Connecticut attorney general election, 2010

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Connecticut attorney general election, 2010
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  George Jepsen.jpg
Nominee George Jepsen Martha Dean
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote591,725 480,310
Percentage53.71 43.59
Attorney general before election

Richard Blumenthal
Democratic

Elected Attorney general

George Jepsen
Democratic

The 2010 Connecticut attorney general election was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010 to elect the 24th attorney general of the state of Connecticut. Five-term incumbent Attorney General Richard Blumenthal declined to seek re-election in 2010, instead opting to run for Connecticut’s open U.S. Senate seat held by the retiring Christopher Dodd. Blumenthal's decision not to seek a sixth term set-up the first open race for attorney general in the state since Blumenthal's election in 1990.

Connecticut Attorney General Attorney general for the U.S. state of Connecticut

The Connecticut Attorney General is the state attorney general of Connecticut.

Richard Blumenthal American politician

Richard L. Blumenthal is an American attorney and politician who has served as a United States Senator from Connecticut since 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He has been the state's senior senator since 2013 and is ranked as the second wealthiest member of the Senate, with a net worth of about $67 million. Previously, he served as Attorney General of Connecticut from 1991 to 2011.

Contents

At their May 2010 state convention, Democratic candidate George Jepsen won the endorsement of his party outright and did not face a primary challenger. The Republican candidate, Martha Dean, secured her party's nomination via a primary election defeat of Ross Garber on August 10. [1]

Democratic Party (United States) political party in the United States

The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Democratic Party was founded around 1828 by supporters of Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest active political party.

George Jepsen American politician

George Christian Jepsen is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 24th Attorney General of Connecticut from 2011 to 2019.

Republican Party (United States) political party in the United States

The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major political parties in the United States; the other is its historic rival, the Democratic Party.

Candidates

Republican

Announced

  • Martha Dean, attorney from Avon and 2002 Republican Attorney General nominee
  • Ross Garber, attorney from Glastonbury and 2002 Republican nominee for State Treasurer
  • Kie Westby, attorney from Southbury
  • State Representative Arthur O'Neill of Southbury

Declined

  • Mayor Jason L. McCoy from Vernon, who later took his name out of consideration at the convention and nominated Ross Garber [2]
  • State Senator Andrew Roraback [3]
  • John Pavia, attorney from Easton, originally intended to seek the nomination, [4] however, took his name out of consideration prior to the state convention
Jason L. McCoy Mayor of the Town of Vernon Connecticut

Jason L. McCoy is the former mayor of Vernon, Connecticut, and a trial lawyer. In 2009, McCoy was elected to his first term in 2007. McCoy was re-elected as mayor. He had served on the Vernon Town Council and was the deputy mayor of Vernon from 2005 to 2007. In 2009, McCoy was one of six mayors in Connecticut chosen by the Governor M. Jodi Rell to work closely with state officials and lawmakers to identify savings and recommend mandate relief to help close Connecticut's state budget shortfall. McCoy served as mayor of a municipality that holds town meetings to pass the mayor's yearly proposed municipal budget, which can then be sent to referendum for approval by privately cast ballot. During McCoy's two terms as mayor of Vernon he proposed and passed four municipal budgets. The Town of Vernon municipal budgets during McCoy's terms as mayor resulted in the municipal tax rate or mil rate needed to fund the municipal budget being reduced in the 2008–2009, 2009-2010 budgets, the 2010-2011 tax rate or mil rate remained the same. In the 2011-2012 budget the tax rate was cut which resulted in a taxes cut to the taxpayers in the Town of Vernon, Connecticut. The 2011–2012 budget proposal was passed and adopted at the annual town meeting as opposed to being sent to referendum.

Vernon, Connecticut Town in Connecticut, United States

Vernon is a town in Tolland County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 29,179 at the 2010 census. Vernon contains the smaller villages of Rockville, Talcottville and Dobsonville.

Easton, Connecticut Town in Connecticut, United States

Easton is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 7,490 at the 2010 census. Easton contains the historic district of Aspetuck.

Primary polling

Poll source Dates administered Martha Dean Andrew Roraback John Pavia
Quinnipiac March 9–15, 20109%13%8%

Democratic

Announced

Declined

Waterbury, Connecticut City in Connecticut, United States

Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, 33 miles southwest of Hartford and 77 miles northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. As of the 2010 census, Waterbury had a population of 110,366, making it the 10th largest city in the New York Metropolitan Area, 9th largest city in New England and the 5th largest city in Connecticut.

