Gov. Ned Lamont cruised to a primary victory Tuesday, Aug. 11, setting up a November showdown against a fellow Greenwich resident: Republican state Sen. Ryan Fazio.

Lamont defeated progressive challenger, state Rep. Josh Elliott of Hamden, by a wide margin, with the Associated Press calling the race within 20 minutes of polls closing at 8 p.m. In Greenwich, the governor won 1,767 votes to Elliott's 280, according to results released by the Greenwich Registrars of Voters around 10 p.m. Statewide, Elliott captured about 32% of the vote.

The result means both major-party gubernatorial candidates call Greenwich home. Lamont, 72, voted in town at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday before heading to his Hartford victory party. Fazio, 36, represents the 36th Senate District.

It was the first primary challenge to a sitting Connecticut governor in 48 years.

Fazio wasted no time framing the general election. In a video statement Tuesday night, he said Lamont's primary challenge was "symptomatic of the fact that whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, unaffiliated or Independent, after eight years of Gov. Lamont, every single problem faced by the state has only gotten worse," CT Insider reported.

Lamont, who contributed more than $9.3 million of his own money to the campaign, told supporters at his victory party that he looks forward to "carrying this battle into the fall," according to the CT Mirror.

If Lamont wins in November, he would become only the second Connecticut governor in 200 years to serve three consecutive terms. The first was Republican John Rowland, elected to a third term in 2002 but forced to resign in 2004 amid a corruption scandal.

Fazio enters the race as an underdog. Republicans last held the governor's office from 1995 to 2011, and the party now controls fewer than one-third of seats in the General Assembly. During his state Senate campaigns in a swing district, Fazio declined to say how he voted in presidential elections when Donald Trump was on the ballot; as a gubernatorial candidate, he confirmed he voted for Trump all three times, the CT Mirror reported.

Other races with Greenwich ties

In the 4th Congressional District Republican primary, Greenwich physician and attorney Dr. Michael Goldstein beat Daniel Miressi 730-138 in town, winning the nomination to challenge 17-year Democratic incumbent Rep. Jim Himes for a third time.

And in the 1st Congressional District, former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, who grew up largely in Greenwich, unseated 14-term Democratic incumbent Rep. John Larson with 53% of the vote. Bronin served as Hartford's mayor from 2016 to 2024.

The general election is Nov. 3. Voter registration information is available through the Connecticut Secretary of the State's office.