Community Corner

Former Third District Candidate Challenging GOP Chairman for Top Spot

Wayne Winsley wants to replace CT GOP chairman Jerry Labriola.

The Republican candidate who challenged Rep. Rosa DeLauro in the 2012 election is now vying for the top job at the Connecticut GOP.

Wayne Winsley, a radio host and motivational speaker, announced Wednesday he will challenge Jerry Labriola Jr., the current chairman, saying in a press release he wants to help “turn the Republican Party into a winning party once again."

“As Republicans, we don’t need to change who we are, we just need to get better at telling people who we are and take that message to ALL of Connecticut’s voters,” Winsley said in a news release. “I believe that I am the best person to lead our party in this direction. My goal is to unite the different points of view within our party, energize our base, and grow our party by aggressively marketing the Republican brand in every district and neighborhood throughout this great state."

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Winsley ran unsuccessfully against DeLauro in 2012 for the Third Congressional District, an electorate that is made up mostly of New Haven County towns with a few Middlesex communities — Durham and Middlefield — included.

Labriola, a Naugatuck attorney who lives in Wallingford, was elected to the role of chairman in 2011. 

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On June 25, the state Republican Party Central Committee — made up of 72 voting members — will convene to elect a new chairman and Labriola said he plans on seeking the job again, The New Haven Register reported.

“I wish him (Winsley) well,” Labriola told the Register, although he declined to comment to the newspaper further.

Like Winsley, Labriola ran against DeLauro in 2010.

Winsley is a New Milford resident, who moved to Naugatuck in 2011 to run for the Third District seat.  


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