Michael Jarjura is the former Mayor of Waterbury, Connecticut.

Disqualified

Primary polling

Poll source Dates administered Susan Bysiewicz George Jepsen Michael Jarjura
Quinnipiac March 9–15, 201054%10%—
Quinnipiac January 14–19, 201062%10%3%

Other parties

Early campaign

On January 6, 2010, five-term Connecticut United States Senator Christopher Dodd announced that he would not seek re-election in 2010. [6] On this same day, Richard Blumenthal, the 23rd and incumbent state attorney general, announced that he would not run for re-election for the state's top legal office and would instead seek the Democratic nomination for Dodd's Senate seat. [6] Blumenthal had previously been considered a likely Democratic candidate for the 2012 Senate race, [6] when incumbent Independent Democrat Joe Lieberman's seat is next up.

In U.S. politics an Independent Democrat is an individual who loosely identifies with the ideals of the Democratic Party but chooses not to be a formal member of the party. Independent Democrat is not a political party. Several elected officials, including members of Congress, have identified as Independent Democrats.

Joe Lieberman politician from the United States

Joseph Isadore Lieberman is an American politician, lobbyist and attorney who served as a United States Senator from Connecticut from 1989 to 2013. A former member of the Democratic Party, he was its nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 2000 election. During his final term in office he was officially listed as an independent Democrat and caucused with and chaired committees for the Democratic Party.

Blumenthal's decision not to seek re-election set-up the first open race for attorney general in the state since his election in 1990.

A week after Blumenthal's announcement, on January 13, 2010, Democratic Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz announced that she would run for her party's nomination for attorney general. [11] Bysiewicz had previously declined seeking re-election to the Secretary of the State's office to instead run in the 2010 gubernatorial election, but dropped her candidacy when she switched to run for attorney general. [11]

There was controversy about whether Bysiewicz was legally qualified to run for attorney general in Connecticut, as state law requires the attorney general to be "an attorney of law of at least 10 years' active practice" [12] in the state. Bysiewicz worked at New York law firm White and Case for two years, then in Connecticut at Robinson and Cole from 1988 to 1992 and Aetna Insurance from 1992 to 1994, totaling six years of Connecticut practice. Her campaign stated that Bysiewicz was qualified to hold the attorney general position because her service as Secretary of the State counted toward the 10-year requirement, [13] although she "acknowledged during a [March 31, 2010] deposition that she has virtually no experience as a litigator and has never argued a case before a judge." [14]

On May 5, 2010, Superior Court Judge Michael Sheldon ruled that Bysiewicz was legally qualified to run for state attorney general. [15] However, when the case reached the Connecticut Supreme Court on May 18, Justice Flemming L. Norcott, Jr. handed down the court's 7-0 unanimous ruling that Bysiewicz failed to meet the requirements of General Statutes Section 3-124, which outlines the qualifications for state attorney general. [9] [16] As a consequence, Bysiewicz could not run for attorney general in 2010, which left former State Senator George Jepsen the sole remaining Democratic candidate in the race. [9]

Nominations

George Jepsen won the Democratic nomination by acclamation [17] at the party's state convention held on May 22, 2010.

Four Republicans contested their party's nomination at their May 22 state convention, with the convention endorsing Martha Dean. [17] Ross Garber, whose sister-in-law is Democrat Susan Bysiewicz, [17] attracted sufficient support to qualify for an August 10, 2010 primary and challenged Dean for the nomination. Dean then defeated Garber in the GOP primary. [1]

Republican primary

Republican primary results [18]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Martha Dean68,30960.50
Republican Ross Garber 44,603 39.50
Total votes112,912100

General election

Debates

On September 23, 2010, Martha Dean and George Jepsen participated in a debate sponsored by the Connecticut Law Tribune and the University of Connecticut School of Law in Hartford. [19] In the debate, Dean stated that "ending the job-killing practices of the attorney general and restoring common sense to the office of attorney general" were priorities in the election, and that the size of the office and the scope of lawsuits filed by it should be reduced. [19] Jepsen argued that Dean's desire to reduce the office's role might be counterproductive, and criticized her for wishing to join about 20 other states in challenging the federal government on the federal healthcare reforms enacted earlier in the year. [19]

