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

This morning, we’re recapping the first official week of Democratic gubernatorial primary campaigning and checking in on the Republican underticket.

Let’s dive in…

Elliott on the cusp of public financing grant

State Rep. Josh Elliott says he’s around $20,000 away from hitting the qualifying mark for the state’s public campaign financing grant after a strong week of fundraising.

Elliott told the Tip Sheet on Sunday that he’d raised around $315,000. Last Tuesday, he told the Connecticut Mirror he had raised around $310,000 after a convention weekend pop.

At this point, it only seems to be a matter of when, not if, Elliott will surpass the $335,000 mark and unlock more than $3 million in public financing to power his insurgent campaign against an incumbent governor with vast personal resources.

The timing will matter for Elliott, who has little more than two months to wage a full-fledged challenge. Television and online ads take time to produce and disseminate. Building out a statewide organizing operation also takes time – even for a campaign racking up donations and volunteers by the hour.

Brokman’s move

Over in LamontWorld, people in and around the governor’s campaign are adamant that Matt Brokman’s recent move to become chairman of the re-election effort does not constitute a shakeup or an admission that Elliott’s challenge has caught anyone flat-footed. The move was pre-planned, so they say. Brokman, after all, has long been one of Lamont’s most trusted advisors. It only makes sense that he’s decamping from the second floor of the Capitol and heading over to the campaign now that the legislative session is over. Right? Perhaps.

Francesca Capodilupo, the seasoned political operator with strong ties to the Democratic Party’s base of power in Fairfield County, remains as campaign manager. Additional staff handling scheduling, field operations, and other grunt work have been coming onboard in recent weeks. Brokman’s installment is being framed as a natural continuation of the campaign’s “bulking up” phase.

But the “bulk up” has not tamped down speculation that Lamont’s political operation is still struggling to find its sea legs. The Brokman move could trigger an additional headache for Lamont in a city that is critical for any Democrat in a contested statewide primary: New Haven.

As Kevin Rennie noted, Brokman’s departure from the governor’s office leaves Natalie Wagner running the official operation. Rennie recalled text exchanges, which he brought to the public’s attention, in which Wagner and Joette Katz traded unfounded innuendos about State Rep. Toni Walker and former Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano.

“New Haven does not forget,” Rennie said.

How true that is.

Walker was unanimously renominated for another term in the House last Thursday. Her position as co-chair of the Appropriations Committee makes her one of the most powerful and respected legislators in the Capitol. She was included on a list of endorsers of Lanmont’s campaign shortly before the state convention.

New Haven, like all of Connecticut’s major cities, helped deliver Lamont’s majority at the party convention, even as many urban labor leaders and progressive political scenesters harbor gripes about the governor’s leadership.

More than 100 active New Haven Democrats were in the room for last week’s meeting of New Haven Democrats, where the party endorsed its chosen candidates for the state House districts within the city. State Rep. Pat Dillon won the nod in the 92nd District, but Eli Sabin and Justin Farmer vowed to petition their way onto the primary ballot. Wildaliz Bermudez will do the same in the 97th District, challenging party-endorsed Alder Leland Moore in the race to succeed State Rep. Al Paolillo Jr.

Neither Lamont nor any of his campaign staff were spotted in the room last Thursday, according to people who were there. Josh Elliott, however, stopped by to say hello.

Lumaj hits his number

Peter Lumaj, the GOP’s nominee for secretary of the state, announced Friday that he’d raised the required amount to qualify for public campaign financing. In a message to supporters, Lumaj said he’s still looking to raise a buffer before submitting his official application for the grant.

The announcement makes Lumaj the first of any of the underticket statewide Republican candidates to hit the $100,700 mark.

In the state’s mainstream political press, Lumaj is often written off as a perennial candidate – much like the Republican lieutenant governor nominee Matt Corey. But Lumaj and Corey both maintain deep ties to the conservative grassroots built over multiple cycles of determined legwork. At the GOP convention, both men were crowd favorites. Their presence on the Republican ticket brings with it ties to base voters that will be crucial for the Republicans’ November turnout operation.

That’s all for this week. We’ll be back next week with another edition of the Tip Sheet!

And yes, the “30 Under 30” is still coming. We’ve got about 20 names locked in so far. The other 10 slots are still up for grabs, with dozens of nominations in the running. Keep sending us your ideas: Michael.Cerulli@Protonmail.com.