Joe Visconti, an independent candidate for Governor of Connecticut, has qualified for the ballot. See this story, which says that the Secretary of State has determined that he has at least 7,500 valid signatures. In 2008 he was the Republican nominee for U.S. House in the First District. This year, his ballot label will be “petitioning candidate”, which is Connecticut’s ballot label for independent candidates. Even if he gets over 1% of the vote, his vote will not establish a party that is ballot-qualified for future gubernatorial races.
Visconti is the only statewide candidate who has qualified by petition in Connecticut so far this year. The only other statewide candidate who even tried is Jonathan Pelto, also running for Governor, but his petition is likely to fall short. Thanks to Timothy McKee for this news.
From the article cited, written by Daniela Altimari:
Joe Visconti has muscled his way onto the November ballot, securing at least 7,500 signatures in his grassroots quest for the state’s highest office.
But the tea party Republican, critic of the Common Core and defender of gun owners’ rights faces an even tougher challenge ahead. He now will compete against two candidates for governor — Democrat Dannel P. Malloy and Republican Tom Foley — who have multimillion-dollar advertising budgets, massive, data-driven campaign organizations and Super PACs waiting to weigh in on their behalf.
Visconti, 57, is undaunted. The former town council member from West Hartford said he is hoping for a boost from national Second Amendment and tea party groups, but he isn’t counting on it.
“All we have is the ground game,” Visconti said Wednesday afternoon, just a few hours after Secretary of the State Denise Merrill informed him that his petition drive was successful and he had qualified for the race.
Unlike Malloy and Foley, Visconti and his running mate Chester Harris, a former school board member from Haddam, are not participating in the state’s taxpayer-financed campaign financing program. Instead, he will solicit donations on his website, enlist an army of volunteers and harness as much free media as he can.
He’d be in a stronger position if McKinney had been nominated.
please run you have my vote