The Independent Party of Connecticut has come out in support of over 100 candidates this election cycle, announcing its endorsement of Republican Ryan Fazio for governor alongside numerous independents and candidates from both major parties further down the ballot.
In a statement this week, the party said its State Central Committee met on August 23 to consider both endorsements and cross-endorsements for the November general election, including in several statewide and congressional races. The party also remarked that it saw a 20 percent increase in applications for its endorsement compared with previous years.
At the top of the ticket, the party endorsed Fazio in his gubernatorial bid, alongside Democrat Stephanie Thomas for secretary of the state and Republican Fred Wilms for treasurer. The party also endorsed four congressional candidates, backing Republican Amy Chai in Connecticut’s 1st Congressional District and Republican George Austin in the 2nd, as well as independents Thomas Egan in the 3rd and Benjamin Wesley in the 4th.
Notably, an endorsement list maintained by the party identifies both Democrat Sean Scanlon and Republican Jennifer Tooker as receiving its support in the race for state comptroller, although state law would not permit both candidates to appear on the Independent Party line. The same list also identifies Chai as an independent, despite her having previously received the Republican Party’s endorsement for the seat. Independent Political Report has reached out to the party for clarification regarding the comptroller race.
Down ballot, the state party threw its support behind dozens of candidates for the General Assembly, with the broader slate comprising a blend of Democrats, Republicans, and independents. Among the latter are Gwen Samuel for state Senate District 9 and Lamar Terrell—who previously ran for state House as a Republican in 2024—for District 13, along with several independent state House candidates.
“We were pleased to see this growth,” party Chair Chip Beckett said. “We see more people wanting a third way of governance that leaves the partisanship and culture wars behind for government by, of, and for the people of our state.”
Connecticut provides for fusion voting, allowing candidates cross-endorsed by the party to appear on both their initial ballot line and the Independent line, with votes from both counting toward their overall total. State law permits such cross-endorsements when a minor party received at least 15,000 votes for any one of five statewide constitutional offices at the previous state election, something the Independent Party cleared in 2022.
The state separately ties minor party ballot access to individual offices, meaning that a party generally retains that status for a particular race when its candidate receives at least 1 percent of the vote under the party’s designation. If it falls short of that minimum, the party loses automatic ballot access for that particular office, and a candidate seeking its line at the next election must instead qualify through petitioning. That means votes cast for a cross-endorsed Democrat or Republican specifically on the Independent line are especially valuable toward preserving the party’s ballot access for future elections.
While the Independent Party retained ballot access for several statewide offices after the 2022 cycle, it narrowly lost it for governor. Its nominee that cycle, Robert Hotaling, received 12,400 votes, or just short of the minimum. As a result, state law required that Fazio qualify through a nominating petition with at least 7,500 valid signatures in addition to securing the party’s endorsement this year.
Since the State Central Committee meeting, at least one endorsed candidate has publicly welcomed the party’s support. Republican state Rep. Joe Zullo, running in House District 99, said in a statement published by Patch this week that he was “proud to be cross-endorsed” by the organization and praised its focus on “common-sense governance and bipartisan teamwork.”
“We live in times that feel more divisive than ever and I am proud to stand with a party based in common sense and seeking to turn down the temperature and get to work to improve the lives of the people of Connecticut,” he told Patch.
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