Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont and state Rep. Josh Elliott discuss their positions on voters’ top issues, including skyrocketing health care costs, taxing the rich, the high cost of electricity and the urgent need to build affordable housing.
SCOTT HARRIS: And right now we’re going to go directly to our next segment where we’re going to hear from Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont and state Rep. Josh Elliot in two interviews I conducted over the last, well, since June. We did speak with Josh Elliott June 1st and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont this past Friday. And they’re going to be talking about the issues that divide them in their primary contest. The election is tomorrow. The Democratic primary for governor is Tuesday, Aug. 11. And if you haven’t been following this race or understand the positions of each of the candidates, this is an opportunity to take 20 minutes and listen to each of them. We kind of divided it in half. We’re going to first hear from the June 1st interview I conducted with Josh Elliott, and then we’ll go directly to Gov. Lamont. Do stay tuned.
I’m very happy to welcome to our program, Rep. Josh Elliott of Connecticut’s 88th District representing residents of Hamden Spring Glen, Whitneyville, parts of Centerville and Shepherd Hill neighborhoods. Rep. Elliott, who serves as Deputy House Speaker and Majority Caucus co-chair, won 25 percent of the delegates at the state’s Democratic convention last month, clearing the 15 percent threshold to force an August primary election against Democratic incumbent Gov. Ned Lamont. And Gov. Lamont won the party’s official endorsement with about 75 percent of that delegate vote. But Rep. Elliott, thank you so much for making time to be on our program. I know you’re campaigning now for the August election, and I am certain you have a lot of work to do every day, so appreciate it.
STATE REP. JOSH ELLIOTT: No time to breathe, but happy to be here.
SCOTT HARRIS: All right. I’ll begin with the obligatory opening question for any candidate. Why do you want to be elected Connecticut’s next governor?
STATE REP. JOSH ELLIOTT: We have a terribly unfair tax system whereby the top 4,500 income earners in our state pay less than 8 percent of their income to state and local taxes. And the bottom 1.2 million income earners pay over 20 percent because we’re the second most reliant state in the country on the property tax, which is functionally a middle-class wealth tax. And it is this tax system that our governor fights tooth and nail to keep in place. And as a result, people’s property taxes explode. People are seeing teachers’ positions get cut across the board, across the state. He’s a person who fights against free universal school meals. He’s a person who fights against permanent and fully refundable child tax credits. He’s a person who fights against tax reform of any kind (to get) the wealthy to pay their fair share. And given that he now wants a third term, a very rare third term, you have to have a reason for wanting this job.
I just still don’t see what his reason is. My reason is this is a deeply unaffordable state for working families and I want to make sure that people can afford to live here. And I’ve been in the legislature for 10 years. I’m in my fifth term as deputy speaker, caucus co-chair, and screening chair. This is work I have my name on, bills I’ve introduced, bills I’ve cosponsored that have come out of committee, that universally it’s the governor who kills. So I am ready for the state to see a change, and I hope that people are with me.
SCOTT HARRIS: Ned Lamont boasts of accomplishments in his first two terms in office. He talks about enacting paid family and medical leave, increased education funding, expanded access to childcare, job creation, economic growth. He claims to have stood up to Trump’s policies and protected reproductive rights under attack by Trump and the Republican party. What’s your response to Gov. Lamont’s claim to have been a successful governor thus far?
STATE REP. JOSH ELLIOTT: I would go one by one with all of those claims. I think the thing to remember about Ned Lamont is that when you went to see Donald Trump about two months ago, after we had seen all the mayhem with border patrol and ICE, the one thing you wanted to get across to Trump was what did you learn? Which I found to be an incredibly naive take. Now, I’m not saying that Lamont is a terrible governor. What I’m saying is that Connecticut can do significantly better. And the fact is that people are struggling and they’re struggling for a very specific reason. It is incredibly difficult to live in this state. Now, when we were fighting for minimum wage, the legislature was fighting for a minimum wage. And it was the governor who was trying to extend out how quickly that increase took effect. And when we’re talking about paid family medical leave, it was the governor who made sure that it was a public and private partnership as opposed to just being public.
