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

We’re looking at a very busy week of political news.

Let’s dive right in…

Ned’s in…and he’s got a big week ahead

The word chosen by Mark Pazniokas to describe the official start of Governor Ned Lamont’s re-election campaign was “anticlimactic.”

Anticlimactic, indeed.

After months of avoiding a direct answer to repeated questions about his intentions to seek a third term, Lamont finally filed his campaign paperwork on Friday afternoon. That filing, submitted jointly with Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz’s, represented a definitive answer to the question Lamont has long ducked. 

“Susan and I are ready to go,” Lamont said during a brief press scrum on Friday.

“I didn’t want you to have to ask me any longer,” Lamont said with a laugh.

Bysiewicz noted the string of Democratic wins in last week’s municipal elections.

“The people of Connecticut have spoken very loudly and now we can think about what’s next,” Bysiewicz said.

Lamont said he’ll have a more formal rollout of his re-election campaign this week – and boy, is this week shaping up to be a big one.

The governor will launch his campaign against the backdrop of the head-spinning developments coming out of Washington.

Over the weekend, Lamont moved to reload the November food assistance benefits for more than 360,000 Connecticut residents who saw their SNAP money dry up as a result of the federal government shutdown. Then, the Trump administration told states on Sunday that they must “undo” any actions taken to provide those benefits. Lamont fired back on social media with a firm “no.”

“Those who received their benefits should not worry about losing them,” Lamont wrote.

Just as that back-and-forth was playing out, a bipartisan group of senators advanced a bill to fund the government through January of next year – legislation that would end the historic shutdown with a promise to vote on the healthcare subsidies that Democrats have vowed to protect.

The Senate-approved funding bill passed without the support of either of Connecticut’s senators.

“I’m unwilling to accept the vague promise of a vote at some indeterminate point in the future on an undefined healthcare bill,” Senator Richard Blumenthal texted the Tip Sheet’s author late Sunday evening.

Senator Chris Murphy also voted against the measure, firing off a lengthy missive on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

“Bullies gain power when their misconduct succeeds in causing righteous people to yield in the face of their wrongdoing,” Murphy wrote.

A vote in favor of Sunday’s funding bill, Murphy reasoned, would be a capitulation to the president.

Seven of Murphy and Blumenthal’s Democratic colleagues broke ranks to advance the funding bill. Senator Angus King, the independent from Maine who caucuses with the Democrats, was a key negotiator of the measure and also voted for its passage.

Simultaneous to the fast-moving events in Washington, Connecticut lawmakers will also meet this week to advance a major funding measure of their own.

In a special session of the legislature, lawmakers are expected to set aside half a billion dollars to offset the impacts of President Donald Trump’s signature legislative accomplishment: the “One Big Beautiful Bill” signed into law over the summer. The money will be parked in the state’s swelling budget reserve fund – a move that will put Lamont in the driver’s seat to determine how and when to spend it.

Lamont will formally unveil the reserve funding package this morning at a press conference alongside legislative leadership. The House Republican leader is expected to join the governor and Democratic leaders. The Senate Republican leader was not listed among the press conference’s attendees.

The special session will also include a number of other agenda items, including a revised version of the housing bill that Lamont vetoed earlier this year. 

The new housing bill was announced at the Friday press conference where Lamont confirmed his intentions to run for re-election. A large group of municipal leaders, activists, lawmakers, and administration officials – ranging from Desegregate CT’s Pete Harrison to Shelton’s Republican mayor Mark Lauretti – flanked the governor.

The Connecticut Mirror’s Ginny Monk penned a great summary of the bill.

Also on the agenda for the special session: two measures to allow UConn Health Center to acquire Waterbury Hospital, a codification of the state’s new rules governing immigration enforcement operations in courthouses, and clarifications of a new funding mechanism to treat the long term health impacts suffered by Connecticut firefighters.

Marathon debates are set for Wednesday in the state House and Thursday in the State Senate.

On Friday, Lamont is expected to cap the week with an event for his re-election campaign.

Taken as a whole, the week will present an opportunity for the governor to frame his campaign in exactly the light he wants. He’s pitched himself as the best man to govern amidst uncertainty and there is no shortage of uncertainty bearing down on Connecticut.

This week will also provide Lamont’s potential opponents to open fronts of attack. The two declared candidates in the race were quick to the draw on Friday when news broke that Lamont had filed to run again.

From the right, State Senator Ryan Fazio hammered away on affordability, saying Lamont’s “first eight years in office have seen Connecticut’s electricity rates rise to the third highest in the nation.”

“Two terms are more than enough,” Fazio said.

From the left, State Representative Josh Elliott echoed Fazio’s message that Lamont hasn’t done enough on the issue of affordability and said he hasn’t done enough to stand up to the president.

“We are in a moment where the perma-crisis manufactured by Donald Trump requires leadership from a governor who knows the stakes and will not compromise in the face of rising authoritarianism,” Elliott said. “That’s never been Ned Lamont.”

Outgoing New Britain mayor Erin Stewart, the all-but-declared candidate for the GOP nomination, is also expected to make a move soon, perhaps this week. 

Two big names set to stump in CT this weekend

Move over, New Hampshire. Connecticut is the new hot New England destination for boldfaced names with presidential ambition…at least for this weekend.

Two high-profile governors – Ron Desantis of Florida and Andy Beshear of Kentucky – are set to headline events in Connecticut on Friday and Saturday.

Desantis will speak to a gathering of the Yale-based Buckley Institute in New Haven on Friday evening. Beshear is the keynote speaker at the state Democratic Party’s annual fundraiser named in honor of the late John Bailey. This year’s Bailey dinner will be held in Hartford on Saturday night.

Lamont brings in a new digital director

If you’ve noticed a bit of an improvement in the quality of the short videos posted on Governor Lamont’s social media pages, you’ll want to know the name Tim O’Shea.

O’Shea is the governor’s new digital media director. He came to the role via the powerhouse Connecticut firm Rebellion Group and played tight end for the Owls of Southern Connecticut State University.

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