Ned Lamont

Edward Miner Lamont Jr. (born January 3, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving since January 2019 as the 89th governor of Connecticut.

Lamont was born on January 3, 1954, in Washington, D.C., to Camille Helene (née Buzby) and Edward Miner Lamont.

His mother was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to parents from the U.S. mainland, and later worked as a staffer for Senator Estes Kefauver.

His father, an economist, worked on the Marshall Plan and then served in the Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Nixon administration.

He is the great-grandson of former J. P. Morgan & Co. chair Thomas W. Lamont and a grand-nephew of former American Civil Liberties Union director and National Council of American–Soviet Friendship chairman and founder Corliss Lamont.

He is a distant descendant of colonial diarist Thomas Minor, from whom he gets his middle name.

Lamont's family moved to Laurel Hollow on Long Island when he was seven years old.

The eldest of three children, he and his sisters attended East Woods School.

He later attended Phillips Exeter Academy, and served as president of the student newspaper, The Exonian.

After graduating from Phillips Exeter in 1972, he earned a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Harvard College in 1976 and a Master of Business Administration from the Yale School of Management in 1980.

In 1977, Lamont became editor for the Black River Tribune, a small weekly newspaper in Ludlow, Vermont.

During his time there, he worked alongside journalists Jane Mayer and Alex Beam.

After graduating from Yale, he entered the cable television industry, managing the startup operation in Fairfield County, Connecticut, for Cablevision.

In 1984, he founded Campus Televideo, a company that provides cable and satellite services to college campuses across the country.

He later chaired Lamont Digital Systems, a telecommunications firm that invests in new media startups.

A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a Greenwich selectman from 1987 to 1989 and was the party's nominee for the United States Senate in 2006, losing to incumbent Joe Lieberman.

Lamont was first elected in 1987 as a selectman in Greenwich, Connecticut, where he served for one term.

He ran for state senate in 1990, against Republican William Nickerson and incumbent Emil Benvenuto (who had switched his party affiliation from Republican to A Connecticut Party).

Nickerson won the three-way race with Lamont finishing third.

Lamont later served for three terms on the Greenwich town finance board and chaired the State Investment Advisory Council, which oversees state pension fund investments.

He criticized Lieberman's vote for the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which he dubbed the "Bush–Cheney–Lieberman energy bill."

In response to the assertion that he supported Republican policies, Lieberman stated he had voted with Senate Democrats 90% of the time.

Lamont argued the three-term incumbent lacked the courage to challenge the Bush administration on the Iraq War.

He also criticized Lieberman for supporting federal intervention in the Terri Schiavo case.

On July 30, The New York Times editorial board endorsed Lamont.

The same day, The Sunday Times reported that Bill Clinton warned Lieberman not to run as an independent if he lost the primary to Lamont.

Pledging to refuse money from lobbyists during the election, Lamont funded most of his own campaign, with donations exceeding $12.7 million.

Lamont won the primary with 52% of the vote.

On March 13, 2006, Lamont announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Joe Lieberman.

On July 6, Lamont debated Lieberman on television, covering issues such as the Iraq War, energy policy, and immigration.

During the debate, Lieberman argued he was being subjected to a litmus test on the war, insisted he was a "bread-and-butter Democrat," and on many occasions asked, "Who is Ned Lamont?"

Lieberman then asked Lamont if he would release his income tax returns, which he did afterward.

Lamont focused on Lieberman's supportive relationship with Republicans, telling him "if you won't challenge President Bush and his failed agenda, I will."

Lamont ran for governor in 2010, but lost the Democratic primary to former Stamford mayor Dannel Malloy, who went on to win the general election.

Campus Televideo was its largest division before Austin, Texas-based firm Apogee acquired it on September 3, 2015.

Lamont has served on the board of trustees for the Conservation Services Group, Mercy Corps, the Norman Rockwell Museum, the YMCA, and the Young Presidents' Organization.

He has also served on the advisory boards of the Yale School of Management and the Brookings Institution.

He ran again in 2018, winning the nomination and defeating Republican Bob Stefanowski in the general election.

He faced Stefanowski again in 2022, defeating him by a wider margin.

As governor, Lamont signed legislation legalizing cannabis, sports betting, and online gambling.