And now all of a sudden there’s profit involved and it’s a more expensive program. Over and over, we see the way that this governor waters bills down, kills bills before they can become reality and he’s a very nice guy. And if you look back to 2018 and what the state was really desperate for, the state was desperate for “nice” and it was desperate for “stable.” But the fact is that we are suffering from some of the most expensive energy rates in the country and the governor’s unwilling to tackle Eversource and UI. He treats them with kiddy gloves. You cannot be nice about this issue. You have to be serious. And when we’re talking about affordability, he vetoed the housing bill to come back to a watered down bill. This is not something that he takes seriously. And the fact is over and over and over, he’s willing to let health insurance companies off the hook.
We’ve had multiple bills that would’ve brought down costs over and over. It’s the governor that kills these ideas. And the reason is he’s unwilling to take on big fights. And that’s a big problem right now because we need somebody who’s willing to take on big fights to make sure that people can afford to live in our state.
SCOTT HARRIS: We’re speaking with Rep. Josh Elliot of Connecticut’s 88th District representing residents of various Hamden neighborhoods. And as you know, Rep. Elliot is running in a primary this Aug. 11th against incumbent Gov. Ned Lamont. Rep. Elliot, I wanted to ask you to—and you’ve talked about many of them thus far—but to really spell out your campaign priorities, your platform for what you do if you were elected governor of Connecticut, what are your top three or four things that you would make sure are on the top of your list?
STATE REP. JOSH ELLIOTT: Free universal school meals, permanent and fully refundable child tax credits. You pay for these by doing what Massachusetts did three years ago. They implemented a 4 percent surcharge on people making a $1 million or more. They expected $2.2 billion over a two-year period. They took in about $5.7 billion. With that money, we can make massive investments in our infrastructure. We can send more money back to our municipalities, which will bring down the property tax, which is crushing working families, pushing seniors out of their homes. We should be making massive investments in our infrastructure for transportation as well. This brings cars off the road. It helps with climate change. It helps with quality of life. We need more reliability. We need more trains that are coming at every half hour or so instead of every hour. We need a way to get to Boston easily. There’s so many things we should be doing in transportation.
And when it comes to EverSource, I’m talking about a public option so that municipalities have the potential to purchase the grid. Because what does EverSource and UI do? They purchase energy, they maintain the grid, and they sell energy back to us, and they do it at an exorbitant markup. So the reason it’s so expensive here is because we’re paying for the profit of a CEO who makes $18 million a year. Now, Ned Lamont will stay in outrage during an election year, but of course he’s never talked about these things before, but he will not talk about what the solution is. The fact is we cannot wait on this and we need to be actually putting some solutions into play and we need to be putting way more investment into areas for housing as well. So whether this is housing authorities, whether this is investing in modular, there’s a lot of different ways out there, and we need to be asking our municipal players to also help out.
It can’t be about “no, no, no.” But you have to allow for ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units) as a right. But you should also be getting rid of mandatory minimum parking requirements. We could talk about policy for the next three days, obviously. But when it comes down to it, we’re talking about asking the wealthy to pay their fair share, investing in the middle class, making sure that we have affordable housing, and making sure that we’re holding utility companies and health insurance companies accountable.
SCOTT HARRIS: Rep. Elliott, I wanted to ask you more about the Massachusetts tax reform. It was a 4 percent tax on people making, is it over a million dollars in that state?
STATE REP. JOSH ELLIOTT: That is correct.
SCOTT HARRIS: What’s the specific policy that you’d like to implement here in Connecticut in terms of taxing the wealthy?