Dean and Jepsen met again for a second debate on October 11 at the Quinnipiac University School of Law in Hamden. [20]

Polling

Poll source Dates administered George Jepsen (D) Martha Dean (R)
Suffolk University October 19–20, 2010 40% 28%

Martha Dean lawsuit

Claiming that Jepsen was not qualified to hold office, Dean filed a lawsuit on October 26 requesting the courts remove Jepsen from the following week's ballot. [21] Dean's rationale for bringing the lawsuit forward was based on Jepsen's admission that he did not have a background in litigation and the fact that he lacked admission to argue cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. [21] One day after the election, on November 3, Superior Court judge Julia Aurigemma granted a dismissal of the lawsuit, stating in her decision that, "In this case, there is no statutory authority that authorizes [Dean] to bring her ... action prior to the election." [22] Reacting to the decision, Dean said that the campaign was "evaluating the decision and our options and will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that Connecticut has an attorney general who is fully qualified to vigorously represent the state's interests in court." [22] In his reaction, Jepsen said that the lawsuit had been a "publicity stunt" and that he "was never worried about the merits of the case in court." [22]

Results

Vote for Connecticut attorney general, November 2, 2010 [23]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic George Jepsen591,72553.71
Republican Martha Dean 480,310 43.59
Green Stephen E.D. Fournier 29,759 2.7
Total votes1,101,794100

Note: Jepsen also appeared on the line of the Connecticut Working Families Party and received 22,868 votes on it. His Working Families and Democratic votes have been aggregated together on this table. Fournier also appeared on the independent line and received 15,011 votes on it. His independent and Green votes have been aggregated together on this table.

Related Research Articles

Susan Bysiewicz 89th Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut

Susan Bysiewicz is an American politician who is the 89th and current lieutenant governor of Connecticut. She previously served as the 72nd secretary of the state of Connecticut from 1999 to 2011. She was briefly a candidate for governor of Connecticut in 2010, before dropping out to run for Connecticut Attorney General. She was disqualified from running for the office by the Connecticut Supreme Court and announced in 2011 that she was running for the United States Senate in the 2012 election to replace the retiring Joe Lieberman. She lost the Democratic primary to U.S. Representative Chris Murphy, who went on to win the election.

Connecticut for Lieberman was a Connecticut political party created by twenty-five supporters of Senator Joe Lieberman. The party was created to enable Lieberman to run for re-election following his defeat in the 2006 Connecticut Democratic primary. In the succeeding general election, Lieberman received 49.7% of the vote, defeating Democrat Ned Lamont and Republican Alan Schlesinger.

Democratic Party of Connecticut

The Connecticut Democratic State Central Committee is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of Connecticut. The state chair of the party is Nancy Wyman. The Democratic Party controls both chambers of the state legislature, all constitutional state offices and all five of Connecticut's seats in the House and both of its Senate seats.

William Tong American politician

William Morten Tong Chinese: 湯偉麟(born c. 1973) is the 25th Attorney General of Connecticut, having previously served as a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives from 2007 to 2019. He represented the 147th district, which includes parts of Stamford and New Canaan. Geographically the 147th is the largest district in Stamford, and includes Westover, North Stamford, Scofieldtown, as well as the western side of Darien.

2010 United States Senate election in Connecticut

The 2010 United States Senate election in Connecticut was a midterm election which took place on November 2, 2010 to decide a Class III Senator from the State of Connecticut to join the 112th United States Congress. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd suffered from dropping approval ratings in the past few years due to major controversies, leading him to announce in January 2010 that he would retire, instead of seeking a sixth term. As Dodd was a Democrat, Richard Blumenthal, incumbent State Attorney General, announced on the same day that he would run for Dodd's seat. The Connecticut Democratic Party nominated Blumenthal on May 21. Businesswoman Linda McMahon won the state party's nominating convention and the August 10 Republican primary to become the Republican candidate.

2010 Connecticut gubernatorial election

The 2010 Connecticut gubernatorial election took place on November 2, 2010, to elect the 88th Governor of Connecticut. Incumbent Governor Jodi Rell had announced in a press conference in Hartford on November 9, 2009, that she would not seek re-election in 2010. The sites Cook Political Report and CQ Politics both rated the election as a toss up.

2012 United States Senate election in Connecticut

The 2012 United States Senate election in Connecticut was held on November 6, 2012, in conjunction with the 2012 U.S. presidential election, other elections to the United States Senate in other states, as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives, and various state and local elections. Primaries to elect Senate candidates from the Republican and Democratic parties were held on Tuesday, August 14, 2012.

