Joe Courtney
Second-term Democratic
Rep. Joe Courtney has a second official Republican challenger -- businesswoman and former State Department official
Daria Novak.
Novak, whose campaign statement of organization was posted Wednesday by the Federal Election Commission, confirmed to CQ Politics that she is running, and is planning an official kick-off event around the end of May. The first-time candidate intends to build a "real grass-roots campaign" with a focus on local organizing.
Novak's announcement comes after former Hebron Board of Finance member Matthew M. Daly told local reporters in March that he was running. Republican sources say lawyer and Navy veteran Sean Sullivan, who lost to Courtney, 32 percent to 66 percent in 2008, is mulling another run. And former state Rep. Andrew Norton may also be interested.
The challenge for any Republican taking on Courtney is winning over enough independents and Democrats in the Democratic-leaning district. The 2nd, which comprises the Eastern edge of the state, voted for Democrat Barack Obama over Republican John McCain in the 2008 presidential race 58 percent to 40 percent. Courtney upset Republican Rep. Rob Simmons by a razor-thin margin in 2006 and went on to defeat Sullivan by a surprisingly large margin two years later.
For her part, Novak is counting on voters' dissatisfaction with elected officials like Democratic Sen. Christopher J. Dodd to spread to other state Democrats. She said Courtney is part of the same Washington system that is too closely tied to special interests.
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