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Connecticut GOP chair says Republicans lost statewide races because of Lamont’s popularity

George Logan campaign sign in the window at the Connecticut GOP Campaign field office in New Britain
Ebong Udoma
George Logan campaign sign in the window at the Connecticut GOP Campaign field office in New Britain

Connecticut Republicans failed to win congressional and statewide seats in the midterm elections because of strong voter approval for Democratic Governor Ned Lamont, according to state GOP Chair Ben Proto.

He said the governor’s coattails were responsible for more straight-party-line voters in this election than usual for Connecticut.

“Once you kind of start on a line, you go one or two and think people continue," said Proto. "Although we are known as a ticket splitting state, we’ve always been a ticket splitting state. And I think we saw less ticket splitting in 2022 than we have seen in the past."

Proto adds that Republicans had a good message but failed to connect with enough voters.

“I’m a big believer at the end of the day that campaigns are about candidates," said Proto. "They are not about a message. If you have a really good candidate, you can do well. If you don’t have a really good candidate, you are less likely to do as well,” he said.

Proto said the Republican Party’s ideologically driven primaries produced weak general election candidates.

Copyright 2022 WSHU. To see more, visit WSHU.

As WSHU Public Radio’s award-winning senior political reporter, Ebong Udoma draws on his extensive tenure to delve deep into state politics during a major election year. In addition to providing long-form reports and features for WSHU, he regularly contributes spot news to NPR, and has worked at the NPR National News Desk as part of NPR’s diversity initiative.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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