The Connecticut Legislature’s two top Republican leaders endorsed Sen. Ryan Fazio on Thursday as party members are choosing sides in the competitive battle for governor.

Fazio, 35, is running against New Britain mayor Erin Stewart, a six-term incumbent who has gained name recognition after running in 2018 for governor and then lieutenant governor in a losing effort. They are hoping to run in 2026 against two-term Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat who is facing a potential primary from the left by state Rep. Josh Elliott of Hamden.

Fazio’s campaign was boosted by endorsements from Senate Republican leader Stephen Harding of Brookfield and House Republican leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford, the two highest-ranking Republicans in a blue state where Democrats control the entire Congressional delegation, the governor’s office, and all the statewide offices like state treasurer and attorney general.

The endorsements were announced on the same day as the annual Prescott Bush Awards Dinner, the year’s biggest fundraising dinner for the party. The dinner marks the largest single gathering of Republicans until next year’s state convention in May when the delegates will choose between the two main candidates.

“Ryan Fazio is the best candidate to represent our Republican Party in November,” Harding said in a statement. “Ryan has a proven record of winning difficult races while remaining loyal to the core values of our party.”

Stewart has already released a list of supporters that include 12 current and former state legislators, including former state Sen. George Logan, who raised his profile by running twice unsuccessfully against Democrat Jahana Hayes in the last two election cycles. Stewart’s endorsement list also includes more than 30 selectmen and town council members, more than 20 local Republican chairs, and 13 state central committee members, among others.

“Ryan will be a governor Republicans can trust to fight for lower taxes, lower utility costs, support our law enforcement, and reverse Ned Lamont’s sanctuary state policies for good,” Candelora said.

Fazio said the Bush dinner showed “Republicans coming together to chart a new course for Connecticut. I’m grateful for this unifying support from our Republican leaders, and I’m ready to fight every day to earn the trust of voters across our state.”

The Bush dinner at a Stamford hotel was closed to the press at the request of the keynote speaker, Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia. That marked the second time that the event has been closed, following a similar move in 2021 by U.S. Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana.

The press ban has broken a decades-long tradition of media access for speeches by some of the biggest names in the Republican Party, including John McCain, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, Bob Dole, Karl Rove, and Jack Kemp. Attendance has dropped sharply from the heyday as smaller-name figures have delivered the keynote address.

Fazio became the second Republican to launch an official campaign, following First Selectman Jennifer Tooker of Westport. Stewart has filed an exploratory campaign, which sets limits on the amount of money that can be raised to qualify for public campaign financing. The final amounts that candidates can receive in public dollars will be adjusted by inflation and will not be released until next year, but candidates predicted that the total for the general election campaign in November 2026 will be around $15 million. Another participant in the race is perennial candidate Peter Lumaj of Fairfield, who ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2012, secretary of the state in 2014, and governor in 2018.

While many political insiders expect Lamont to seek re-election, he has not yet made any official announcements. He is expected to face Elliott, a liberal Democrat who has filed for a gubernatorial campaign committee.

When asked by The Courant on Thursday, Lamont declined to criticize either Fazio or Stewart.

“I’ve got to pick my battles,” Lamont said. “That’s not one I need. I’ve got enough issues fending off what’s happening in Washington. … I’m going to stay out of it.”

But former state Democratic chairman John F. Droney said recently that Stewart has the advantage over Fazio and would win a party primary.

“She’s got a base that Fazio doesn’t have,” said Droney, who supports Lamont in the general election. “She’s an interesting and a pleasant candidate.”

By jumping into the race early, Stewart has gained an advantage by raising more than $300,000 in small contributions on her way toward qualifying for public financing against Lamont, a wealthy Greenwich entrepreneur who has spent more than $40 million of his own money to self-fund his statewide campaigns.

Stewart has been campaigning for months in the race against Fazio, a fiscal conservative whose supporters say he will catch up in the fundraising battle.

Fazio, a Greenwich Republican who also represents parts of Stamford and New Canaan, won a hard-fought race in the 2024 cycle against Democrat Nick Simmons, a well-funded former Greenwich resident who moved to Stamford.

Fazio reenergized Republicans statewide by winning his seat in a special election in 2021 after former Sen. L. Scott Frantz had lost the district in 2018 to Democrat Alex Bergstein, now known as Alex Kasser. Fazio then won a squeaker against Harvard graduate Trevor Crow in 2022 by a margin of only 89 votes after recounts in all three towns in the district.

Fazio’s supporters believe he can defeat Stewart in a primary, adding that the pair could be a strong ticket if Stewart runs for lieutenant governor as she did in 2018 after dropping out of the governor’s race. She was defeated in a three-way race by state Sen. Joe Markley, a conservative Republican who later ran on the ticket with Madison business executive Bob Stefanowski in a losing effort against Lamont.

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