Back in 2022, when Donald Trump was still just another aspirant for the 2024 nomination of the Republican party for president, state Rep. Greg Howard of Stonington bravely said the former president lacked the necessary character to hold the office.

“Character and integrity matter in public office. Donald Trump has proven to the people that he lacks the necessary character and integrity to hold such office,” Howard wrote in a statement to The Day in November 2022, when Trump announced his latest run for the presidency.

Howard recently reminded a reporter from The Day of this statement, as he complained in an interview about a Sept. 18 column I wrote, saying neither he nor state Sen. Heather Somers had “uttered a peep of criticism” of Trump following his racist statements this year suggesting that Haitians were eating pets in Ohio.

I should say at the outset here that I believe that Howard’s political heart and head is where his statement landed in 2022, as we all began to first contemplate another Trump presidency. Of course Howard was right, and Trump does indeed lack the character and integrity to be president.

But I would urge him and other Republicans who feel that way ― Rep. Holly Cheeseman of East Lyme Rep. Kathleen McCarty of Waterford also expressed sharp disapproval of Trump’s reelection announcement then ― to weigh in for this most important of elections.

But of course they have not because they value the diehard Trumpers in their base, the minority of Connecticut voters who don’t care about the former president’s racism, promises of deportations, the planned firing of federal workers not politically loyal to him and his refusal to accept the results of either the last or the upcoming election.

I would just like to remind those GOP legislators, who can’t find a voice this election year to criticize the person at the head of their ticket, that they are contributing to the ruination of their party here in Connecticut.

I’m sure a lot of people don’t believe me, but I think a strong party ― the GOP or some new party ― that can oppose majority rule by state Democrats is vital to a strong Connecticut.

I doubt Trump’s GOP, with its abortion bans, election denialism, opposition to gun safety and crippling sales-tax-like tariffs has much future here in blue Connecticut. Pandering to a small minority of a minority party is probably not good politics.

I tried, in a brief email exchange with Howard this month, to coax him into disavowing the Trump candidacy, the way he did back in 2022. It didn’t work.

I noted that Howard, a popular figure in the community, seems especially suited to being able to speak his mind this election year about Trump.

I offered him free paragraphs for any edit-free statement he’d like to make about Trump in a column.

A big part of his district is royal blue. And where would those in the red part go if they don’t vote for Howard, a stalwart GOP incumbent?

Howard, who has a had a successful and respected career in law enforcement, should find it especially galling to find himself on the same ticket as a felon, a candidate who promises to pardon the Jan. 6 cop-killers and their accomplices.

Apparently, he doesn’t want to elaborate on the Trump criticism he offered in 2022, which would seem to make him a supporter of the Trump at the head of the ticket he is running on in 2024.

This is the opinion of David Collins.

d.collins@theday.com