STATE REP. JOSH ELLIOTT: I think that’s probably the best mile to go for. And the reason I say that is to have the Northeast be sort of acting together and uniformly. We see the Democratic and gubernatorial candidate in Maine talking about this as well. And the thing about this, this is A, deeply popular. Over 70 percent of Democrats believe that we have a tax system that favors the wealthy in a way that hurts middle-class families, but also it’s popular among Republicans too, because I think that there’s going to be a push to paint me as being “out there.” But the fact is that the things I’m talking about are the things that the public wants. And so it’s very easy to fall into this narrative trap that somehow these things are crazy. These things have been done before and these things are things we can do again. And the fact is that when you’re talking about what we did nationally in the middle of the 20th century, top marginal tax brackets on the ultra wealthy were 94 and 92 percent for years.
They were 70 percent for decades. We figured out the model that works, and that is asking the wealthy to pay a commensurate amount into the system that allowed them to get wealthy in the first place. But by the time we hit the ’80s and we had built up this massive middle class, we were able to then backtrack and say, no, you know what? Working families, you’re on the hook for your own, and you got to take care of the working poor as well. And now after 40 years of trickle-down economics, which we have here in Connecticut and we’re sort of the poster child for it, it is time that the pendulum swings back and we ask the wealthy to be really a bigger part of creating a fair system.
SCOTT HARRIS: Rep. Elliot, I want to thank you for spending time with us tonight and leave you with this just one another obligatory question.
STATE REP. JOSH ELLIOTT: Please.
SCOTT HARRIS: I know you’re planning on winning on Aug. 11th in the Connecticut Democratic governor’s primary, but if you should lose, will you support Gov. Lamont’s candidacy in the November general election?
STATE REP. JOSH ELLIOTT: There’s absolutely no question. I hope that he would say the same about me.
SCOTT HARRIS: Well, thank you for spending time with us. Appreciate you speaking with our listeners here on WPKN in Bridgeport.
STATE REP. JOSH ELLIOTT: Of course. It’s been a pleasure. Thanks, Scott.
SCOTT HARRIS: Thank you. Take care. Good night.
STATE REP. JOSH ELLIOTT: Good night.
SCOTT HARRIS: That’s Rep. Josh Elliot of Connecticut’s 88th District representing neighborhoods in Hamden. And this is listener-supported WPKN in Bridgeport. Josh Elliott is, of course, running in the primary against incumbent Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont in a primary election that’s going to be held this Aug. 11th. Joining us today on Counterpoint here on WPKN Radio is Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, who’s seeking his party’s nomination for a third term. This Tuesday, Aug. 11th is the Democratic primary election where Gov. Lamont faces a challenge from state Rep. Josh Elliott. Gov. Lamont, thank you so much for making time for us in these days before this important election coming up.
GOV. NED LAMONT: Nice to see you, Scott.
SCOTT HARRIS: Governor, as you seek an historic third term in office, only two other governors have done so in the modern era. What are your priorities and what haven’t you accomplished in your first eight years in office that you’d like more time to complete?
GOV. NED LAMONT: First thing out of the box, eight years ago, we were almost insolvent. We had to get our fiscal house in order. I think we’ve done that. That’s freed up a lot of revenues that allowed us to do the early childhood endowment fund. Allows us to do some big things in the next four years. If I had two priorities, number one, we have some of the very best schools in the country. We’re often ranked as number one, two, or three, but not all of our schools are the best. That’s my job. Make sure we get them the resources they need. Maybe the state takes the lead on special education. And number two, healthcare. Just soon as we got our pension costs under control because that was eating us alive. Now it’s healthcare costs. I come out of small business. I know how expensive that can be.
We’re going to get affordable healthcare for everybody.
SCOTT HARRIS: Yeah, that’s an important issue, I know. Your challenger, Rep. Josh Elliot, has argued that your tax, healthcare, housing, and utility policies don’t go far enough for the state’s working-class families and the challenges they face right now.
GOV. NED LAMONT: Well, they’ve gotten a lot further than anything he got done. They’ve been trying for a $15 minimum wage for years before I got here. We got that passed. Tomorrow we’re going to announce another increase in that, one of the highest in the country. You talk about affordability. Pay essential workers a little bit more. That’s what they deserve.
