Good morning and welcome back to the Tip Sheet, a weekly newsletter from Tom Dudchik’s Capitol Report written by Mike Cerulli.

This week, we’re diving into the recent announcement that Erin Stewart has been approved for the state’s public campaign financing grant – making her the first gubernatorial candidate to do so in this cycle and the first ever to qualify for the program under a new set of rules. Plus, three new hires in the government relations world.

Let’s dive in…

Stewart qualifies for public campaign grant and focuses on staffing up

The early candidate got the grant.

Nearly a year after the formal launch of her effort to be elected governor, Erin Stewart was officially approved for the first in a series of government-funded grants to power her campaign.

The initial tranche of cash will amount to about $800,000.

Stewart’s campaign announced their grant approval alongside the rollout of senior staff positions. The campaign’s leadership roster will be no surprise to those familiar with the former mayor’s political operation.

Brock Weber, a longtime Stewart aide, is helming operations as campaign manager. John Healey, one of Stewart’s closest confidants, is serving as general consultant and senior advisor. Morgan Wilson is sharing the senior advisor title with Healey. Valerie Marino and Max Turgeon are the campaign’s treasurer and deputy treasurer, respectively.

Of the senior staffers announced by the campaign last week, it is likely Wilson who is least familiar to the Connecticut GOP insider set. A Nutmeg State native and graduate of the swanky Westminster School in Simsbury, Wilson has spent the bulk of his political career outside of Connecticut. Wilson managed Elise Stefanik’s 2020 re-election campaign in New York and has worked for two of the largest firms in the government consulting space. He’s currently a vice president with the influential GOP campaign shop OnMessage. The firm is by far the largest single recipient of funds from the Stewart campaign, having produced its snappy launch video late last year.

The OnMessage team has worked on some of the most high profile Republican campaigns in recent memory, including the U.S. Senate campaigns of Josh Hawley and Dave McCormick. Both men defeated Democratic incumbents.

Wilson, Healey, Weber, and their colleagues on the Stewart campaign now face the task of budgeting a historic amount of money under the new rules of the state’s public campaign financing system. Legislation passed in 2023 more than doubled the grant amounts for gubernatorial candidates and established the convention grant.

Hiring more staff is undoubtedly a priority for the campaign as they begin to get a clearer picture of the delegate math that will determine ballot positioning for the widely-expected primary election between Stewart, Fazio, and, possibly, Betsy McCaughey. Another task for the Stewart team will be divvying up funds for paid media spending at a time when there is no shortage of ways to buy eyeballs.

Be on the lookout this week for the January campaign finance filings from the other declared candidates for governor. We’ll have a breakdown of each of them in next week’s Tip Sheet.

Democrats could have to pick sides in Newtown state House race

The idyllic neighborhoods of Newtown could be the venue for a tough primary race if Brandon Moore and Michelle Embree Ku, two Democrats who have filed to run, stay on their current course.

The two candidates are each angling to take on State Rep. Mitch Bolinsky, a longtime Republican who defeated Embree Ku by about 600 votes in the last election. Both Democrats boast impressive credentials. Embree Ku has a doctorate in biology from Brown. Moore, a former Army aviator, has two graduate degrees from Harvard.

Moore is a relative newcomer to the district he now seeks to represent, having moved to Newtown with his husband after completing his Army service and graduate studies. He’s quickly become a fixture in the town’s Democratic Party. Embree Ku has been a Newtown resident for more than a decade, serving on the town’s legislative body and leading its board of education.

A potential showdown between Moore and Embree Ku has echoes of a similar scuffle that played out in 2024 in the State Senate district held by Ryan Fazio. That race also saw two Democrats throw their hats into the ring. One of them, Trevor Crow, had been the party’s nominee in the prior election. The other Democrat, Nick Simmons, ultimately secured the nomination and went on to lose to Fazio. Moore was Simmons’ campaign manager, overseeing historic spending in one of that election’s most closely watched contests.

Some Democrats are already picking sides. Moore’s campaign kickoff was headlined by Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, First Selectman Bruce Walczak, and the head of Newtown’s legislative council.

Timbro lands at the lotto

Brianna Timbro is starting a new job as government affairs manager for the Connecticut Lottery Corporation. Timbro announced the move on her LinkedIn page last week, capping some speculation as to what the future would hold for her after the leadership change atop the staff ranks of the Senate Republican caucus where she’s worked for the past few years.

Przybysz beefs up

Ken Przybysz’s lobbying shop added two members to its team. Maureen Magnan, a seasoned operator who has worked in senior roles across the legislative and executive branches, is now director of client and government relations for the firm. Mary Kate Mason, a veteran of the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, was brought on as director of communications and strategy.

That’s all for this week! Drop us a line if you have any staff moves to announce: Michael.Cerulli@protonmail.com. We’ll be back next week with another edition of the Tip Sheet!