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

What a week…

Since the last Tip Sheet, we’ve seen: a surprise upset in the 1st Congressional District, the collapse of Erin Stewart’s campaign, the rapid Republican rally around Ryan Fazio, and Josh Elliott’s strong showing at the Democratic convention.

A lot of ink has been spilled analyzing last week’s major events, and we’re not going to retread stories everyone has already discussed at length. Instead, we’re going to zoom in on an underdiscussed element of the three-candidate gubernatorial contest: the vibes.

We will examine such questions as: 

Is Ned Lamont getting mogged? Answer: yes.

And, who threw a better convention afterparty: the Young Democrats or the Young Republicans? The Tip Sheet’s author personally tested this question. The answer might surprise you.

Let’s dive in…

Ned gets mogged

The pictures tell the story.

A 72-year-old governor striding onto the stage, diet soda hoisted above his head, a pair of On sneakers – a sartorial calling card for well-heeled men of a certain age – on his feet.

A 41-year-old progressive lawmaker, hair spiked, dressed well-tailored suit, his hands clasped with supporters waving bright-colored “Tax the top 1%” signs around him.

A 36-year-old state senator with looks that are frequently compared to Clark Kent striding confidently up the aisle of the convention hall. His fiancée’s right hand clasped in his left, her left hand outstretched toward a gleeful supporter.

Those photos are featured in two Connecticut Mirror stories about this past weekend’s conventions. Mark Mirko snapped the shots at the Republican convention. Jessica Hill captured the scenes at the Democratic convention. 

Gov. Ned Lamont easily won the endorsement party’s delegates on Saturday. But there was no mistaking it: He got mogged by the two younger men challenging him from the left and right.

For those unfamiliar with that term, mogging, in its most stripped-down definition, is internet slang for when one man looks a lot better than another man. The term grew out of a right-wing-adjacent corner of the internet obsessed with maximizing male attractiveness. Followers of this practice call it looksmaxxing.

True adherents to the ideology of looksmaxxing (one goal of looksmaxxing is to be able to mog other men) go to extremes in order to make themselves more appealing. The de facto head of the looksmaxxing community, a 20-year-old influencer who goes by the moniker Clavicular, has admitted to using methamphetamine to suppress his appetite and taking a hammer to his facial bones in an effort to sharpen his features.

Like all slang that emerges from niche communities into the internet’s mainstream, the concept of mogging has been wrapped in layers of irony and self-referencing humor. Few outside the looksmaxxing community use the term unironically. Pick any recent news story, and there’s a good chance you can find a viral tweet describing it using the “-maxxing” suffix. Even everyday occurrences can get the “-maxxing” treatment. Got a good night’s rest? Sleepmaxxing. Eating enough fiber? Fibermaxxing. Winning 92% of delegates at your party convention? Delegatemaxxing, so to speak.

The modifier has gotten so ubiquitous that the New York Times Magazine penned an explainer last year.

Mogging, too, has become a commonly used term among many Gen Zers and those millennials who like to think of themselves as younger than they actually are. The term has evolved to encompass a broader meaning than just looking better than another person.

Like the “-maxxing” suffix, mogging has its own set of modifiers – frame mogging, hair mogging, on and on. To mog is not only to present better than another. It also implies an imposed sense of embarrassment, knocking an ostensible opponent in a given arena off their balance with one’s mere presence. It is in this sense that one might say Josh Elliott mogged the incumbent governor at the Democratic convention, capturing more delegates than many had predicted while Lamont’s campaign worked to try and minimize the bleeding.

Why does any of this matter? The nascent pool of online supporters of both Lamont challengers have begun adopting aesthetic language that is rooted in the multi-layered ironic humor spawned by the looksmaxxing trend. Again, few deploy these aesthetic hallmarks with full sincerity. There is almost always a wink and nod built in. And despite the distinctly right-wing bent of the looksmaxxing community, left-wing groups and politicians have embraced the concept of mogging. 

Take, for example, this post by the official account of the Democratic National Committee portraying Donald Trump being mogged by Barack Obama. The post has 1 million likes and 6.8 million views. Another post by the DNC’s TikTok account shows Trump being mogged by Zohran Mamdani. Gavin Newsom’s punchy press office account once posted, in all caps, “MOG OR GET MOGGED.”

