Hands Off Our Schools, an independent expenditure group backing Republican Ryan Fazio for governor, is winding down with a $164,000 expenditure to produce and place digital ads promoting Fazio in the campaign’s final days. The expense booked Tuesday and reported Wednesday night to the State El ections Enforcement Commission is a pittance relative to the $8.4 million that Fazio had available in his own campaign account on Oct. 1. But it is noteworthy as a reminder of what has been missing from the 2026 campaign for governor of Connecticut: Super PACs that spent millions in 2022, mostly on attack ads directed at Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, or his Republican challenger, Bob Stefanowski. With public polling consistently showing Lamont with a double-digit lead over Fazio, the race has not attracted significant outside money. Neither the Republican Governors Association nor the Democratic Governors Association are playing in Connecticut this year — a departure from 2022, when the DGA spent $2.7 million and the RGA spent $3.7 million through PACs established in the state. Another GOP super PAC spent $1.65 million. Hands Off Our Schools, mostly funded by Fazio supporters in Fairfield County, did some early direct mail and text messages attacking Erin Stewart, the former New Britain mayor expected to be Fazio’s rival for the GOP nomination. But the group went silent after Stewart quit the race in May. Its new ads were not available Thursday, but the group’s filing stated they are limited to positive spots for Fazio and do not attack Lamont. “It’s a pro Ryan message about lowering cost of living, increasing affordability in Connecticut,” said Darren Bruno, chair of Hands Off Our Schools. “It’s a pretty standard sort of spot, and just trying to ensure that as many people in Connecticut know who Ryan is and understand that he’s a good candidate.” Bruno is a Connecticut-based lawyer with the Freedom Foundation, a conservative think tank. PACs like Hands Off Our Schools can accept six-figure contributions as long as they do not coordinate with a campaign or party. Ben Proto, the Republican state chair, said he would have preferred to see ads directed at laying blame for Connecticut’s high cost of living at the feet of Lamont, not President Donald Trump. “My position is very clear: It’s Ned Lamont and Democrats,” Proto said. “You can try to blame Donald Trump, but Connecticut did not become unaffordable on Jan. 20, 2025.” But polling in Connecticut and elsewhere consistently shows voters blaming the president, his tariffs and his attack on Iran for the rising costs of heating oil and gasoline. It’s a theme Fazio emphasized in Torrington Wednesday night in a town hall-style meeting, a staple of his campaign. “My very first priority in office as governor will be to pass the largest middle-class tax cut in state history, saving the average middle-class family $2,500 per year in tax relief,” Fazio said. “That is not a ‘nice to have.’ That is not an option for Connecticut. It’s a necessity.” The governor has countered he already has delivered the state’s largest cut to the income tax. Lamont and Fazio debate for the first time tonight 7 p.m. on WFSB, Channel 3. They have a second and final debate Tuesday night on WTNH, Channel 8. As of Wednesday night, 140,830 votes already had been cast by absentee ballot or in the early voting that began Monday. ...read more read less