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Attorney General George Jepsen will not seek a third four-year term. Jepsen informed office colleagues in an email this morning. The West Hartford Democrat’s decision will ignite a ferocious race to succeed him, particularly among Democrats.

Watch for Stamford Democrat William Tong to make a quick entry into the race. The open field could also allow gubernatorial exploring candidate Christopher Mattei to make a graceful segue into a race in which his chance of winning improves.

Frank Farriker, who earlier this year, he paid $11, 318 to settle an embarrassing complaint by the Office of State Ethics over dinging taxpayers for cable, cellphone and internet service, is holding a fundraiser for exploring Democratic John Blankley. Farriker, a Greenwich Democrat, paid $6,318 in reimbursements and a $5,000 fine. Blankley is exploring a race for Connecticut treasurer.

Blankley is one of the candidate in the Vinci Group’s thin stable of campaigns. A Greenwich Democrat who came to the United States from Britain in the early 1980s, Blankley ran a losing race against popular state Senator Scott Frantz last year.

He’s run for the legislature, U.S. Senator, and mayor of Stamford. William Tong has become a chronic candidate in the Bysiewicz mode. The Stamford Democrat has been sniffing around a race for State Treasurer for months. That’s a no-go, Daily Ructions readers. Brace yourselves, Balloon Boy will be seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, just two years after a humiliating loss in the Democratic primary for mayor. Even the formidable local Malloy machine couldn’t drag Tong across the finish line first.

Tong has not had shown a steady grip on his Stamford legislative district in the past few years. A race for governor may be a way to avoid a loss for re-election next year for the elite prep school graduate.

The deluge begins. Greenwich Democrat Guy L. Smith IV, retired Diageo executive vice president, will run for governor, Daily Ructions can report.

Smith worked on a Bill Clinton campaign and also in the Clinton White House. He was, according to his Facebook page, a spokesperson for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.

A native Tennesseean Smith’s first test will be a robust early round of fundraising. He has begun assembling a team of campaign staffers and consultants.

Watch for William Tong, who ran unsuccessful races for the U.S. Senate and mayor of Stamford, to to get into the race. Democrat Tong has had some close calls in his Stamford legislative seat.

Ned Lamont’s name (you remember him) has also been mentioned as a Democratic candidate for governor. Lamont, former member of an all-white Greenwich club, self-funded a memorable 2006 campaign against incumbent U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman and suffered a 2010 decisive loss to Dannel P. Malloy in the Democratic primary for governor.

Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman is expected to announce today at 2 p.m. that she will not seek the Democratic nomination for governor. Wyman has been consulting widely with fellow Democrats on whether to run. Opinion, Daily Ructions can report, ran decisively against a bid once Wyman expanded her circle of advisors. The male careerist inner circle’s self-interests in urging a campaign on Wyman was overwhelmed by more clear-eyed well-wishers.

Courtesy calls are being made Thursday morning in anticipation of the afternoon announcement.

The Democratic field is likely to expand in the aftermath of Wymn’s announcement.

More bad news for Democrat Dan Drew. He had to go back to zero. The Middletown mayor ended his exploratory committee and became a candidate for governor in July. For most candidates that transition includes carrying forward a bundle of contributions that qualify toward public financing requirements. Republican Steve Obsitnik, for example, reported bringing forward more than $189,000 in qualifying contributions from his exploratory committee to his candidate committee last month.

Drew reported to the State Elections Enforcement Commission this week that he will carry forward zero contributions. Drew has had to start again in the race to reaching $250,000 to qualify for deficit-ridden Connecticut’s generous public financing program. That is a heavy lift for a campaign that has had weeks of trouble over murky campaign finance activities and puts him far behind his Democratic rivals.

Jonathan Harris has learned all the wrong lessons from the $325,000 settlement (known in common parlance as a fine) state Democrats paid to the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) to keep his 2014 campaign emails and other documents secret. The West Hartford Democrat and former Malloy administration official returned dozens of lobbyist contributions last quarter because he received them during the legislative session when the law precludes lobbyists from donating to campaigns.

Harris, who is struggling to raise money for his lethargic effort, told the verboten donors that his exploratory campaign had received the dough after the Senate had called itself into special session, but before the House of Representatives had done the same. Out of that old abundance of caution, which was not in evidence in 2014 when Harris was running that state Democratic Party organization, Harris sent the money back. His third quarter report is rife with “REF” notations for the lobbyist refunds.

Harris is not the first Democrat eyeing the governor’s race. Rival and former election violation prosecutor Chris Mattei, a Hartford Democrat whose exploratory effort is stepping on twenty Bronin toes, has also had some trouble with basic fundraising rules.

What an autumn for Donald T. Lowe. The Sherman Democrat filed for bankruptcy on September 29th while he was a candidate for first selectman. On Tuesday, Sherman defeated Republican incumbent Clay Cope to lead the tony Fairfield County burg.

Voters were not aware of Lowe’s parlous finances. Lowe said nothing of his filing with his wife, Mary Ann Lamb. Republicans made no issue of it, probably because they were unaware. Candidate money troubles were an issue in a couple of other towns in the region.

Sherman residents may discover that transparency is not a hallmark of Lowe’s tenure.

You know Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman is about to make a big decision when she gathers her closest advisors at J Restaurant and Bar in Hartford. Wyman met with her tribe of veteran fans and hangers-on Wednesday night at the capital watering hole to discuss whether she’ll try to succeed Dannel P. Malloy where he has failed–as governor. Wyman adjourned to the bar after attending a National Guard deployment event at the state armory.

Democrats should get ready for a Wyman-sized big gulp. The Tolland Democrat who has spent the last 30 years in state office is said to be inclined to try to make the case that Connecticut wants four more years of Malloy-Wyman catastrophes.

Wyman would be a heavy favorite to win the Democratic endorsement at its spring convention. She’d face an August primary against any rival who could garner 15% of the delegates at the convention or collect signatures of 2% of registered Democrats. Republicans have been rooting for her to run for she is not the face of change in troubled Connecticut.

Expect to see a lot of this if Derby Republican Themis Klarides decides to take a chance on winning the state’s highest office.

And some of this from the same 2016 event: