SEEC approves $3.75M campaign grant for Josh Elliott

The State Elections Enforcement Commission on Thursday awarded a $3.75 million public financing grant to Josh Elliott, giving him hope of ramping up his challenge to Gov. Ned Lamont next week with television advertising ahead of the Democratic primary on Aug. 11.

The grant represents more than a tenfold increase in resources available to Elliott’s uphill effort to become the first challenger in Connecticut to deny an incumbent governor their party’s nomination for another term. But the funds will not be immediately available.

Elliott, 41, a state representative from Hamden, is the first candidate to qualify for a primary against an incumbent governor since 1978, when Gov. Ella T. Grasso was unsuccessfully challenged for the Democratic nomination by her lieutenant governor, Robert Killian.

Until now, Elliott has spent only $338,197, with the single largest reported expenditure being $32,000 spent in late June on lawn signs and billboards. He has recorded two commercials that have only been seen on social media and are awaiting an avenue to a larger audience.

“I think it’s likely not much is going to change this weekend,” Elliott said. “We’re going to try to do some digital [advertising], I think, during this weekend. But the money won’t actually be in the account sometime until next week. TV stations won’t have money in hand.”

Political advertising is a business in which credit generally is not extended, but Elliott said his campaign is trying to get the elections commission to issue a letter assuring TV stations it soon would have millions in the bank.

The approval came a week after the commission postponed action on Elliott’s application, finding that his validated contributions fell less than $2,000 short of the $335,500 necessary to qualify for a gubernatorial grant under the Citizen’s Election Program.

Every contribution must come with paperwork attesting to its source, and Elliott says his campaign’s application was based on nearly 6,000 individual contributions. State contractors are barred. Most of the money must come from in-state donors, who can give between $5 and $340.

Elliott said he had no complaints about the time the elections commission took to vet his qualifying contributions.

“SEEC has to make sure that if they are going to hand over nearly $4 million that every possible precaution is taken to make sure that this is a foolproof application,” Elliott said. “And given that we have raised like nearly 50% more than anybody who has ever used this program, I do not fault them for needing a little bit more time.”

The grants available to gubernatorial campaigns increased significantly in this election cycle, and so did the required qualifying contributions.

Elliott said he believes that the State Elections Enforcement Commission, which administers the public financing program, has insufficient staff to move faster on applications for campaign grants.

“If we want them to do better, that’s going to be on state government to fund them better. It’s not going to be on them. They are limited in what they can and can’t do,” Elliott said. “So I certainly do not blame them for needing the time to comb through the nearly 6,000 contributions.”

Lamont has opted out of the voluntary public financing program and will largely self-fund his campaign for a third term, as he did winning his first term in 2018 and reelection in 2022.

In both those elections, the Republican nominee, Bob Stefanowski, also opted out of the program. The public grants became more attractive this year, with the general election grant for a major party nominee for governor set at $18 million.

State Sen. Ryan Fazio of Greenwich, the GOP nominee this year, already has qualified for public financing.

Elliott is the second Democratic candidate for governor to qualify for public financing since money became available for state constitutional officer elections in 2010. Former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy had publicly financing in both his wins in 2010 and 2014.

Republican Tom Foley, who was largely self-financed in his first run in 2010, opted for public financing in his 2014 rematch with Malloy.