Former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey now running for Connecticut governor

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Betsy McCaughey, a Republican former lieutenant governor of New York who switched parties in an unsuccessful 1998 bid to unseat then-Gov. George Pataki, is now running for governor of Connecticut.

McCaughey, 77, currently a conservative host on Newsmax and columnist for the New York Post, filed the official paperwork on Thursday to seek the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont, who is running for a third term. She first announced her candidacy on Wednesday evening.

McCaughey (pronounced like McCoy), a resident of the wealthy New York City suburb of Greenwich, Connecticut, said her friends and social media followers urged her to run for governor.

“There’s a desperate hunger in this state for a competent, battle-tested fighter who will turn the state around, who will take on Ned Lamont and the other what I call lunatic lefties up in Hartford,” she said during a phone interview with The Associated Press.

The top of her platform includes lowering costs for homeowners in the state, including property taxes and electricity bills. She wants to cap annual property tax increases to 2% and eliminate property taxes for most seniors. She also wants to scuttle a new state law signed by Lamont in November that seeks to increase affordable housing, but has been criticized by Republicans as removing local control of housing development.

Lamont’s campaign responded Thursday by referring to a statement by Kevin Donohoe, a spokesperson for the Democratic Governors Association.

“Betsy McCaughey has spent the last years of her career shilling for Donald Trump’s deeply unpopular agenda that is driving up costs for middle-class families,” Donohoe said. “The last thing Connecticut families need right now is a Trump mouthpiece as their governor.”

McCaughey, who supports abortion rights, said she agrees with most of the Republican president’s policies.

Lamont, 72, who also lives in Greenwich, is a wealthy former cable TV entrepreneur. He is facing a primary challenge from progressive Democratic state Rep. Josh Elliott of Hamden.

Also in the GOP primary race so far are former New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart and Greenwich state Sen. Ryan Fazio.

McCaughey grew up in Connecticut in Milford and Westport. She has a bachelor’s degree in history from Vassar College and a doctorate in U.S. constitutional history from Columbia University. She is also the founder and chairman of Reduce Infection Deaths, an educational organization seeking to stop hospital infections.

In the 1990s, Republicans portrayed her as a policy wonk who helped derail President Bill Clinton’s health care reform plan with her critique in The New Republic. In 1994, when Pataki was running for New York governor, he picked her as his lieutenant governor running mate. They won, and she served as lieutenant governor from January 1995 to December 1998.

The AP reported in 1998 that her working relationship with Pataki eventually frayed. At Pataki’s State of the State address in 1996, she remained standing throughout his speech, prompting some speculation that she was trying to upstage him. She said she merely forgot to sit. She also denied accusations that she harassed her hired household help and used her state police security detail as chauffeurs and valets.

After Pataki dumped her from the 1998 GOP ticket, she switched parties and unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination for governor. Then she continued her gubernatorial campaign as the Liberal Party candidate, finishing way behind Pataki, who was reelected, and Democrat Peter Vallone.

This year’s race for governor in New York also features a challenge to the sitting governor by the lieutenant governor. Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul faces a primary challenge by Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado.