Ledyard ― Mike France, the former Republican state representative making a second attempt to unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney in the Second Congressional District election, has named a former adviser to former President Donald Trump as his chief campaign strategist.

Announcing “a campaign shake-up” in a news release Thursday, France said Justin Clark, a Connecticut native, is leading his campaign against Courtney.

The release referred to Courtney, who has occupied eastern Connecticut’s congressional seat since 2007, as a “clone” of President Joe Biden.

Biden, a Democrat, and Trump, a Republican, are set to vie for the presidency in a rematch of the 2020 election.

Clark is managing partner of National Public Affairs, a consulting firm he co-founded that “services a variety of candidates, campaign committees and other non-political entities,” according to an online post. Prior to serving as deputy campaign manager for Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign, Clark served at the White House as both director of intergovernmental affairs and director of public liaison.

In addition to providing France’s campaign with strategic advice, National Public Affairs has rebuilt the campaign’s fundraising program, the campaign said in the release. France, of Gales Ferry, outraised Courtney in the fourth quarter of 2023, raising $164,524 from more than 10,000 donors with an average donation of $16.41, according to the campaign.

Federal Election Commission records show Courtney’s campaign raised $150,458 in the last quarter of 2023. During all of 2023, Courtney’s campaign raised $525,912 to the France campaign’s $221,722.

Clark had previously served as deputy national political director of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. A West Hartford native, he graduated from Wesleyan University and the University of Connecticut School of Law.

“I am honored to come back to my home state to support Mike,” Clark said in the release. “... This isn’t your parent’s second congressional district, and when the voters learn that Joe Courtney has voted with Joe Biden 100% of the time and aided and abetted his open-border policy, voters will rush to support Mike France for Congress.”

France, who represented Ledyard, Preston and part of Montville while serving four terms in the state House of Representatives, said the addition of Clark and National Public Affairs will enable his campaign to scale up its operation and “beat Joe Courtney ... and his open-border cronies ...”

In 2022, Courtney won his ninth term with 58% of the vote to France’s 40%.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com