“Angry” Elliott Launches Gubernatorial Primary Campaign

by Paul Bass The New Haven independent

A day after qualifying for a Democratic gubernatorial primary, Josh Elliott rode into Westville with a populist economic message.

“If I sound angry,” Elliott, wearing jeans and rolled-up shirt sleeves, told members of New Haven’s high-voting 25th Democratic Ward Committee at a meeting in Edgewood Park’s Coogan Pavilion, “I want you to know that I’m angry.”

He’s angry, he said, that Connecticut hasn’t followed Massachusetts’ lead in passing tax reform that adds a surcharge on the ultra-wealthy to help fund schools, preschools, transit and bridges and human needs.

If elected governor this year — or rather “when” “we win in August” — he will make it a top priority to work with the legislature’s Democratic majority to add a 1 percent surcharge on incomes over $1 million and reduce the state’s reliance on the “regressive” property tax.

Elliott, a Hamden state representative who started his political career working for Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, addressed the crowd one day after a triumph at the state Democratic Party convention. He earned 25 percent of delegates’ support at the convention. That puts his name on an Aug. 11 primary ballot against incumbent Ned Lamont.

He has a high hill to climb against a popular two-term governor. Elliott reported that his campaign is just $25,000 away from qualifying for public funds under the Citizens’ Election Program. That’ll give him enough money to compete. He noted that the last gubernatorial candidate to qualify for public funds — Dannel P. Malloy, in 2010 — went on to defeat self-funded Ned Lamont in a primary despite being outspent 3-1.

“This is not a year to be asking whether or not a Democrat can win. This is a year we need to be asking, ‘What kind of Democrat do we want?’” Elliott said.

Lamont has opposed efforts to raise marginal tax rates on the wealthy, arguing that that would punish “success” and drive top taxpayers out of the state.

Elliott argued that a more progressive tax system with higher rates on the wealthy helped build the middle class in the middle 20th century. The continual reduction in top tax rates since the 1980s has gradually eroded the middle class, he argued. In Connecticut, the reliance on the property tax has put the burden of funding government disproportionately on the middle class.

He happened to speak to the Westville gathering moments after Westville Alder Adam Marchand warned the crowd that their taxes may well rise in a citywide property tax reassessment that begins next year.

If Ned Lamont is reelected, Elliott warned, “Your property taxes will explode.”

In a previous appearance before New Haven’s Democratic Town Committee, Lamont pitched himself as a “progressive that gets stuff done.” He touted his record of increasing public school funding and creating protections for striking workers. Read more about that here.

Whoever wins the Aug. 11 Democratic gubernatorial primary will face Republican Ryan Fazio in the general election.

State Sen. Gary Winfield (above) and Probate Judge Americo Carchia (below) also pitched their reelection campaigns at the Ward 25 Democratic committee meeting.