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 breaking down an exceptionally busy weekend.

First and foremost, the entire Connecticut political world is thinking of Chris Murphy. The senator suffered a stroke over the weekend, according to his chief of staff. Murphy was reported to be awake and alert Sunday.

Well wishes have flooded in from all around the state and across the political aisle.

Ned Lamont and Ryan Fazio each offered prayers, as did legislative leadership and Murphy’s colleagues in Washington.

“He is a fierce fighter, and I have every confidence I am going to be welcoming him back to the Senate very soon,” Richard Blumenthal said on Sunday. 

Let’s dive into more news driving the week…

Ritter to UConn?

It wasn’t an “October surprise” in the traditional sense, but the revelation that Matt Ritter might soon be headed for a new job certainly caught many off guard when news broke late last week.

The CT Mirror and News 8 published a pair of stories Thursday and Friday, respectively. The Mirror reported that “an emissary of the University of Connecticut’s board of trustees has approached House Speaker Matt Ritter about becoming the flagship state university’s interim president should Radenka Maric depart before her five-year contract expires.”

Maric’s contract is up in June of next year.

News 8 reported that UConn trustees met in executive session to discuss Maric’s future last Wednesday.

Ritter himself acknowledged growing speculation about his next move.

“I know there are stories out there about my future and potential job opportunities,” Ritter said. “Next Thursday, I will be at the House Democratic Caucus seeking re-election as speaker of the House. Beyond that, I’m not going to comment on hypothetical job offers. I am 100% focused on getting House Democrats elected and meeting the caucus on November 5.”

Phone calls have been flying around among House Democrats as members try to game out what would happen if Ritter departs the legislature in the coming weeks.

Fazio campaign accuses Lamont of misdemeanor

What would the final weekend of the campaign be without some last-minute drama?

A Saturday morning incident involving Ned Lamont provided exactly that. Lamont was caught on video swatting away the phone of a woman who approached to ask him about a traffic infraction issued to Rob Blanchard. Later in the day, Fazio’s campaign issued a statement accusing Lamont of committing criminal disorderly conduct. The Lamont campaign responded by excoriating what they described as “political provocateurs” attempting to disrupt the governor’s events.

You can read more about the incident here.

The woman who took the video told News 8 on Sunday that she was unlikely to attempt to press charges against the governor.

Anne Hughes charged in sign stealing debacle

One person who is on the receiving end of criminal charges is Anne Hughes, the Easton progressive who on Saturday was hit with a misdemeanor summons for sixth degree larceny after her opponent, Republican Darrell Harris, accused her of stealing his campaign signs.

With the help of an AirTag tracking device cleverly placed inside a sign, Easton Police said they tracked the missing campaign merch to a property owned by Hughes.

Hughes expressed regret for the incident in a Facebook but did not mention the criminal charge.

Matt Ritter called the whole episode “childish.”

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