HARTFORD, Conn. _ With nearly 70 percent of the vote counted, political newcomer Bob Stefanowski won the Republican nomination for governor Tuesday night.
Stefanowski, a former UBS chief financial officer from Madison, outpaced Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton by a 30 percent to 22 percent margin. Others in the five-candidate field, David Stemerman, Tim Herbst and Steve Obsitnik trailed in the primary vote. All of Stefanowski's opponents had conceded by 10:40 p.m.
In the race for lieutenant governor, conservative state Sen. Joe Markley held a substantial lead over New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart and Darien First Selectman Jayme Stevenson.
The gubernatorial race, marked by light turnout in the middle of August when much of the electorate is on vacation or not tuned in to politics, is expected to hinge on a few thousand votes.
It's reflective of a fractured GOP that has been searching for an identity.
Do the state's 400,000 registered Republicans entrust their nomination to an insider who has previously held elected office or does it turn over the reins to an outsider from the business world _ like national Republicans did in 2016 with Donald Trump?
"I think higher (turnout) is always better," Stefanowski said outside North Street School in Greenwich, his first campaign stop of primary day.
Stefanowski built an early lead Tuesday night in eastern Connecticut, where Herbst had focused significant time and resources in rural areas. But Stefanowski also appeared to be holding his own in Fairfield County, a potentially ominous sign for the party favorite, Boughton.
Boughton overwhelmingly held serve in Danbury, where he's been mayor for 17 years. The burning question for the social media-savvy former state legislator and history teacher is a 2,000-vote edge in the Hat City enough to offset Stefanowski's pickups across the state?
All three political outsiders outperformed the traditional politicians in Greenwich, with Stemerman, Obsitnik and Stefanowski finishing in the top-three in the GOP bastion that was the boyhood home of former President George H.W. Bush, according to unofficial results.
In Shelton, another Fairfield County battleground, Stefanowski rolled to a 3-to-1 advantage over Boughton, according to the city's longtime mayor, Mark Lauretti, who last month endorsed Stefanowski after a falling out with Boughton.
This was the third run for governor for Boughton, 54, who has cast himself as a blue-collar Republican who has insulated the state's seventh-largest city from the economic and crime woes of many of Connecticut's urban centers.
It's been 53 weeks since Boughton had major surgery to remove a non-cancerous brain tumor, which raised concerns about his health, along with his collapse at a GOP event in March in Avon. Boughton says has no restrictions. Saying he's "just happy to be here" outside Cheshire High School, his final campaign stop on primary day, Boughton commented that he's been proving people wrong throughout the race.
"People didn't think I could raise the money. We did," Boughton said. "They didn't think we'd take the convention. We did. They didn't think I'd be re-elected mayor. I was. I'm feeling great."
Herbst, who narrowly lost his 2014 bid for state treasurer, finished second to Boughton for the endorsement at the state GOP convention in May. The 37-year-old Trinity College graduate has staked out the party's right flank, securing the endorsements of the pro-gun Connecticut Citizens Defense League and the pro-life Family Institute of Connecticut.
