Republicans in CT Senate abruptly change leadership; Sen. Kevin Kelly out

Stamford Advocate ^ | 2/16/24 | Ken Dixon

[cotton1706]

State Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly was abruptly and surprisingly replaced by first-term Sen. Stephen Harding as caucus leader on Friday, culminating tensions that has been brewing since before the start of the legislative session earlier this month.

Kelly, a lawyer, was in his fourth year leading the minority caucus as a moderate trying to keep together the dozen-member group, including more-conservative lawmakers. His role was to help the caucus reach consensus on legislation often pushed by the 24-12 Democratic majority, and summing up floor debates prior to the final word from Senate President Pro Tempore Martin New of New Haven.

Few details were initially available Friday afternoon, but Kelly, whose district includes Stratford, Shelton, Monroe and Seymour, failed to win a vote of confidence in the caucus. Harding, a former four-term House member now in his first term in the Senate, was seen as a compromise candidate to steer the GOP caucus through the rest of the legislative session, which ends at midnight on May 8.

[Psalm 73]

Connecticut is a disaster of a Republican party -

From our Chairman Ben Proto ("the shellacking we got in the last election was actually a victory..."), to the creepy campaign advisors who think it's wise to have a Republican Governor candidate rave about how "Pro-Choice" he is. Despicable and creepy.

In 2020 there were 33 Republican candidates running for a state Senate seat - 2 had an "F' rating from the NRA and 16 didn't bother to respond to the survey (“indifferent”).

Of the 125 GOP candidates running for a state House seat, 22 had "D" or "F" NRA rating, and a whopping 54 are listed at “indifferent” at best.

Sure, let's run more of those....

[DIRTYSECRET]

Minor leagues.

[lepton]

On the other hand, they’ve been in a rough position for a couple of decades, at least.