The Fifth District congressional race now has one more candidate after the state Libertarian Party said Wednesday that it has nominated Brookfield businessman Robert Lombardo as its candidate in that race.
Robert Lombardo, running as the Libertarian candidate in the 5th congressional district race, says the Fed's currently monetary policy is decreasing the value of the U.S. dollar. (Photo courtesy of Lombardo campaign)
Libertarian Party chairman Dan Reale–himself a congressional candidate in the Second District–said Lombardo beat out Thomaston attorney Kie Westby in a vote of the party’s state central committee late Tuesday night. The vote was 2-0, with Reale abstaining.
Reale said the decision was a difficult one because both candidates strongly identified with the party’s ideals of limited government.
“Getting the Libertarian Party nomination is like taking the law school admissions test and getting a regular party nomination is like getting a GED,” Reale said. “At the end of the day, Robert just had more understanding of the Libertarian Party.”
Reale said Lombardo’s campaign now has to turn in 2,200 signatures to state election officials by Aug. 8 to qualify for the November general election ballot.
A native of North Haven, Lombardo told Capitol Watch that he works for Branson Ultrasonics Corporation, an industrial manufacturing company based in Danbury. He said he helps the company abide by international trade and customs laws.
Lombardo, who is registered to vote as unaffiliated with any party, said he had been planning to run as an independent in the Fifth District before he was contacted by Reale last week about a Libertarian run
Though his campaign so far is a one-man operation, Lombardo said he thinks the Libertarians could “absolutely” win the heated race in western Connecticut.
“The FifthDistrict has a large independent population and there’s a lot of people with a lot of palpable disapproval for the two major parties,” he said. “The presumed front-runners appear to be people who would toe their party lines and not bring about much change.”
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
6 Responses to Libertarians Nominate Lombardo In 5th District Race
About Capitol Watch
The Hartford Courant’s Capitol Watch blog provides insightful and in-depth coverage of Connecticut politics... read more- -- ADVERTISEMENT --
NEW! CT Politics App.
Courant.com brings you the latest CT political news, blogs, tweets and photos, powered by the Hartford Courant and FOX CT.
Download it now:
- -- ADVERTISEMENT --
If these people happened upon a drowning man, they would throw him a rope with a large rock tied to it.
John McCommas – you’re absolutely right, but the rock would be on shore so the drowning man could pull himself to safety. Collectivists, on the other hand, would toss him a rope connected to *nothing* and fashioned into a noose.
This is wonderful news. Mr. Lombardo seems to have his head on straight and truly understand what needs to be done. A candidate who has been in the trenches with the rest of us.
He could get my vote.
Unfortunately, Libertarians face a tremendous uphill battle to educate voters on their vision and platform. It is a start that they run credible candidates wherever possible, as part of that education process. Hopefully Mr Lombardo will gain access to some debates and get some MSM coverage of his campaign. At a minimum, the press would find their ideas might draw some new eyes and ears to their reporting, versus the same old same old that draws far too citizens to the polls.
The Libertarian platform is unelectable but Rand Paul showed that America is ready for a 3rd party. I wrote in Bob Barr in 2008.