UPDATED WITH EXPLANATION: The stench of treachery filled the air in Middletown as Bysiewicz won delegate seat on Elliott slate. Larson falls short of expectations.

Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz embarrassed Governor Ned Lamont Monday night at her hometown delegate caucus. She was elected a delegate as a member of the slate backing Lamont challenger state Representative Josh Elliott. Bysiewicz was a member of both the Eliott slate and the party establishment slate that supports Lamont’s bid for a third term.

Why Bysiewicz would want to be a delegate has baffled Team Lamont. Why she would allow her name to appear on Elliott’s slate has infuriated the governor’s team. This is not the first time Bysiewicz has blundered at home.

The Middletown caucus elected a divided slate for the delegates the town will send to the first Congressional District convention. The town, which is divided between the First and Third Congressional Districts, chose a compromise slate that includes some delegates for incumbent John Larson, but it may have a near-majority supporting Jillian Gilchrest as well as some for Luke Bronin. Ruth Fortune may also have some rooters. The outcome will have preserved some local unity at the expense of the Larson campaign’s high hopes for an air of invincibility as the delegate selection process nears its completion.

Party endorsement conventions meet in May.

UPDATE: Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz was not aware before Monday night’s Middletown Democratic Town Committee delegate caucus that her name would appear on both the town committee chairman’s slate and the challenge slate, according to the Lamont campaign. The challenge slate was an attempt to elect delegates who reflected a fuller spectrum of town committee members’ views on this year’s campaigns. That included eager young members who support state Representative Josh Elloitt’s challenge to popular governor Ned Lamont.

For the First CD slate, the winners included delegates who appear to support the four candidates in the race. The defeated slate made almost no room for candidates other than John Larson. This was another example of a town chairman holding back information on who would be on the party leadership delegate slate and then larding it with Larson loyalists. That was especially perilous in Middletown, home to a town committee that had heard from the four contenders and were most impressed with the three challengers.

There is also some sentiment that candidates ought to have a chance to take their campaigns to primary voters in August. Connecticut, you will have read here before, has the among the most restrictive ballot access laws in the nation. If there is a primary that includes Larson it will be the first time an incumbent member of the House in Connecticut has faced a primary.

There was a curious moment at the meeting. When Bysiewicz, who, like everyone else, was attending the event remotely, learned that she was on the slate that she must have known would cause some significant head-scratching, did not announce that she declined to be on the challenge slate and ask that her name be removed. The challenge slate was prepared for that easily anticipated expression of loyalty to Ned Lamont, who rescued Bysiewicz in 2018 on the eve of the state party convention by choosing her as his running mate. Bysiewicz preferred to be on both slates, despite the implications.

The Lamont campaign tells Daily Ructions it has no doubt about Bysiewicz’s loyalty. The campaign has been pleased with its support from the Democrats who choose delegates in the state’s 169 cities and town’s, though there is some concern about tonight’s Norwalk caucus as the delegate selection process draws to a close.

Published March 30, 2026/Updated March 31, 2026.