Nonprofits across the spectrum weigh in on Lamont’s reelection bid

CT Examiner – Friday, November 21, 2025
By Robert Storace

Gov. Ned Lamont recently ended months of speculation in announcing his intentions to run for a third four-year term as governor, but many are asking how he will campaign and govern if reelected.

This time around, the 71-year-old governor faces a primary opponent from the left in State Rep. Josh Elliott, D-Hamden, a progressive Democrat, and two from the right in former Republican New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart and State Sen. Ryan Fazio, R-Greenwich. All three candidates have said affordability will be a key issue in next year’s election, though all offer different solutions.

Several Connecticut nonprofits with a stake in state policy recently weighed in on Lamont’s decision to seek another term. They represented a range of viewpoints, from energy and conservation groups to a trade association and a conservative organization focused on family values.

While each group differed with Lamont on various policies, all agreed he’s willing to listen. They noted that his openness hasn’t always been the norm among recent governors.

The Hartford-based Family Institute of Connecticut Action, which disagrees heavily with the governor on most issues, applauded him for his temperament, style and willingness to listen to all views.

“He is not like a junkyard dog when it comes to politics,” Leslie Wolfgang, the group’s director of public policy, said in comparing Lamont to his predecessor Dannel Malloy. “Lamont has a more even and less radical temperament, and I think he comes across as like Mr. Rogers or Jimmy Stewart. I was reviewing my notes on Lamont and in one of his first press conferences, a reporter asked him what he thought about organizations that didn’t share his views. Right away, he said ‘Look, we live in a democracy. This is an open debate and I encourage them to express their views up at the Capitol.’’’ We were encouraged by that. And I have to say he has kept his word. I have not heard him name call, and that’s refreshing. He hasn’t pushed people out of the public square. … On paper, his persona is one of moderation which I think Connecticut people appreciate. … He is policy driven and we understand that.”

Wolfgang said she expects Lamont to “hug the center” during his reelection campaign, but noted the governor’s policies “are quite radical” when it comes to legalizing marijuana and funding Planned Parenthood.

“He signed the bill to legalize recreational marijuana, I think most Connecticut people are against it,” she said. “Especially when they smell it on the highway and the street. It’s a danger and a nuisance.”

Gian-Carl Casa, president and CEO of The Alliance — a Rocky Hill-based organization that represents about 250 nonprofits statewide — echoed Wolfgang’s comments, saying Lamont has been consistently accessible.

“[Lamont] listens. He’s amenable and he has an open-door policy,” he said. “ … There were a lot of years when people felt that [nonprofits] were bearing the brunt of budget troubles, and I think the past few years were earned by state officials, including the governor.”

That translated, Casa said, into more funding for nonprofits under the Lamont administration. But there are still concerns.

Casa said the next thing he’d like the governor to tackle in a possible third term are in “terms of living increases … looking at other places in the budget that have not been catching up and trying to make some increases there too. … Medicaid rates are still way behind, according to several sectors of the nonprofit community. We would like to see those rates increase so they better reflect the cost of services, whether behavioral health or developmental disabilities.”

Bryson Hull, deputy Northeast director of the Milford-based Consumer Energy Alliance — a group focused on affordability and clean energy — said this week he wasn’t surprised by Lamont’s announcement to run for a third term.

“He’s classic Connecticut. He sort of likes to be a little bit in the middle [politically speaking], practical and responsible about stuff. … He’s pragmatic,” he said.

Hull said his organization believes the state needs to have a “serious conversation” about energy policy. Hull said the governor was “smart” not to sign off on California’s electric vehicle mandate proposal. Lamont bucked others in his party by saying “we are not doing that because EVs aren’t there yet, and the market is not there yet,” he said.

California’s EV mandate requires 100% of new passenger cars and light trucks sold in the state be zero-emission by 2035, with interim targets of 35% by 2026 and 68% by 2030.

But Hull added that not enough has been done to broaden the energy discussion and bring different voices to the table.

“Find whatever body it is that can bring everybody around the table,” Hull said. “I mean all the stakeholders, not just the usual people that hang around older wealthy white folks who populate the environmental groups at the legislature and just have their own ideas. … Bring Hispanic voices into the conversation; that’s a fifth of your population. I don’t care what you call it, just have the conversation. Bring people in, bring in fresh blood and bring in fresh voices and work to solve the problem.”

Joe McGee, interim CEO of the CT League of Conservation Voters, said this week that the nonprofit endorsed the governor in his first two elections. But he noted Lamont’s views on the expansion of natural gas are not totally clear.

“His environmental record has been pretty good, but the issue that has got us all concerned is the issue of the expansion of natural gas,” he said. “The more fossil fuel, the more air pollution, we don’t think it’s cheaper. … We are [currently] having a conversation with him, it’s on his plate. It’s a healthy conversation. We are saying to him that we do not think it’s an affordable solution. … He has a big choice to make. … Solar is the quickest and cheapest way to build more electricity and it’s clean. … That’s the future.”

McGee said his nonprofit wants to hear more from the governor on the issue before endorsing him for a third time.

McGee said Lamont “genuinely listens. He might say he will not agree with you and why and that’s healthy. … I think Lamont is a kind of middle-of-the-road kind of guy. He looks at solutions and he’s not particularly ideological.”

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