We’re building more housing than any time this century. Maybe more single-family housing early in the century, but now we’re building more multifamily housing. That’s obviously in our cities, but we’re also going to our suburbs where they have shopping malls, turning that into housing. And even our small towns were there were sewer and water to make sure it’s easier for their teachers and farm and their kids to be able to afford a home in the town where they grew up.
SCOTT HARRIS: I wanted to just get your response to Rep. Elliott’s proposal of a 4 percent surcharge on state residents with an income over a million bucks. And that’s modeled on a Massachusetts law he often talks about. And he says those funds could be used to invest in K through 12 as well as cutting property taxes for Connecticut families. Could that be a fair way to address the state’s severe and rising inequality? And what are your concerns about raising taxes on wealthy residents of Connecticut?
GOV. NED LAMONT: Well, we did that three times in a row, raising about 40 percent on millionaires right before I got here. Drove our economy into the ditch. We got less revenue when we flat-funded education. I’ve done just the opposite. I cut taxes, not for millionaires. I cut it for middle-class folks. I eliminated the income tax for working families. We’ve had economic growth and opportunity, and that’s I think a bigger way to make progress for people. And we’re just getting started there.
I’m making the investments in early childhood. That’ll save young families one to $2,000 a month. If we get the healthcare costs done, look, we’ve got debt-free community college. These are all ways I can give people opportunity, and that’s how you can deal with the wealth gap. Look, I’m going to hold these guys accountable. Let’s say you think Jeff Bezos is earning too much. Let’s double the tax on him. He moves to Florida. But I’m increasing the tax on Amazon, a big warehouse here, because they don’t provide healthcare for their people. They put them on Medicaid. They’re not going to move. We’ll actually raise the revenues that make a difference.
SCOTT HARRIS: Governor, you say on your campaign website, and you said a moment ago that you’ll explore bold solutions that move Connecticut towards universal affordable healthcare. Can you briefly describe what you see as a path to universal health insurance coverage at a time when healthcare costs are increasingly unaffordable for so many people in Connecticut and across the U.S.? I know one proposal that I’ve heard about is a partnership plan with the municipalities, a public option, a nonprofit basis where people in the state could get healthcare insurance.
GOV. NED LAMONT: I come out of a small business. It was hard as hell for us to provide good, competitive, decent health insurance for folks who had no purchasing power. So I’m going to use our state employees. I’m going to use our retirees. I’m going to work with not-for-profits and small business municipalities. We’ll come together and we’ll be able to negotiate from a position of strength. Some of our hospitals cost 50 percent more than other hospitals, so we’ll start giving people real preferences to go to those hospitals where you get the very best value. We’ll have more and more hospitals join our network. I think that substantially can bring down costs and make it affordable. And in the meantime, like I said, if Walmart and Amazon aren’t providing decent health insurance for their folks, they can pay us $1,000 or $2,000 an employee. I’ll use that to expand coverage for more people.
SCOTT HARRIS: I wanted to ask you about some other issues regarding utilities. People in the state are finding it increasingly difficult to pay for basics, groceries. And of course, Donald Trump’s war in Iran doesn’t help the situation with gas. As I said, utility costs have gone way up. Josh Elliot has proposed that our state should encourage municipalities to take over power distribution from EverSource and United Illuminating and operate the utilities locally. Is that an idea worth considering? I know that South Norwalk, Wallingford, I think there are four other cities that have operated their own electric utilities for decades. Is there some part of that solution that you’re in favor of?
GOV. NED LAMONT: Look, if he wants to do it, you’ve been representative in Hamden for 10 years. Tell Hamden to take a lead. It would be extraordinarily expensive. Having 169 independently-operated electric companies doesn’t really make very good sense. Then he also wants to bury the utility wires, which would add a thousand bucks to your bill. Here’s what you got to do. Number one, what we have done, have a really strong regulatory authority that pushes back on EverSource and UI. Get those multimillion dollar salaries out of the rate base, get your lobbying fees, get that advertising. Only things that go to the reliability of the grid do you pay for. Nothing else. And it’s got to perform or else you’re not going to do that.
