Democratic Connecticut Governor Malloy has had one of the lower approval ratings of any governor in the country in recent months, so it’s not surprising that he chose not to run for a third term. UConn Political Science Professor Ron Schurin says what is surprising is that Malloy made the announcement before concluding very tough state budget negotiations – making himself a lame duck.
“It makes you irrelevant. Because people are looking at the next race and the next candidate. They are looking to that person and what that person can do for you or to you.”
But Schurin admits there could be a method to Malloy’s madness.
“The only thing that I can think of is that the governor might want to strike some bargains, and if he’s out of the political race that might make it easier.”
Malloy and lawmakers are currently negotiating the state's next two-year budget. It has a looming deficit of more than $1 billion. For the first time since he became governor in 2011, Malloy is faced with a State Senate that is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. And his budget proposal has been met with criticism on both sides of the aisle.
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