September 5, 2018
Update on 2018 Gubernatorial, CT General Assembly Races
Oz Griebel, former Republican gubernatorial candidate from Simsbury and regional Hartford business leader, and Democratic lawyer Monte Frank of Newtown, have petitioned and secured the requisite number of signatures of CT voters to be placed on the statewide ballot in November’s general election.
The Griebel-Frank ticket will not appear on the Independent Party’s line on the ballot, however. Instead, the unaffiliated, bipartisan team will be listed simply as “Griebel Frank for CT.” This is because the Independent Party caucus cross-endorsed Republican gubernatorial nominee Bob Stefanowski and the rest of the GOP candidates for statewide constitutional offices at its August 26th convention. The Independent endorsement gives Stefanowski two lines at the top of the ballot.
Meanwhile, the picture of who will be the candidates for open seats in the House and Senate races in the November general election was decided by voters at the August 14th primary. Following are the results:
Senate Open Seats with 2018 Candidates:
| District | Outgoing Incumbent | Towns | Democratic Candidate | Republican Candidate |
| 9th | Senator Paul Doyle (D) | Cromwell, Middletown, Newington, Rocky Hill and Wethersfield | Rep. Matt Lesser | Ed Charamut |
| 12th | Senator Ted Kennedy, Jr. (D) | Branford, Durham, Guilford, Killingworth, Madison and North Branford | Christine Cohen | Adam Greenberg |
| 14th | Senator Gayle Slossberg (D) | Milford, Orange, West Haven and Woodbridge | James Maroney | Rep. Pam Staneski |
| 16th | Senator Joe Markley (R) | Cheshire, Prospect, Southington, Waterbury and Wolcott | Vickie Nardello | Rep. Rob Sampson |
| 23rd | Senator Ed Gomes (D) | Bridgeport and Stratford | Dennis Bradley | John Rodriguez |
| 33rd | Senator Art Linares (R) | Chester, Clinton, Colchester, Deep River, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Haddam, Lyme, Old Saybrook, Portland and Westbrook | Norman Needleman | Rep. Melissa Ziobron |
| 35th | Senator Tony Guglielmo (R) | Ashford, Chapin, Coventry, Eastford, Ellington, Hampton, Pomfret, Stafford, Tolland, Union, Vernon, Willington and Woodstock | John Perrier | Dan Champagne |
House Open Seats with 2018 Candidates:
| District | Outgoing Incumbent | Town(s) | Democratic Candidate | Republican Candidate |
| 12th | Rep. Kelly Juleson-Scopino (D) | Manchester | Geoff Luxenberg | Thomas Tierney |
| 13th | Rep. Mark Tweedie (R) | Glastonbury and Manchester | Jason Doucette | Jennifer Fiereck |
| 17th | Rep. Tim LeGeyt (R) | Avon and Canton | Eleni Kavros Degraw | Leslee Hill |
| 29th | Rep. Antonio Guerrera (D) | Newington, Rocky Hill and Wethersfield | Kerry Szeps Wood | Andrew Lanciotto |
| 31st | Rep. Prasad Srinivasan (R) | Glastonbury | Jill Barry | Lillian Tanski |
| 34th | Rep. Melissa Ziobron (R) | Colchester, East Haddam and East Hampton | Theresa Govert | Irene Haines |
| 43rd | Rep. Diana Urban (D) | North Stonington and Stonington | Kate Rotella | Shawn Mastroianni |
| 45th | Rep. Kevin Skulczyck (R) | Griswold, Lisbon, Plainfield, Sterling and Voluntown | Steven Mikutel | Brian Lanoue |
| 51st | Rep. Danny Rovero (D) | Killingly, Putnam and Thompson | Larry Giroh, Jr. | Ricky Hayes |
| 73rd | Rep. Jeffery Berger (D) | Waterbury | Ronald Napoli | Steven Giacomi |
| 80th | Rep. Rob Sampson (R) | Southington and Wolcott | David Borzellino | Gale Mastrofrancesco |
| 100th | Rep. Matt Lesser (D) | Middletown | Quentin Phipps | Anthony Gennaro |
| 102nd | Rep. Lonnie Reed (D) | Branford | Robin Comey | Robert Imperato |
| 104th | Rep. Linda Gentile (D) | Ansonia and Derby | Kara Rochelle | Joseph Jaumann |
| 119th | Rep. Pam Staneski (R) | Milford and Orange | Ellen Beatty | Kathy Kennedy |
| 140th | Rep. Bruce Morris (D) | Norwalk | Travis Simms | John Flynn |
| 147th | Rep. William Tong (D) | Darien and Stamford | Matt Blumenthal | Anzelmo Graziosi |
Finally, as the summer cools down and the campaigns heat up, we will keep you apprised of any new developments. Meantime, the following is a schedule of the five gubernatorial debates that have been scheduled to date in which Stefanowski and Lamont (and perhaps Oz Griebel, but that has not been confirmed) will participate:
- Sept. 12 sponsored by the New London Day and WTNH.
- Sept. 17 sponsored by the CT Realtors.
- Sept. 26 sponsored by the University of Connecticut and WFSB.
- Oct. 18 hosted by the Connecticut Association of Broadcasters.
- Oct. 30 sponsored by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.