And secondly, we need more generation. That’s why I’ve done Revolution Wind. Donald Trump was no help on that. He’s stopped us twice. We sued him twice. We won. It’s now generating enough electricity for a couple hundred thousand homes, a pretty good start. Bringing down hydro. I don’t know where you stand on this, Scott, but we kept our nuclear power going. That’s saving us $400 million this year. That’s allowed us to get rid of the public benefit charge at least for this year. So we’re making progress, but you’re absolutely right. We still have a way to go. That’s more generation. Hold EverSource accountable.
SCOTT HARRIS: Governor, as you said a moment ago, many young people in our state can no longer afford to live here just because of the crazy housing costs. And I wonder, what are some of the things that you’re thinking about pursuing if you get a third term to make things more affordable so people who grow up in Connecticut can stay here?
GOV. NED LAMONT: You’re not serious about affordability if you’re not serious about housing. The Republicans, they walked away on the housing thing, said everything’s fine. Don’t worry about it. Tell that to your kid. Tell that to that person who’s trying to buy that first home. Tell that to the teacher who actually wants to live in the town where they’re teaching rather than have to commute an hour into town. So that’s why we’re building more multifamily housing than ever before in this state. And as I said before, it’s not just in our cities, it’s all over the state.
SCOTT HARRIS: In last year’s federal budget, President Trump and the Republican Party made historic extreme cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, Affordable Care Act subsidies. The SNAP Food and Nutrition Program, and other social safety net programs really suffered. What more can and should Connecticut do to allocate additional funds to reduce the pain for the state’s working families who are going to really feel a lot of this that was delayed until January 2027?
GOV. NED LAMONT: Well, first look what we have done. Everybody else, blue states and red states said, “Tough luck, blame it on Trump. Your healthcare costs on the exchange are going to go up. You’re losing SNAP benefits, whatever it might be.” We set aside, working with our friends in legislature, a $500 million fund. It’s the Trump is Screwing Us fund, and we’re able to step in and make a difference. We made a difference early on for SNAP and make sure that people maintain food support. We maintain the subsidies on the exchange. That was going to cost you $1,000 or $2,000 a month. Scott, my phone was ringing off the hook. All of a sudden, every young mom who had a sick child knew how to find me. So that’s what we’ve done.
Your bigger point is, oh, this is really expensive for us to pick up everything the feds have been doing. If the Democrats don’t take back the House of Representatives this November, they could take a billion dollars out of Medicaid. So that’s why I’m thinking of some contingencies there, but we’re one of the few states that are able to make up most of that difference.
SCOTT HARRIS: Governor, if you win the nomination, if you win this election coming up on Tuesday, what issues will we be focusing on in the general election campaign against Republican governor candidate state Sen. Ryan Fazio? But if you should lose the Democratic Party nomination, will you support Josh Elliot to defeat the Republican candidate in November?
GOV. NED LAMONT: Look, I don’t tack with the wind, Scott. I’ve been doing this for seven-and-a-half years as governor. People have a pretty good idea of who I am. So when you go to the general election, he’ll be talking about tax cuts. I say you never roll and raise taxes. I’m the only governor who’s actually cut taxes, not for millionaires, but for middle-class folks. Like I said before, you got to be serious about housing. You have no housing plan. These are ways that we’re going to take the initiative to make life a little more affordable and just a little bit easier for middle-class folks. Look, I think Donald Trump is an existential threat to this country, so I’m going to support the candidate that does not put their head in the sand, but holds him accountable.
SCOTT HARRIS: Understood. I want to thank you for taking time out of, I’m sure, a crazy schedule we’ve got this week and just a few days before the primary election. So, much appreciation for spending time with us and talking about these issues.
GOV. NED LAMONT: Scott, thank you.
SCOTT HARRIS: And that was Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, incumbent Gov. Ned Lamont, preceded by a discussion on the same set of issues with state Rep. Josh Elliot, who’s challenging Gov. Lamont in the primary election tomorrow, Tuesday, Aug. 11th. Many people have already voted in early voting, but if you haven’t voted, hopefully that discussion was of some help to clarify some of the issues on where these two candidates stand.
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