State Sen. Roraback Wins Convention; GOP Primary Guaranteed August 14

HARTFORD — In dramatic fashion, state Sen. Andrew Roraback won the Republican nomination for Congress in the 5th District on Friday on the third ballot in a four-way race.

Roraback finally pulled ahead of his rivals, but three other Republicans captured enough delegates to force a primary in the mid-summer heat on August 14. Entrepreneur Lisa Wilson-Foley of Simsbury and real estate investor Mark Greenberg both said after the balloting that they would battle in the primary, while Afghanistan war veteran Justin Bernier said that he would discuss his options with his family over the weekend.

The balloting was about as close as could be. On the first ballot, Roraback had 89 delegates and Wilson-Foley had 88. By the third round of voting, Roraback won the convention with 157 delegates or 53 percent, compared to 114 delegates or 38 percent for Wilson-Foley. Bernier had 29 delegates or about 8 percent on the final vote.

Under the rules, all four candidates qualified for the August primary.

“This isn’t the end of the process,” Roraback said after his victory. “This is the beginning of the process.”

Roraback, a state senator who represents 15 small towns in Litchfield County, said he would bring the message of “individual liberty, limited government, lower taxes and less spending” to Congress.

He said that some delegates might have thought that the three-ballot marathon was exciting, “but the excitement has just begun.”

“A Republican can win in the 5th District, and a Republican will win in the 5th District,” Roraback told the delegates. “I will not let you down.”

Roraback, 52, thanked his wife, Kara Dowling, who seemed exhausted when she was standing behind him at the podium.

“Our homework is to break the monopoly – break the monopoly in Hartford,” Roraback said. “Stop the spending. Stop the borrowing. Stop the regulating and return our great country to the principles on which it was founded.”

In the primary, Roraback is expected to have extensive strength in his hometown of Goshen and the surrounding towns in Litchfield County because he has won nine consecutive elections to the state legislature. Wilson-Foley is expected to be strong in Simsbury and throughout the Farmington Valley. But their supporters said they would be strong throughout the district. Greenberg, who owns 62 acres of commercial property on Route 10 in Simsbury, has gained name recognition by running for Congress for the second time after an unsuccessful run in 2010.

When asked if she would target Litchfield County, Wilson-Foley said that the Republicans can do better in the cities, particularly Danbury. With support from Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, Wilson-Foley won all 18 of Danbury’s delegates in the opening round.

“We can do better in the cities,” she said. “They know how to win.”

Greenberg said there was no doubt that he will be in the race through the August 14 primary.

“We look at this as one step in three steps,” Greenberg said in an interview.

He expects a voter turnout of about 30 percent in August, which would mean about 30,000 voters. With summer vacations, he expects that many will cast absentee ballots. The prime voters “tend to be more conservative,” and that would help him, Greenberg said.

In other races, motivational speaker Wayne Winsley of Naugatuck won overwhelmingly in the 3rd Congressional District, where Republicans said there will be no primary. As such, Winsley will face longtime Democrat Rosa DeLauro, who has a history of huge victories in her district. Winsley acknowledged recently at a Greenwich fundraiser that many view the race as David versus Goliath.

“I read that story. David wins! And ladies and gentlemen, so will we,” Winsley told delegates in a line that he used at the fundraiser.

In a speech to the delegates, he said, “When the smoke clears and the sun rises on November 7, the air will be clear with the song: ‘Free at last, Free at Last, Thank God, Almight, We are Free at Last!’ ”

After Winsley’s speech, Labriola said, “Wow! I told you he was a motivational speaker.”

In the First Congressional District, John Henry Decker won the nomination by a wide margin Friday. He would face longtime Democrat John B. Larson in the Democratic-dominated district that has been centered around Hartford for years. No Republican has won the district in more than 50 years. One of the most competitive races in the district was Larson’s first Congressional race in 1998 when he defeated Republican Kevin O’Connor, who later became U.S. Attorney.

Decker referred to himself as “a redneck from Oklahoma” and noted that he graduated from college in Oklahoma before moving to Connecticut and running for political office for the first time. He is married and the father of three children. In the race for the party’s nod, Decker defeated Mike McDonald of Windsor, whom Decker described as “an awesome competitor.” After growing up in Washington, D.C., Decker said he was in 8th grade when Ronald Reagan became president. He said he remembered nine words that Reagan said: “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”

Decker quoted Margaret Thatcher as saying, “The problem with socialism is you run out of other people’s money.”

He added, “God bless America and Connecticut.”

In the Fourth District in Fairfield County, U.S. Navy veteran Steve Obsitnik of Westport won with about 73 percent of the vote over Christopher Meek with about 26 percent.

“Next time we go in reverse order because I don’t want to go after Wayne,” Obsitnik said of Winsley. “I want you all to learn a new name tonight Ob-sit-nik. Jim Himes just heard that. Thank you very much.”

The state GOP chairman, Jerry Labriola, said Friday that he was not immediately sure how many candidates would remain in the primaries across the states.

“The dust has to settle now,” Labriola said. “The temperature has to go down.”