The Working Families Party endorsed Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman Tuesday, ensuring the governor will appear on two ballot lines during the November election.
The third-party’s cross-endorsement helped Malloy secure a narrow victory over Republican Tom Foley in 2010. Four years later, Lindsay Farrell, the party’s executive director, said he has again earned the WFP endorsement for his support on issues like paid sick leave, increases in the state minimum wage, tax policies, and organized labor policies.
“Governor Malloy has been a champion for working and middle class families and the uninsured,” she said in a statement. “He has been a critical ally on a number of important issues to our party, and has earned our support for another term.”
In a joint statement, Malloy and Wyman said they were honored to accept the endorsement.
“There is more work to do to make sure that every Connecticut family has a good job, fair wages, and opportunity for their children. This election is too important to go backward to the failed policies of the past,” they said.
The party declined to endorse John McKinney, a state senator and Fairfield Republican engaged in a primary race against Foley, and Jonathan Pelto, a former Democratic state representative who is trying to collect enough signatures to appear on the ballot under the Education and Democracy Party. WFP members heard from both candidates at a convention in June.
McKinney told reporters he did not expect an endorsement from the liberal group and attended the June event in an effort to keep a dialogue going.
In a statement, Pelto called the party’s endorsement of Malloy unsurprising but disappointing.
“Rather than hold Malloy responsible for his anti-working family policies, the group has thrown their support behind an incumbent who has squandered the opportunity to stand up and do the right thing for the real working families of Connecticut,” he said.
Foley did not address the Working Families Party.
In 2010, Malloy won the election by a slim margin of 6,404 votes. His name was split between the ballot lines for both the Democrats and the Working Families Party. Malloy received 26,308 votes on the Working Families Party line. Foley’s name only appeared on the Republican ballot line.