Gov. Ned Lamont of Connecticut easily overcame a primary challenge on Tuesday to earn the Democratic nomination for a third term, according to The Associated Press, defeating Josh Elliott, a progressive state lawmaker who ran on a platform of raising taxes on the wealthy.
The A.P. called the race in favor of Mr. Lamont, 72, soon after polls closed at 8 p.m.
Mr. Lamont, who was first elected in 2018, will face Ryan Fazio, 36, a Republican state senator from Greenwich, Conn., in the November general election. Should Mr. Lamont win, highly likely given his durable approval numbers and the state’s reliably blue voters, he will become one of the longest-serving governors in Connecticut history.
Only one Connecticut governor has been elected to a third term in the past 200 years: John G. Rowland, a once rising star in the Republican Party who resigned from office in 2004 because of a corruption scandal, was twice imprisoned and received a pardon from President Trump.
Mr. Elliott, 41, the deputy speaker of the state’s House of Representatives, had sought to cast Mr. Lamont, a J.P. Morgan scion from Greenwich who expanded his wealth through cable television, as a stay-the-course plutocrat who has been hesitant to raise taxes on top earners. (Connecticut has one of the widest wealth gaps in the United States.)
But Mr. Lamont forcibly countered that Mr. Elliott, of Hamden, Conn., was an opportunistic adversary with a spotty attendance record in the legislature and a wish list of ideas not rooted in fiscal reality. Mr. Elliott will still be on the ballot this fall — he was running for re-election to the legislature at the same time as governor.
Mr. Lamont’s tough-minded defense of his record was somewhat of a departure for a governor who had developed a reputation of avoiding flare-ups with political foes on both sides of the aisle, including Mr. Trump.
He presented himself to voters as a governor who has wiped away fiscal deficits, cut taxes for middle-income residents and guided the state through the coronavirus pandemic.
It had been nearly 50 years since a sitting governor of either party had faced a primary challenge. Ella Grasso, a Democrat, was the last in 1978.
A Republican has not won a statewide election in Connecticut in 20 years. The last was M. Jodi Rell, who secured a full term as governor in 2006 after replacing Mr. Rowland. She had previously served as lieutenant governor.
In May, Mr. Fazio advanced from the state Republican Party convention as the nominee, seizing on the withdrawal of Erin Stewart, a rival who was accused of fraud during her time as mayor of New Britain, Conn. Mr. Fazio received 92 percent of delegates’ votes at the convention, more than the 85 percent needed to avoid an automatic primary.
Mr. Lamont has run for statewide office five times in Connecticut, filling the role of the pesky progressive insurgent when he first introduced himself to voters in 2006 as a little-known primary challenger for the U.S. Senate against Joseph I. Lieberman, a Democrat and former vice-presidential nominee who was heavily favored.
Tapping into Democratic opposition to the U.S. war in Iraq, Mr. Lamont pulled off a stunning upset in the primary, only to lose the general election to Mr. Lieberman, who petitioned his way onto the ballot as an independent and later caucused with Democrats.
In 2010, Mr. Lamont lost the Democratic primary for governor to Dannel P. Malloy, who served two terms in office.
Mr. Lamont’s breakthrough came in 2018, when he defeated Bob Stefanowski, a Republican businessman, by just over three percentage points in an open-seat race for governor.
In 2022, Mr. Lamont easily won a second term in a rematch against Mr. Stefanowski.
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