Ned Lamont

Ned Lamont (2019)

Edward Miner "Ned" Lamont, Jr. (born January 3, 1954 in Washington, DC ) is an American entrepreneur and politician of the Democratic Party . He has been the governor of the state of Connecticut since January 9, 2019 .

career

Education and professional career

Lamont first studied at Harvard College , where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1976. In 1980 he completed his academic training with a Masters in Business Administration from the Yale School of Management. During his student days he was also the editor-in-chief of a student newspaper. From 1977 Lamont was also active in the editorial office of a local newspaper in Vermont . After graduating, he worked in the cable television business for several years. In 1984 he started his own business and founded the company Campus Televideo , which offered universities and colleges various services in cable and satellite television . In addition to his professional activities, Lamont also served on various boards of directors of various organizations such as the Norman Rockwell Museum . Lamont is also heir to a fortune and a member of exclusive country clubs .

Political activities

From the 1980s Lamont became increasingly involved in politics and was a member of the Greenwich City Council in Connecticut for a few years . In March 2006, Lamont announced his candidacy for the United States Senate in the 2006 Senate elections. In the Democratic Primary , in which the candidate of a party is determined, he defeated incumbent Joe Lieberman . Lamont accused him of supporting the Iraq war, which is increasingly unpopular among the democratic party base . However, on November 7, 2006, he failed to enter the Senate. He was defeated by Lieberman, who won 49% of the votes cast as an independent candidate and thus made it back to the Senate. 39% of voters supported Lamont. Many supporters of the Republican Party voted for Lieberman and refused allegiance to Republican candidate Alan Schlesinger . Lieberman were generally given greater chances than Schlesinger to beat Lamont. In addition, Lieberman is considered to be conservative in values and was therefore eligible for many Republican supporters.

In November 2009, Lamont announced that he might run for Connecticut's 2010 gubernatorial election; in February 2010 he officially submitted his candidacy to the Democratic Party. At a party congress in May 2010, he was clearly defeated by his internal challenger Dan Malloy . Since Lamont cleared the internal hurdle of 15% of the party congress votes, he was still able to take part in the Democratic primary on August 10, 2010, where he also clearly lost to his rival Malloy.

Connecticut Governor

With a renewed attempt for the post of governor, Lamont was finally able to win the democratic primary in August 2018. He had already announced his candidacy to succeed Governor Dan Malloy in November 2017, who is not available for your third term in view of poor poll numbers. Accordingly, since his entry into the election campaign, Lamont tried to keep the incumbent public at a distance. As his candidate for the office of lieutenant governor , he selected Susan Bysiewicz , who served as Secretary of State from 1999 to 2011 . In his election campaign, Lamont is focusing in particular on consolidating the national budget and investing more in health care, infrastructure and education. In the gubernatorial election on November 6, 2018, Lamont defeated Republican Bob Stefanowski in an unexpectedly narrow decision. For the Democrats, 49.4% of the voters voted, while his Republican opponent Bob Stefanowski received 46.2% of the vote. The non-party Oz Griebel received another 3.9% of the vote . Due to the tight election result, Lamont was not declared the winner until the next day, especially since Stefanowski was still slightly in the lead at the beginning of the vote count. Ned Lamont was sworn in as the new governor of Connecticut on January 9, 2019.

On May 29, 2019, Lamont signed a bill to raise the state minimum wage from $ 11 to $ 15 an hour. The increase is to be implemented in stages by January 2023. In June 2019, the governor approved a gun control law, which, among other things, introduced stricter rules for the storage of firearms.

In the run-up to the 2020 presidential election , he spoke out in favor of former Vice President Joe Biden in the Democratic primary . Biden had actively supported Lamont's election campaign for governor in 2018.

Private life

Ned Lamont has been married to his wife Ann Huntress since 1985. They have two daughters and one son.

Web links

Commons : Ned Lamont  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Web presence of the governor office (English)
• Campaign site (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} About Ned , nedlamont.com (English)
2. ^ Paul Bass: Letter From Connecticut. State Primary, Few Clues About Voter Attitudes , www.nytimes.com, August 11, 2010, accessed August 30, 2010
3. ↑ With primary over, Lamont tries to define himself and Stefanowski , CT Mirror, August 15, 2018 (English)
4. ↑ Democrat Lamont triumphs in Connecticut governor's race , CNN, November 7, 2018 (English)
5. ↑ Connecticut governor signs bill to gradually raise minimum wage to $ 15 , The Hill, May 29, 2019
6. ↑ Gov. Lamont signs three gun control bills, including Ethan's Law , Hartford Courant, June 3, 2019
7. ↑ Lamont endorses Biden as other Dems wait and watch , CT Mirror, July 2, 2019 (English)