The U.S. government produced a net of 178,000 jobs in the month of March.

But, Connecticut contributed just 100 of those jobs. Terrible. But in comparison to February when the state lost about 4,000 jobs, one could call it an “improvement” of sorts.

To be fair, Maryland and the District of Columbia combined lost around 90,000 jobs in March. One could contribute at least part of that lost to President Donald Trump’s overt attack on the federal workplace.

Where were the states with the highest net job growth? Texas at 46,800 and California at 28,100. It should be noted that a much smaller state, North Carolina had almost 10,000 new jobs.

Well, if someone would have told me that the Governor that produced 100 jobs in the month of March and lost 4,000 jobs in the month of February is on his way to a third term as Governor, I would say you must be drinking a foreign substance. After all, having a strong pro-business environment should be one of a Governor’s top priorities. And it is fair game to evaluate an elected official in the Governor’s office on this statistic.

But it is true in my home state of Connecticut. Governor Ned Lamont, who reportedly has spent over $60 million of his own money to secure his political success, may have been helped by Republicans in Connecticut for the 2026 elections. This is proof that sometimes divine intervention-like occurrences can happen, occurring purely via the Grace of God.

Before I continue with Connecticut’s gubernatorial election, let’s look at two other similar “Grace of God” events from the past:

I was in fifth place out of five candidates going into the 5th District’s Congressional Convention in the summer of 1990. Yet after seven hours and nine ballots I was the unanimous choice of the Republican Party. Yes, he who was last became first. Then, in the general election, I was down by eight points on the Friday before Tuesday’s Election Day, yet I won by five points.

On the former, per the Republican Party convention, I positioned myself to be every delegate’s “second choice.” When the inevitable happened and “low man out” rule was adopted after each roll call ballot, I leaped over an opponent one

at a time until I was declared the winner– then the convention made it unanimous. I had captured the nomination to run for Congress.

And, in the general election, when finding out I missed the final debate (because I was in the hospital with my wife) my opponent former Congressman Toby Moffett’s campaign manager said, in a cocky manner, “In six months “let’s see if it is a girl, a boy, or a ploy.” That sarcastic remark backfired as it incensed women throughout the congressional district. It allowed me to carry the women’s vote, that I had been losing, onto a shocking victory. I did nothing to deserve this very positive late minute twist. I have conceded that “God is good.”

A little- known Illinois State Senator with a funny name, Barack Obama was seeking to become a U.S. Senator. He had been defeated in his prior attempt to get to Congress, the U.S. House of Representatives– losing by a whopping 30 points to incumbent Rep. Bobby Rush (IL) at the time. Everyone in the Democrat Party in Illinois was conceding the race to Republican Attorney General Jack Ryan. There were no prominent Democrats interested in contesting him, so Obama had a clear lane as reported:

“In the 2004 Illinois U.S. Senate race, Republican candidate Jack Ryan collapsed and withdrew in June 2004 following the public release of sealed, salacious divorce records involving allegations of sex club visits. This scandal allowed Democrat Barack Obama to secure a massive lead, eventually winning in a landslide against replacement candidate Alan Keyes.”

Oh, besides getting into the race late, Keyes was truly a Maryland resident. He only rented an apartment while running in a laughable shortened U.S. Senate race. Mr. Obama has to also concede– God is good.

And now back to the Connecticut gubernatorial race. Just a few short days ago the prohibitive favored at the Republican State Convention was 12-year former Mayor of New Britain Erin Stewart. And then the other Republican candidates for governor and maybe even Lamont caught a break — “divine intervention-like occurrence” event, and this one was also totally unexpected.

Stewart has been accused of taking over $200,000 in taxpayers money for personal use during her years as mayor. Some of the items, allegedly purchased via a government credit card, were

diapers, cosmetics, yoga mat, clothing for men, women and children, children toys, power tools, beach and pool toys, need I go on.

If true, or without a plausible explanation, the indiscretions could remove Stewart as a genuine political threat for November. Otherwise, if she survives the convention and likely primary it would take an earth-shattering future occurrence to make her aspirations of being Connecticut’s next governor a reality.

When job opportunities are not present or growing in the state, coupled with a state’s population that lack of growth in recent decades resulted in a loss of one seat in Congress, it truly makes you wonder. Yet with the ” a ll-Democrat” leadership in the state– the beat goes on. Or will it?

As fate would have it, one person’s ill fortune could be another person’s opportunity as previously discussed. Thus, State Senator Ryan Fazio or former New York Lt. Governor Betsy McCaughey (who is also vying to be Connecticut’s Governor) could also be the benefactor and ultimately be Governor Lamont’s worst nightmare.

Gary Franks served three terms as a congressman from Connecticut’s 5th District. He was the first Black conservative elected to Congress and first Black Republican elected to the House in nearly 60 years. Host: Podcast “We Speak Frankly” www.garyfranksphilanthropy.org