It was all smiles for Gov. Ned Lamont and New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart.
The two political rivals could end up facing each other in the race for governor next year but they came together this week to hail the opening of a new affordable housing project in Stewart’s hometown.
The leaders had nothing bad to say about each other or a new, 154-unit complex that has been resurrected from a long-closed factory on Ellis Street off the exit on Route 9. Families earning anywhere from $30,000 to $80,000 per year are eligible for the rental units, and they are 100% leased, officials said. At least one unit remained unoccupied so that top officials could see it.
Housing has been a touchy subject recently. Lamont has been repeatedly blasted by liberal Democrats for vetoing an affordable housing bill after an outcry from Republicans that the controversial bill took away too much local control from town boards around the state.
Despite political differences on other issues, Stewart backed up Lamont.
“It was the right move to veto the housing bill,” Stewart told The Courant. “Local control is very important, and local control is also what leads to developments like this” in New Britain.
Lamont, a lifelong Democrat, agreed that he has gotten along quite well with Stewart during his tenure as governor.
“We’ve been friends for years,” Lamont said when asked by The Courant. “Often we clip the ribbons at these housing [ceremonies]. We’ve done hundreds of units together here, and sometimes we have lunch afterwards. … We work together well. Look, we’ve worked very constructively for a long time. Keep that going.”
A six-term mayor, Stewart was the first high-profile Republican to explore a run for governor in the 2026 cycle She was first elected at age 26, becoming the youngest mayor in New Britain history, taking office when her father left office after eight years as mayor. Her supporters have touted her for higher office because Republicans are outnumbered 4 – 1 in New Britain, which has a history of crossover support for Republicans.
Stewart has technically filed paperwork for an exploratory run for statewide office, but it is widely believed that she is running for governor. In a late development, state Rep. Josh Elliott of Hamden filed paperwork Tuesday to run for governor as liberal Democrats have been upset that Lamont vetoed the affordable housing bill and another pro-labor measure that would have awarded unemployment compensation benefits to workers who had been on strike for more than 14 days.
Underneath a tent on a hot day before they helped cut a ceremonial ribbon to open the affordable housing complex, Stewart and Lamont embraced and laughed as they chatted before the speeches began.
“I’m a firm believer that you don’t have to be an enemy of someone to run against them and to show there’s a different way,” Stewart said in an interview. “I think that’s probably what politics is missing nowadays. Everybody wants that factor where they’re waiting for me to come out and say something that is so far beyond the pale about Ned personally. That’s not my style. Nor would I expect a candidate to do that to me.”
Stewart added, “The tagline I’ve got is a new generation of leadership. I think we’re a little stale. That’s not an insult to Ned. It’s just that we have different management and different leadership styles, and we come from very different worlds. Just me standing next to him, we can show that you can get along and you can disagree respectfully, and you can agree on some things, and that’s OK. Just because you’re running against someone doesn’t mean that you have to be all gung ho and curse the world and their existence.”
Stewart, however, said there will be times of disagreement in the future.
“Don’t get me wrong.” Stewart said. “I am from New Britain, so I will take digs when I need to.”
The Fazio Factor
Stewart could end up in a primary in August 2026 against Sen. Ryan Fazio, a Greenwich Republican who also represents parts of Stamford and New Canaan. Fazio won a hard-fought race in the 2024 cycle against Democrat Nick Simmons, a well-funded former Greenwich resident who moved to Stamford.
Fazio reenergized Republicans statewide by winning his seat in a special election in 2021 after former Sen. L. Scott Frantz had lost the district in 2018 to Democrat Alex Bergstein, who changed her name to Alex Kasser after winning the seat. Fazio then won a squeaker against Harvard graduate Trevor Crow in 2022 by a margin of only 89 votes after recounts in all three towns in the district.
Fazio’s supporters believe he can defeat Stewart in a primary, adding that the pair could be a strong ticket if Stewart ran for lieutenant governor as she did in 2018 after dropping out of the governor’s race. She was defeated in a three-way race by state Sen. Joe Markley, a conservative Republican who later ran on the ticket with Madison business executive Bob Stefanowski in a losing effort against Lamont.
As a fellow Greenwich resident, Lamont has worked together with Fazio on various issues, including the much-debated Senate Bill 4 that aimed to reduce the cost of electricity for consumers across the state.
“Look, he’s a good guy,” Lamont told reporters recently of Fazio. “I’ve gotten to know him along the way down there in Greenwich. He can do what he wants to do. I like working with him. … I worked with him on the energy bill, for example. It’s the political season. This will keep coming up.”
When asked by a television reporter if he would rather run against Fazio or Stewart, Lamont said, “That’s probably not a great issue for me to get into. Look, I think I saw Ryan is going to run as a fiscal conservative. He doesn’t want to raise taxes. Keep the balanced budget. I think we’ve done a pretty good job of that over the last six years.”
Another potential Republican opponent, Westport First Selectwoman Jen Tooker, hailed Lamont’s veto of the housing bill as “a victory.”
In the short term, Lamont could be facing competition within his own party as Elliott, a deputy House Speaker, has filed paperwork to jump into the race. Elliott has said he would run in the same way that he challenged then-sitting House Speaker Brendan Sharkey in a 2016 primary before Sharkey abruptly retired.
Elliott’s formal announcement will be next Monday at 1 p.m. in front of town hall in his hometown of Hamden.
State Rep. Nick Gauthier, a freshman from Waterford, wrote in a lengthy op-ed in The Courant on Monday that Lamont should not seek a third term. He follows Sen. Saud Anwar of South Windsor, who penned a similar op-ed last month. Gauthier said he first voted for Lamont at the age of 19 in August 2006 when Lamont defeated U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman in an upset before losing in the general election. Today, he says Lamont should step aside due to his vetoes of the housing bill and another controversial bill that would have awarded unemployment benefits to striking workers after 14 days off the job.
“As the governor of our state and the de facto head of our Connecticut Democratic Party, Lamont has a responsibility to stand with our workers and our working families both in deed and in law,” he said. “Instead, Lamont chose to veto pro-worker legislation put on his desk by a consensus of over 85% of his own Democratic party lawmakers.”
Looking ahead to the 2026 race, Stewart said that Connecticut does not have to be the same as politics at the national level.
“When we look at politics nationally now, and because of the way that things have been with Biden, Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Kamala Harris, we look for those nasty digs,” Stewart said. “That was created by the higher-ups in both parties — Republican and Democrat. We look for those nasty digs. We look for the tweets. We look for the memes. We look for that stuff. I’m certainly not a boring candidate, not by any means, but I was also raised to be respectful, too. I would never want to disappoint my parents or my grandparents in embarrassing them like that.”
Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com