Bysiewicz revelation: “I’ve always believed that Democrats shouldn’t waste time attacking each other…” as she launches another attack on Josh Elliott.

There she goes again. Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz has been sending a stream of messages to delegates to this weekend’s state Democratic nominating convention. The missiles take a series slugs at state Representative Josh Elliott, the far left Hamden Democrat challenging Governor Ned Lamont.

A recent one claims Bysiewicz has “always believed that Democrats shouldn’t waste time attacking each other….” She goes on to chastise Elliott for criticizing Lamont on the most recent No Kings Day. In another message, Bysiewicz compares Elliott to loathsome demagogue (not her phrase) Donald Trump. Some delegates may feel that this is a harsh description too far of Eiliott, a genial but reflexive ideologue who would use the state’s taxing authority to bring a new era of decline on Connecticut after eight remarkable years of the Lamont-led recovery.

This may be a hard week for Bysiewicz. Sixteen years ago, a few days before the state Democratic nominating convention the State Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision that concluded the chronic candidate from Middletown did not possess the qualifications required to serve as attorney general. This year she is making her 10th bid for statewide office. She ran for secretary of the state in 1998, 2002, and 2006. She also made short-circuited bids for governor in 2006, 2010, and 2018. She ran for the U.S. Senate in 2012, in a campaign in which murmurings about then-U.S. Representative’s colorful personal life became louder with Bysiewicz’s connivance. In 2018, 2022, and this year, Bysiewicz ran for lieutenant governor withe running mate Ned Lamont, whose private school lessons in deportment have come in handy as Bysiewicz sought to recruit startled Democrats close to the governor to nudge the popular Greenwich Democrat out of a race for a third term.

This was to be Bysiewicz’s triumphant weekend as Lamont’s successor as the Democratic nominee for governor, though not without a primary challenge. Time’s winged chariot may not allow Bysiewicz to make a fourth race for the state’s top office in 2030, nearly 40 years after she won a seat in the state House of Representatives.

Bysiewicz is a delegate to the this weekend’s convention, elected on a Middletown slate with many Elliott delegates. Here’s a recent email from Bysiewicz to convention delegates:

“I’ve always believed that Democrats shouldn’t waste time attacking each other especially now. Trump’s authoritarian regime is a wake up call to Democrats to expand our tent, speak with one voice, and stand up for the rule of law. It’s an all hands on deck moment, and we need a united front. 

“But while many of us spent No Kings Day rallying against Trump’s aimless war in Iran, his cruel deportation agenda, and his blatant corruption, Ned Lamont’s challenger decided to spend the day criticizing Governor Lamont instead. 

“He went so far as to call Ned Lamont the king, dragging focus away from President Trump and advancing his own political aims. Does he really think it’s a good use of our time to spend the next few months fighting with each other rather than taking on the Republicans?

“I’m standing unequivocally with Ned Lamont in this election, and I hope you will too.“

– Susan

Published May 14, 2026.