Coming off his overwhelming re-election to the Senate and with an eye toward 2020, Chris Murphy is pulling the levers of the Democratic machinery ahead of a pivotal vote on the next party chairman.
Some say it’s a natural progression for Murphy to want to have a say in who leads Connecticut’s nearly 800,000 registered Democrats after recruiting Ned Lamont to run for governor and Jahana Hayes to run for his former U.S. House seat.
It comes amid mounting speculation that the 45-year-old Murphy, who has burnished his national profile with his activism on gun control, could make a go of it for president in two years.
“Murphy probably as a senator had been more involved in the party building aspects than senators in the past,” said John Olsen, a former state party chairman and past president of the Connecticut AFL-CIO. “He’s somebody who’s more hands-on.”
But there’s another faction of Democrats that views Murphy’s expanding influence as a power grab, saying it’s the governor-elect who has traditionally set the direction of the party. That would be Lamont, who some party insiders say is more focused on staffing his administration and policy-making.
The suddenly-hot competition follows a banner year for Democrats, who swept every statewide and federal race, as well shored up their majorities in the legislature.
It all happened on the watch of current party Chairman Nick Balletto, who is seeking re-election to a third two-year term and is calling party leaders to ask for their support.
“We’ve made a lot of progress over the last couple of years and I want to continue to see the party though a transition at a time when our focus is attracting new activists to the party and ensuring that we work to build diversity within the party,” Balletto said in a text message. “I’ve had an excellent relationship with our elected leaders over the last few years and look forward to conversations about how we can best build the party and continue to lead after a successful election cycle.”
Murphy is said by senior Democrats to favor a party chairman with whom he already has a close working relationship or alliance. Among the names being bandied about are two of his trusted Senate aides, Sean Scanlon and Kenny Curran.
Murphy issued a statement Thursday through his spokeswoman Laura Maloney, who denied that the senator has a list of preferred candidates for party chairman.
“Obviously I care a lot about the success of the Democratic Party in Connecticut, and that’s one of the reasons I worked so hard to elect Ned Lamont,” Murphy said in the statement. “I’m excited to have him at the head of our party, and I know he will choose the type of leaders that both our party and our state need to keep moving forward.”
Scanlon, a three-term Democratic legislator from Guilford, serves as director of community affairs for Murphy. He previously entertained running for the state Senate and state comptroller, before deciding to stand pat.
A request for comment was left Thursday for Scanlon.
Curran serves as state director for Murphy’s office and chairman of the Waterbury Democrats.
“I haven’t seen such a list,” Curran said. “I haven’t thought about any of that stuff.”
Curran was coy when asked if he would support Balletto for another term.
“As chair of one of the major cities, I haven’t been called by anybody looking for support yet,” Curran said. “I’ll certainly entertain calls as I get them.”
Another potential contender being mentioned for the job, which doesn’t come with salary, but does provide reimbursement for travel expenses, is Justin Kronholm, the party’s executive director from 2006 to 2010.
Kronholm’s late grandfather was John Bailey, the omnipotent state party boss from 1946 until his death in 1975, who led the Democratic National Committee during John F. Kennedy’s presidency.
“There would always be interest in following in my grandfather’s footsteps,” said Kronholm, a senior counselor to departing state Attorney General George Jepsen.
Kronholm, who was Barack Obama’s Connecticut state director in 2008, said that he has spoken to Lamont about the leadership post.
“I am not campaigning for the Democratic State Party chairmanship,” Kronholm said.
Lamont has given no indication of which way he’s leaning on the party chairmanship.
“Gov-elect Lamont is proud of the work Democrats did across the state this election cycle to engage with voters and spread our positive vision, and he is grateful to the Party leadership and Nick Balletto for their partnership,” said Lacey Rose, a spokeswoman for Lamont’s transition team.
The 72 voting members of the Democratic State Central Committee will pick the next chairman in January.
In contrast, Republicans, who haven’t won a statewide or federal race since 2006, won’t vote on their next chairman until the end of next June.
