For the first time in Connecticut history, a statewide candidate has been awarded public money for a political campaign.
Former Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy will receive nearly $2.2 million, based on a determination Thursday by the State Elections Enforcement Commission.
Malloy became the first candidate to qualify in the governor's race, and his campaign will receive a bonus because Democrat Ned Lamont of Greenwich has already spent $2.27 million in the early stages of the gubernatorial campaign. Lamont has broadcast TV commercials on stations across the state, using mostly his own money to fund the effort.
In the 2008 election cycle, 235 candidates received public funding in the races for 187 seats in the state legislature under the state's new election law. Malloy, though, is running in a statewide race.
"This is a historical day for Connecticut as we continue to remove the influence of special interest [money] in our political process,'' the commission's executive director, Albert P. Lenge, said in a statement.