones.
The problem is that there is no evidence this is true. New England has turned Deep Blue in the past two decades. There is not a single Republican congressman from New England and only one Senator, Susan Collins of Maine. Fiddling with the by-laws is not going to change this.
Party insiders also believe that candidates that are fiscally conservative and socially moderate are more electable. Again, there is no evidence this is true. In fact, the opposite may be true. If Republicans backed Medicare-for-All, supported the unionization of gig workers while standing up to the woke corporations, they would win more elections.
Jayme Stevenson was so strongly pro-choice that she attacked Jim Himes during their debate for not codifying Roe v Wade. Yet she only received 40.5% of the vote in her election even though she was an established politician, serving 10 years as Darien’s First Selectman. The lesser-known pro-life Levy received 39.5% of the Fairfield County vote – not even a statistically significant difference from Stevenson - and both a far cry from the 50% need to win (Levy received 42.5% of the vote statewide).
Furthermore, the Republican Party will receive fewer contributions if it is perceived to be picking winners or losers in primaries. Donors prefer to give money directly to candidates themselves.
But the real reason to oppose this is that any candidate should have to right to run for public office. Party insiders represent less than 1% of the registered Republican voters. The law should be designed so that prospective candidates who gather signatures – say 1% of Republicans – by January 15 of the election year, have a spot on the ballot. The primary should be held May 1. This gives the winner plenty of time until November to mount a viable campaign - raising money, speaking to voters and establishing a grassroots network.
Town committees should focus on turning out the vote. Not picking the candidates.
The current version of the change does not contain “pre-convention.” As the 2018 Republican congressional candidate, I can say this change is overdue. I am also a current state central committee member and will likely vote for the change. If we are going to have conventions (by state statue we must) resulting in a Republican endorsed candidate, there must be a benefit to the resources spent getting that endorsement. Right now there is not.