Connecticut Republicans, Democrats clash over guns, abortion without Nebraska governor

The high-profile guest of honor was not there, but the absence of Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts did not stop a clash Tuesday between Republicans and Democrats over guns and abortion.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski went ahead with a big-money fundraiser in Canton, even though Ricketts, the chairman of the national Republican Governors Association, canceled due to what the campaign described as a scheduling conflict.

At the same time, a group of Democrats gathered in protest outside a public school that was one mile away — strategically placed on the same street so that those driving north to the fundraiser would need to pass the protesters.

The fundraiser had caused controversy among Democrats because Ricketts favors banning abortion, even in cases of rape and incest, if the landmark Roe v. Wade decision is overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in the coming weeks.

“Nebraska is a pro-life state. I believe life begins at conception, and those are babies, too,” Ricketts told CNN last month. “If Roe v. Wade, which is a horrible constitutional decision, gets overturned by the Supreme Court, which we’re hopeful of, here in Nebraska, we’re going to take further steps to protect those pre-born babies.’’

When asked if he favored raising the age to 21 to buy an assault weapon, Ricketts said, “I haven’t looked at the details of that bill.’’

The cancellation by Ricketts was announced on the same day that the Connecticut Democratic Party said that public officials would be attending the protest, including Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, state legislators Eleni Kavros DeGraw of Avon and Jillian Gilchrest of West Hartford, and Chris Mattei, a former federal prosecutor who explored a run for governor in 2018 and ran for state attorney general.

“When you are saying that women should not have the right to have an abortion on demand, you are not pro-family,’' Kavros DeGraw told more than 60 Democrats gathered outside the school. “The folks that donate tonight are not the people who share the values of the majority of the people who live in Connecticut. Those are the folks who are saying, no, my gun is more important than your child.’'

Bronin said, “Governor Pete Ricketts is one of the most extreme right-wing Republicans in the country. ... He opposes common-sense gun laws. He was one of President Trump’s biggest supporters. ... If Bob [Stefanowski] had his way, Donald Trump would still be president today.’'

But Liz Kurantowicz, a senior adviser to Stefanowski, said that Stefanowski supports the state’s laws on abortion and guns.

“The only extreme views on abortion in Connecticut are Governor Lamont’s,’' Kurantowicz said. “Bob supports a woman’s right to choose, as is already codified in Connecticut state law, and believes in parental notification for girls under 16. The governor seems to be embracing extremists who believe there should be no restrictions on abortion whatsoever.’'

She added, “Connecticut has the strongest-in-the-nation gun laws, and Bob will do what’s in his power to enforce them when he’s governor.’'

Kurantowicz declined to reveal the number of supporters who attended the fundraiser or how much money was raised, saying that the total would be revealed publicly in the quarterly campaign report.

Despite pledging to spend $10 million of his own money on the race, Stefanowski has continued to raise money. The top ticket price for the Canton fundraiser was $3,500 per person, along with $2,500 for a platinum supporter, $1,000 for gold supporter and $250 for a “Save CT Supporter,’’ according to an invitation obtained by the Courant.

The campaign has also sent out invitations for a major fundraiser next week with New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu that has a maximum ticket price of $3,500.

Stefanowski is locked in a high-stakes, big-money battle against Lamont, a fellow millionaire former business executive. Lamont has already spent more than $40 million of his own money in three statewide races in 2006, 2010, and 2018. He is expected to spend millions more this year to keep his current position.

Stefanowski is trying to break a 15-year losing streak by Republicans in major races in Connecticut. In 2006, then-Gov. M. Jodi Rell and then-U.S. Rep. Chris Shays of Bridgeport both won reelection. But Shays lost in the Democratic wave that swept in Barack Obama as president in 2008, and no Connecticut Republican has won a seat for Congress, governor or other statewide office since then.

Mattei, a former federal prosecutor who handled gun trafficking and other cases, said that his 6-year-old son had somehow found out about the Texas school shooting.

“I didn’t know what to say to him, and he’s the kind of kid who doesn’t like people to see him cry,’' Mattei told the crowd. “And he started crying, and I thought it was because he was scared that something like that could happen in his school. But somehow he had heard that the shooter at Uvalde had been killed. When I asked him whether he was crying because he was afraid that this might happen at his school, he said no — because it didn’t occur to him that there might be more than one person who could do something like this to other children. The reason he was crying is because he was so sad for the children — about his age — who he knew had died.’'

Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com