The Tip Sheet has previously highlighted several posts (called “edits”) by grassroots supporters of Fazio who are clearly inspired by the various aesthetic signatures that exist in the same online universe as looksmaxxing. Newer additions to that oeuvre include this edit of Fazio mogging Erin Stewart. Another Fazio edit depicts his face atop a shirtless body holding a sword.

The Elliott sphere appears to be jumping on the trend, too. An Elliott supporter recently posted what was described as the first Josh Elliott edit. As far as the Tip Sheet can tell, this is true. The edit depicts Elliott as the “superior” of both Lamont and Fazio, nodding to the “chad” archetype that actually predates the looksmaxxing trend – but has since been subsumed into it.

Whether or not Lamont can, or even wants to, see if he can mog either of his opponents remains to be seen. Age is not necessarily an inhibitor of one’s ability to mog. Trump’s supporters frequently make edits of the 79-year-old president mogging his political opponents.

As the Golden State’s governor advised, mog or get mogged.

Dispatches from the afterparties

As has become custom, the responsibility of hosting convention afterparties fell largely to the youth wings of the Democrats and Republicans.

The Connecticut Young Republicans (CTYR) held their party on Friday evening at Mohegan Sun’s MJ23 Sports Bar. It was a lively affair, especially given that the party’s nominee is a young Republican himself. CTYR’s chairman, Patrick Burland, used the event to formally launch the new Young Republican Caucus, which includes Fazio, Steve Harding, Joe Hoxha, Seth Bronko, Joe Polletta, Chris Stewart, and Joe Canino. Hoxha was recently elected to CTYR’s board as national committeeman.

Other members of the board are vice chair and Matt Carrier, national committeewoman Hannah Vogt, secretary Matthew Schwartz, comms chief Andrew Tammaro, political director Adrian Piazzaro, treasurer and Fazio right hand Eddie Aledia, executive director Connor Favre, deputy treasurer Ryan Wells, campus coordinator Nick Giannatassio, and digital director Alexa Furniss.

The Young Democrats of Connecticut (YDCT) co-hosted their convention afterparty with Chris Murphy on Saturday afternoon. The entirety of Pratt Street was converted into a block party setup. YDCT’s board made a strong showing at the event, with a few taking to the dance floor to unwind after a tense day on the convention floor. The group is led by president and Lamont bodyman Alan Cunningham, executive vice president Jess Weaver, operations head Mario Volpe, regional affairs chief Liz Borecki, political director Tom O’Sullivan, finance director Tom Gilbertie, secretary Abby Lockwood, national committeewoman Jennifer Croughwell, national committeeman Alan Cavagnaro, comms director Madi González, and deputy comms director Mitchell Marks.

As for who had the better afterparty, it’s always tough to make a ruling on something so subjective. But the facts are as follows: the Young Republicans’ party started later into the night, lasted longer, and had a much more cohesive vibe than the Young Democrats’ block party. The Young Republicans come off as though they are one team, while the Young Democrats present as an amalgamation of teams, some at odds with each other. The Young Republicans sustained their main event for several hours before migrating, largely as one group, to other Mohegan late night spots including Johnny Rockets, where the Tip Sheet’s author narrowly – and very tactfully – avoided the full force of a spilled milkshake.

The Young Democrats’ Pratt Street crowd started to disperse before sundown, with small splinter groups heading off to other Hartford haunts to carry on the festivities. At the main event, the vibe was a bit more stiff than the partying at Mohegan Sun. The neckties weren’t quite as loose and the drinks weren’t quite as free flowing as they were at the Young Republicans’ shindig. Perhaps that’s because of the aforementioned competitive dynamic among some Democrats. Or maybe it was because the crowd was tilted further in the direction of, shall we say, people who probably don’t quite qualify for membership in the Young Democrats.

The Democrats also held their convention in only one day, meaning many people had to head home after. This might account for the early end and the vibe deficit. The Republicans all stayed the night at Mohegan, with some keeping the party going until the early morning hours before heading to the convention floor.

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