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Boughton Drops Out of Race for Governor

Chion Wolf
/
WNPR

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton announced on Wednesday that he is dropping out of the race for Connecticut governor. Instead, he's supporting endorsed Republican candidate Tom Foley.

"It's been my honor to seek Connecticut's  highest statewide office," Boughton said in a statement. "However, I now believe it is time to suspend my candidacy and call for party unity behind the endorsed Republican candidate, Tom Foley."

Boughton recently supported Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti's bid to appear as a candidate for lieutenant governor on the GOP primary ballot. The two worked to collect 8,190 required signatures, and to qualify as a ticket for public campaign financing.

During a recent appearance on WNPR's Where We Live, capitol bureau chief for The Connecticut Mirror Mark Pazniokas explained how vital Lauretti was for Boughton's campaign. "He needs Mark Lauretti to qualify for the primary ballot," Pazniokas said. "The reason is he needs Mark Lauretti as a fundraising partner to qualify for public financing. No public financing, no Mark Boughton campaign." 

Listen to Pazniokas discuss it below:

Earlier, Boughton had planned to run for governor as a ticket with Heather Somers of Groton, who later decided to run solo.

A Republican primary debate was scheduled for Wednesday evening at the Hartford Public Library. Foley had already decided not to appear, and with Boughton withdrawing from the race, John McKinney would be the only candidate to make an appearance.

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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.