2010 Linda McMahon U.S. Senate campaign

Linda McMahon, formerly CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, ran for U.S. Senator from Connecticut from September 16, 2009, to November 4, 2010. On May 21, 2010, she won a majority of support from the Connecticut Republican Party. She ran as a Republican, promising lower taxes, fiscal conservatism, and job creation. McMahon spent $50 million of her own money on the campaign, allowing her to refuse campaign donations from special interest groups. She gained name recognition and popularity over her Republican opponents, including Rob Simmons, the prior frontrunner.

Elections for state and federal offices for the 2010 election cycle in Connecticut were held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010. Any necessary primary elections for the Republican and Democratic parties were held on Tuesday, August 10, 2010.

The 2012 U.S. House of Representatives elections in Connecticut were held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, to elect the five congressional representatives from the state, one from each of the state's five congressional districts. The elections coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including a quadrennial presidential election, a U.S. Senate election, and state legislature races.

The 2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Connecticut were held on Tuesday, November 4, 2014 to elect the five U.S. Representatives from the state of Connecticut, one from each of the state's five congressional districts. The elections coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including Governor of Connecticut.

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References

  1. 1 2 http://www.courant.com/news/local/statewire/hc-ap-ct-connattorneygeneraug10,0,7303758.story
  2. ↑ http://ct-n.com/ondemand.asp?ID=5476
  3. ↑ http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2010/05/02/news/elections/478486.txt
  4. ↑ http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2010/01/attorney-john-pavia-running-fo.html
  5. ↑ http://www.acorn-online.com/joomla15/theridgefieldpress/news/localnews/46697-ridgefield-man-runs-for-connecticut-attorney-general.html%5Bpermanent+dead+link%5D
  6. 1 2 3 4 Condon, Stephanie (January 6, 2010). "Richard Blumenthal Prepares to Run for Chris Dodd's Senate Seat". CBS News . Retrieved January 26, 2010.
  7. ↑ http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2010/01/waterbury-mayor-michael-jarjur.html
  8. ↑ http://www.wtic.com/Staples-Drops-Bid-for-Attorney-General-Nomination/7022911%5Bpermanent+dead+link%5D
  9. 1 2 3 http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/High-court-bounces-Bysiewicz-491658.php
  10. ↑ http://www.stepfour.com/fournier2010/index2010.htm
  11. 1 2 http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-susan-ag-0114.artjan14,0,7217182.story
  12. ↑ http://www.registercitizen.com/articles/2010/01/14/news/doc4b4f92c95bf3e031090410.txt
  13. ↑ http://www.middletownpress.com/articles/2010/01/16/news/doc4b51363e51b8a845057234.txt
  14. ↑ http://www.courant.com/news/local/statewire/hc-ap-ct-attorneygeneralapr06,0,746691.story
  15. ↑ http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-susan-bysiewicz-attorney-general-ruling-0505,0,4610724.story
  16. ↑ http://www.connecticutplus.com/blogs/ctpolitics/?p=251
  17. 1 2 3 "Martha Dean Wins GOP AG Endorsement; Ross Garber Qualifies For Primary". Capitol Watch Blog. Hartford Courant . Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  18. ↑ "Election results for Attorney General" (PDF). Office of the Connecticut Secretary of the State. Retrieved September 13, 2010.
  19. 1 2 3 Edmund H. Mahony (September 23, 2010). "Dean, Jepsen Argue About The Scope, Power Of Attorney General's Office". Hartford Courant . Retrieved September 26, 2010.
  20. ↑ Perrefort, Dirk (October 11, 2010). "Differences stand out in AG debate". NewsTimes.com. Retrieved October 12, 2010.
  21. 1 2 Perrefort, Dirk (October 26, 2010). "Dean seeks to have Jepsen removed from ballot for attorney general, claims he isn't qualified". NewsTimes.com. Retrieved July 20, 2011.
  22. 1 2 3 Perrefort, Dirk (November 3, 2010). "Judge dismisses lawsuit filed by GOP attorney general candidate Martha Dean". Connecticut Post . Retrieved July 20, 2011.
  23. ↑ "Election Results for Attorney General: Summarized by Town". State of Connecticut, Secretary of the State. Retrieved December 16, 2010.
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