Connecticut GOP scramble for another candidate after Jadon MacCormack's anti-LGBT, anisemitic remarks surface
Jadon MacCormack, a Republican legislative candidate who has rebuffed calls from his own party to step aside over his anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, will face a primary challenger in August, state election officials confirmed Tuesday.
Anthony J. Emilio of Pomfret collected enough signatures to qualify for the primary ballot in the 50th House District and was included on the final list of primary candidates released by the Secretary of the State’s office this week.
He will face MacCormack, of Brooklyn, in the Aug. 11 GOP primary. MacCormack, a 23-year-old first-time candidate, received the endorsement of local party officials last month but has since faced a wave of backlash over his posts on social media calling for the death penalty for gay people, along with other anti-LGBTQ+ and antisemitic remarks.
House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, and Connecticut Republican Party Leader Ben Proto were among those who immediately called on MacCormack to end his campaign.
https://ctmirror.org/2026/06/23/jadon-maccormack-primary/
Connecticut Republicans’ nomination of a House candidate who called for executing gay people exposed a systemic problem within the state GOP, not just an isolated candidate, Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney and Majority Leader Bob Duff said Monday.
Jadon MacCormack, the Republican nominee in the 50th House District, drew bipartisan condemnation last week after a series of social media posts attacking the LGBTQ community and radio appearances in which he called for restoring the death penalty for gay people.
Despite widespread pushback, MacCormack has declined to withdraw from the race.
In a statement Monday, Looney and Duff said MacCormack’s views, however extreme, did not appear without warning. MacCormack wrote a biography of preacher Steven Anderson, who has advocated the death penalty for gay people, has been banned from more than 30 countries, and leads a church that has been designated a hate group, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
https://capitoldispatch.substack.com/p/questions-surround-ct-republican
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