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Jonathan Pelto
Jonathan Pelto was a 2016 Green Party candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 2nd Congressional District of Connecticut.[1]
Pelto was an independent candidate for Governor of Connecticut in the 2014 elections.[2][3] Pelto failed to collect the minimum number of signatures required to qualify for the 2014 general election ballot.[4]
Pelto is a former Democratic member of the Connecticut House of Representatives. He was first elected to the legislature in 1984 and served until 1993. He later started Impact Strategies Inc., a public relations company specializing in issue advocacy, and served as its president.[5] In 2011, he began "Wait What?," a popular Connecticut commentary blog.[6]
Elections
2016
Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Democratic. Incumbent Joe Courtney (D) defeated Daria Novak (R), Daniel Reale (L), and Jonathan Pelto (G) in the general election on November 8, 2016. No candidate faced a primary election in August. Courtnet won re-election in the November 8 election.[7][8][9]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic |  Joe Courtney Incumbent |
63.2% | 208,818 | |
| Republican | Daria Novak | 33.7% | 111,149 | |
| Green | Jonathan Pelto | 1.6% | 5,332 | |
| Libertarian | Daniel Reale | 1.5% | 4,949 | |
| N/A | Write-in | 0% | 9 | |
| Total Votes | 330,257 | |||
| Source: Connecticut Secretary of State | ||||
2014
- See also: Connecticut Gubernatorial election, 2014
Pelto ran for Governor of Connecticut as an Education and Democratic Party candidate. In order to qualify for a slot on the general election ballot, Pelto was required to collect 7,500 signatures by August 6, 2014. He failed to meet the signature requirements, ending his 2014 bid for the governor's office.[2] The general election took place on November 4, 2014.
Race background
Close race ratings in Connecticut
On March 28, 2014, Democratic incumbent Gov. Dan Malloy formally announced his bid for re-election to a second term. He again teamed up with 2010 running mate and Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman for the 2014 race.[10] As the campaign season progressed, the Daily Kos labeled the race a toss-up. The rating was assigned in consideration of a series of polls showing Malloy behind or rivaling Republican nominee Tom Foley in potential general election match-ups.[11][12] The Cook Political Report, meanwhile, consistently rated Connecticut as "Lean D," meaning the race was competitive, but the Democrats had an advantage.[13]
Rematch of 2010 campaign
Malloy won the governorship in November 2010 following a general election campaign against Republican Tom Foley, a businessman and former U.S. ambassador to Ireland under former President George W. Bush. The contest ended over a week after the general election took place. There were several reversed calls on the outcome of the race before Malloy was announced as the winner.[14] At the May 2014 state Republican convention, delegates endorsed Foley for the second gubernatorial cycle in a row. Fellow GOP candidate and state Sen. John McKinney also garnered enough delegate support to remain eligible for the nomination, preventing Foley from running unopposed in the August 12 primary.[15]
Lieutenant gubernatorial primaries
Incumbent Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman (D) was first elected in 2010 and sought re-election in 2014 alongside Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy. Wyman and Malloy were uncontested in their respective primaries on August 12 and ran together in the general election.
The outcome of the August 12 Republican primary for Connecticut lieutenant governor remained unknown until Wednesday afternoon after election day, when state Rep. Penny Bacchiochi conceded the race to Groton Town Council Member and former Mayor Heather Somers.[16][17][18] With 100 percent of precincts reporting, unofficial results provided by the Connecticut Secretary of State showed Somers defeating Bacchiochi by about 780 votes. Third-place finisher David Walker took 32 percent of the vote, about 1,000 votes behind Bacchiochi.[19]
Under Connecticut election law, an automatic recount is triggered if the margin separating the highest vote-getters falls within 0.5 percent of the total number of ballots cast; for Somers and Bacchiochi, that meant a difference of 1,000 votes. Bacchiochi did not want to order a recount, however, stating it would only waste time.[16] Delegates of the Connecticut Republican Party had voted to back Bacchiochi for lieutenant governor at their convention in May.[20]
Somers went on to share the ticket with GOP gubernatorial nominee Tom Foley in the general election battle against Democratic incumbents Gov. Dan Malloy and Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman and the unaffiliated ticket of Joe Visconti and Chester Harris.[21]
Independent candidates
One independent candidate, Joe Visconti, appeared on the general election ballot along with Malloy and Foley. Former state Rep. and career political operative Jonathan Pelto also petitioned to run as an independent but failed to collect the minimum 7,500 signatures required to qualify for the race.[22] Pelto backed Malloy's 2010 gubernatorial campaign before breaking with the governor during his first term over his policies on education and taxes. Pelto's 2014 bid gained media attention in August when his candidate petition was signed by Ralph Nader. Nader's involvement in the Connecticut gubernatorial race raised concerns for Malloy and Democratic strategists, who accused Pelto of running in order to impact the election's outcome, not to win office.[23]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Jonathan Pelto Connecticut Congress. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- United States House of Representatives
- Connecticut's 2nd Congressional District election, 2016
- Connecticut's 2nd Congressional District
- Connecticut Gubernatorial election, 2014
Footnotes
- ↑ The Green Papers, "The Green Papers: Connecticut 2016 General Election," accessed September 6, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Hartford Courant, "Pelto Names Running Mate, Collecting Signatures For Governor Run," June 5, 2014
- ↑ ''Connecticut State Elections Enforcement Commission, "Exploratory Registration List for Election Year 2014, SEEC Form 4," May 22, 2014
- ↑ theday.com, "Petition process not easy, but works," September 7, 2014
- ↑ The Progressive Investigates, "Public School Shakedown.org: Jonathan Pelto," accessed June 12, 2014
- ↑ jonathanpelto.com, "Home," accessed June 12, 2014
- ↑ The CT Mirror, "Clay Cope wins landslide in 5th, Daria Novak a squeaker in 2nd," May 9, 2016
- ↑ The CT Mirror, "CT GOP backs Carter for Senate, denies Wolf primary margin," May 9, 2016
- ↑ CNN, "Connecticut House 02 Results," November 8, 2016
- ↑ Connecticut News Junkie, "Malloy Makes Re-election Bid Official," March 28, 2014
- ↑ The Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections gubernatorial race ratings (2013-14)," accessed August 11, 2014
- ↑ Only in Bridgeport, "Latest Polls Show Challenging Reelection For Malloy," July 28, 2014
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "2014 Governors Race Ratings," June 26, 2014
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedhour - ↑ The Wilton Daily Voice, "Wilton Republicans Head To Polls Tuesday To Pick Gubernatorial Candidate," August 11, 2014
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Eyewitness News 3, "Bacchiochi concedes GOP race for lt. governor to Somers," August 13, 2014
- ↑ The Associated Press, "Connecticut - Summary Vote Results," August 13, 2014
- ↑ NBC Connecticut, "Race results: Connecticut Primary Election," August 13, 2014
- ↑ Connecticut Secretary of State, "Statement of Vote," accessed August 13, 2014
- ↑ Washington Times, "Lieutenant governor GOP primary too close to call," August 12, 2014
- ↑ Connecticut Secretary of State, "Candidate List, 2014 General Election," accessed October 13, 2014
- ↑ theday.com, "Petition process not easy, but works," September 7, 2014
- ↑ The Hartford Courant, "Nader Signed Pelto's Petition To Get On Ballot," August 6, 2014
