Betsy McCaughey, a Republican and former lieutenant governor of New York, filed paperwork Thursday to seek the GOP nomination for Connecticut governor, challenging Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont, who is running for a third term.
McCaughey, 77, a conservative host on Newsmax and New York Post columnist who lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, announced her candidacy the previous evening, according to the Associated Press.
McCaughey, who grew up in Milford and Westport, Connecticut, and served as New York’s lieutenant governor from 1995 to 1998, enters a Republican primary that already includes former New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart and Greenwich state Sen. Ryan Fazio, with her campaign centered on property tax relief and opposition to a new state affordable housing law.
McCaughey, whose last name is pronounced like “McCoy,” said lowering costs for homeowners tops her platform. She wants to cap annual property tax increases at 2% and eliminate property taxes for most seniors. She also seeks to repeal a state law signed by Lamont in November that aims to increase affordable housing, which Republicans have criticized as removing local control over housing development.
“There’s a desperate hunger in this state for a competent, battle-tested fighter who will turn the state around, who will take on Ned Lamont and the other what I call lunatic lefties up in Hartford,” McCaughey said in a phone interview with the Associated Press.
Lamont’s campaign responded by pointing to a statement from Kevin Donohoe, a spokesperson for the Democratic Governors Association. “Betsy McCaughey has spent the last years of her career shilling for Donald Trump’s deeply unpopular agenda that is driving up costs for middle-class families,” Donohoe said. “The last thing Connecticut families need right now is a Trump mouthpiece as their governor.”
McCaughey said she supports abortion rights and agrees with most of the Republican president’s policies.
The GOP primary field also includes former New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart and Greenwich state Sen. Ryan Fazio.
Lamont, 72, who also lives in Greenwich, built his career as a cable television entrepreneur. He faces a Democratic primary challenge from progressive state Rep. Josh Elliott of Hamden.
McCaughey grew up in Connecticut, in Milford and Westport. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Vassar College and a doctorate in U.S. constitutional history from Columbia University. She is also the founder and chairman of Reduce Infection Deaths, an educational organization focused on preventing hospital infections.
In the 1990s, McCaughey drew national attention for a critique published in The New Republic that, according to the AP, helped derail President Bill Clinton’s health care reform plan. George Pataki selected her as his lieutenant governor running mate in 1994; they won, and she served in that role from January 1995 to December 1998.
Pataki dropped McCaughey from his 1998 ticket. She then switched parties, sought the Democratic nomination for governor, and continued into the general election as the Liberal Party candidate, finishing far behind Pataki, who was reelected, and Democrat Peter Vallone.
This year’s New York governor’s race features a parallel dynamic: Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul faces a primary challenge from her own lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado.