Yesterday, former Stamford, Connecticut, Mayor Dannel Malloy won the Democratic primary for the state's gubernatorial race, beating cable-television millionaire from nearby Greenwich Ned Lamont. This is the second time Lamont's lost a big statewide race; though he beat Sen. Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary in 2006, he lost in the general election after Lieberman ran as an independent.
Malloy, who relied on public financing, was outspent by a 4 to 1 ratio and had a 17-point deficit in the polls just a few months ago, but the low-turnout election meant he could concentrate on the party faithful and members of public-employee unions. According to local newspapers, he had the lead all night as results came in. He'll face Republican Tom Foley in November to try to become the first Democratic governor in the deeply blue state since 1991.
Malloy will tout his accomplishments in Stamford, where he was mayor for 14 years. It's a suburban city with a population of about 120,000, and, thanks to Malloy, is now the North American headquarters for two major European banks, UBS and RBS. During Malloy's tenure the city also instituted a sustainable-development master plan, and a private developer bought 80 acres, almost an entire peninsula, of former industrial brownfields to turn into a transit-oriented development. The city is still working to reinstall a historical trolly system, and though it's suffered in the downturn a bit, it's finances are still in pretty good shape.
But Stamford benefits from being near New York City, the first stop on the express Metro North train to New Haven, and being extremely wealthy. It's surrounded by even wealthier towns, which are also hubs for the finance industry and are, to an extent, invested in their neighbor. To its immediate east lies, New Canaan and Darien, the two richest towns in the country, respectively, and to its west, the wealthy community of Greenwich, which is also a hedge-fund hub. Running the entire state of Connecticut, which includes real cities, rural areas, and real problems, will be extremely different.
Yesterday's results also show how dominated Connecticut politics is right now by people from the wealthy Southwestern tail of the state: Linda McMahon, who won the Republican primary for Senate, is a former executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, based in Stamford, and lives nearby, and the Democratic nominee for Senate, Richard Blumenthal, grew up in Greenwich. This is unusual: Voters often vote for middle-of-the-state candidates when push comes to shove, but this year is different, in some unexpected ways as well.
-- Monica Potts
