Connecticut Republicans, who have taken their lumps at the ballot box, scored a victory Saturday on a West Hartford tennis court, defeating Gov. Ned Lamont and his commissioner of early childhood in a charity match.
Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, and state Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria, R-Seymour, beat Lamont and Beth Bye, head of the Office of Early Childhood, eight sets to two.
“Leapin’ Len, he was everywhere,” the governor said after the match, referring to Fasano.
Eleven divisions competed at Conard High School in the fourth annual Connecticut State Employees Campaign for Charitable Giving. The 40-minute high-profile doubles match before a couple of dozen onlookers on a brilliantly sunny afternoon was informal.
“You call your own line shots,” said John Rasimas, the state deputy auditor who organized the charity event. “If we hear complaints, we have auditors here.”
In an earlier match between Connecticut’s two state auditors, John C. Geragosian defeated Robert Kane, 8-5. “I’ve not played since high school. It shows,” said Kane, a former Republican state senator.
The loss was on the home turf of Bye, a former Democratic state senator from West Hartford. A tennis player as a student at the University of New Hampshire, she took the game seriously, showing up hours earlier to sweep the courts dry after early-morning rain showers.
“I was here at 7 a.m. with a broom,” she said.
For two sides in state politics who battle over taxes and spending, highway tolls, economic development and many other issues, facing each other over a net was competitive, but without rancor.
“It was a lot of fun,” Klarides-Ditria said. “It’s for a good cause.”
She had a fan in the audience. “Look alive, look alive,” her sister, House Republican leader Themis KIarides, shouted from the bleachers.
The Derby Republican’s younger sister has a history of winning in tennis. Klarides said they both seeded fourth in the state in high school.
Fasano may hope his winning streak continues in the next matchup on Election Day next year when voters decide whether Democrats or Republicans control the General Assembly.
“It’s where the important one is,” he said as he left the courts.
Stephen Singer can be reached at ssinger@courant.com.
