It may have been a battle on the big stage between Republican Bob Stefanowski and Democrat Ned Lamont in their second gubernatorial debate Monday, but the candidates weren’t the only ones going after one another.
Arguably the most contentious part of the second gubernatorial debate of 2018 between Stefanowski and Lamont happened outside of the Shubert Theater in New Haven, where the debate was held, before it even got underway.
Supporters were separated by a police officer. Ernie Pagan, a member of the carpenters’ union, said that as far as he can tell, both sides actually want the same thing.
“The middle-class needs work,” Pagan said. “We need help out here. We’re struggling and we want somebody who’s going to do the right by working people and working families.”
Pagan wore a Ned Lamont sticker. For him, Lamont represents the middle class, while Stefanowski is all about corporate America.
Ed Ames of Wallingford, a Republican, said the next governor should make lowering taxes his top priority.
“Cut the taxes,” Ames said. “Let the people come back. Bring back all the kids that are leaving. Let all the parents come back that are leaving.”
Linda Shapiro agreed that financial issues are the ones most pressing in Connecticut right now. She held a sign depicting Ned Lamont and Dannel Malloy as movers. It said, ‘Sorry to see you go. Was it something we taxed?’
“I’ll tell you, this sign is very true because if Bob doesn’t win this election, I’m leaving,” Shapiro said.
Pagan, the carpenter, said that Republican supporters yelled at his side about tax cuts – something he doesn’t think is realistic.
“Where you gonna pull the money from?” Pagan asked. “We know we’ve got problems here. How can you promise tax breaks at a time like this?”
Following the debate, Joe DeLong, the executive director for the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, weighed in on how he thought the candidates did.
“We’re learning a lot more about Bob Stefanowski—even things like his personality,” DeLong said. “He cracked some jokes tonight. We’re seeing perhaps his campaign maybe focusing on a likeability factor.”
Nick Burlingham of Pawcatuck saw it differently.
“It appears to me that Bob Stefanowski’s campaign is literally trying to persuade the voting public that taxes are the root of all evil and that he’s the savior in that regard,” said Burlingham. “The issues are much more complex than that.”
But Frank LaDore, Hamden’s Republican Town Committee chairman, said that Stefanowski has to keep talking about lowering taxes.
“That’s the core issue of the state,” LaDore said. “It’s not about [Donald] Trump. It’s not about [Washington] D.C. It’s not about social issues. It’s about the economy and how we’re going to fix this state.”
The next debate will take place on September 26 at the University of Connecticut’s Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts.
