Novak gets 2nd District Republican endorsement for run against Courtney

Hartford - Republicans from the 2nd District of eastern Connecticut Friday endorsed Daria I. Novak to take on U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney in November, though two other Republicans won enough delegate votes to force a primary this August.

Novak, of Madison, worked for the U.S. State Department from 1979 to 1989 and now operates a business and management consulting firm.

Also qualifying for a primary were Doug Dubitsky, a lawyer and farmer from Chaplin, and Janet Peckinpaugh, a broadcast TV news anchor for 30 years before starting her own communications firm.

Novak won the nomination on the third round of voting of the more than 300 delegates from the 2nd District.

A fourth candidate, Matthew M. Daly, withdrew from the race after winning just 16 votes in the first round. A dejected Daly said some of those he believed had pledged their support had abandoned him for other candidates.

"There were some people who left us," he said.

Peckinpaugh was eliminated as the lowest vote-getter in the second round of voting, but said she was elated to have received sufficient support to compete in the Aug. 8 primary, despite only recently entering the contest.

"Considering I've only been in for a few weeks, I was very pleased with the outcome," said Peckinpaugh, who garnered support from delegates from around her home in Essex, as well as from many of the party's superdelegates, primarily state lawmakers or members of the Republican State Central Committee.

Delegates have already offered to throw fundraisers to help her compete in the primary, Peckinpaugh said.

Novak, meanwhile, said she and her campaign remain the best-organized group in the state, and the one most capable of taking a strong fight to Courtney, the Democrat from Vernon seeking his third term in Congress.

Novak has struggled with fundraising in the early going, as have the other Republicans considering a challenge to Courtney. But money and support from Republicans in Washington and elsewhere have been "promised," Novak said in an interview before the delegate vote, and will flow to Republicans after the convention.

Novak plans to address a crowd at the Thompson International Speedway on May 30, she said, in order to kick off her post-convention campaign.

"We're trying to really take back Connecticut and take back Congress," she said.

Dubitsky made a surprisingly strong showing, garnering strong support in many rural towns in the northern end of the 2nd District and easily qualifying for the primary in the first round of voting.

Neither Peckinpaugh nor Dubitsky, both recent entrants to the race, have yet filed fundraising reports with the Federal Election Commission.

t.mann@theday.com