Former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey now running for Connecticut governor [View all]
Source: AP
Updated 5:01 PM EST, January 15, 2026
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Betsy McCaughey, a Republican former lieutenant governor of New York who switched parties in an unsuccessful 1998 bid to unseat then-Gov. George Pataki, is now running for governor of Connecticut.
McCaughey, 77, currently a conservative host on Newsmax and columnist for the New York Post, filed the official paperwork on Thursday to seek the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont, who is running for a third term. She first announced her candidacy on Wednesday evening.
McCaughey (pronounced like McCoy), a resident of the wealthy New York City suburb of Greenwich, Connecticut, said her friends and social media followers urged her to run for governor. “There’s a desperate hunger in this state for a competent, battle-tested fighter who will turn the state around, who will take on Ned Lamont and the other what I call lunatic lefties up in Hartford,” she said during a phone interview with The Associated Press.
The top of her platform includes lowering costs for homeowners in the state, including property taxes and electricity bills. She wants to cap annual property tax increases to 2% and eliminate property taxes for most seniors. She also wants to scuttle a new state law signed by Lamont in November that seeks to increase affordable housing, but has been criticized by Republicans as removing local control of housing development.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/betsy-mccaughey-governor-connecticut-gop-nomination-15f85229c9d4df05d4a3ea6c96d6cc07
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