Jackie Homan, a Greenwich resident reporting for the Connecticut Centinal, says Gov. Ned Lamont swatted her phone away as she tried to ask him a question at a campaign event in Stamford on Oct. 31.
Video of the encounter, posted by the Connecticut Centinal on X, shows Lamont raising his hand and swatting toward Homan's camera, WTNH reported. The back of Lamont's hand appeared to make contact with the phone, pushing it away, according to the station. Homan protested immediately.
A witness provided by the Lamont campaign disputed that account. The campaigns of Lamont and Republican gubernatorial candidate Ryan Fazio traded sharp accusations over the incident two days before Election Day on Nov. 3.
What the video shows
Homan identified herself as a reporter for the Connecticut Centinal, a conservative media outlet. She was filming on her phone as she approached Lamont at a Saturday morning Get Out the Vote rally at Scalzi Park in Stamford, according to WTNH.
She began asking Lamont about a traffic infraction involving Rob Blanchard of Newtown, whom WTNH described as one of the governor's close advisors and the Democratic nominee for a battleground state Senate district. Blanchard was issued an infraction for failing to obey an officer directing traffic around a construction zone, WTNH reported. No one was injured.
"What is this about?" Lamont appears to ask in the video, according to WTNH.
After the apparent contact with her phone, Lamont said, "This doesn't look like it's a fair deal to me," and walked away.
Dueling campaign responses
The Fazio campaign accused Lamont of criminal conduct on Oct. 31.
"The governor's actions constituted a Class C misdemeanor under Connecticut law," a Fazio campaign statement claimed, according to WTNH. No attorney or law enforcement source was cited to support that characterization.
Fazio campaign spokesperson Hannah Lemek said in a statement that Lamont "feels comfortable committing a crime on camera," the Hartford Courant reported.
Fazio himself struck a different tone that evening. "That's not the conduct we should expect from the governor of our state, from the leader of our state government," Fazio said, according to WTNH. "That's the issue here."
The Lamont campaign fired back, calling the reporters "political provocateurs" and claiming, without presenting evidence, that the Fazio campaign was "deploying" conservative media figures to "harass the governor, get uncomfortably close to him, and shove cameras in his face," WTNH reported.
The Fazio campaign denied any coordination with Homan.
Accounts conflict on contact
The Lamont campaign included a statement from Lauren Meyer, whom the campaign described as a supporter who witnessed the event. Meyer said Homan "got too close to the Governor and he was caught off guard, and he flicked his hand in the direction of the camera," the Courant reported.
"He did not slap her phone, and he never made physical contact with her, so this narrative that is being pushed is absurd," Meyer's statement said, according to the Courant.
WTNH's description of the video, by contrast, said the back of Lamont's hand "appeared to make contact with the phone, pushing it away."
Homan told WTNH on Nov. 1 that she is unlikely to seek criminal charges. A Lamont spokesperson referred WTNH to the campaign's Oct. 31 statement when the station sought comment on Nov. 1.
Connecticut voters head to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
