Leora R. Levy, a Greenwich rainmaker who was Donald J. Trump’s choice for an ambassadorship and a nomination for U.S. Senate, lost her seat Tuesday night as one of Connecticut’s representatives on the Republican National Committee.
The State Central Committee elected Annalisa Stravato of Wilton, an early Trump supporter and former vice chair of the Connecticut Republican Party, in a contest that exposed fissures in a state party scratching for relevance in federal elections.
With both women pledging their support to Trump, the fight seemed less a proxy for the party’s feelings about the former president than a postscript to the bitter 2022 Republican primary for U.S. Senate.
In a three-way primary, Levy defeated the party-endorsed favorite, former state House GOP leader Themis Klarides, a 2016 Trump delegate who acknowledged not voting for him in 2020.
Klarides came to witness Stravato’s win at the Hawthorne Inn in Berlin, embracing her after the vote. As one committee member passed Klarides, he told her, “Congratulations.”
Levy and Klarides wordlessly crossed paths after the vote.
Levy declined comment when asked what role the 2022 primary played in her defeat. She said only that she was looking forward to working on raising money for Trump’s rematch with President Joe Biden.
Klarides said the conflict between Levy’s personal ambitions and her responsibilities as an RNC member played a larger role in Levy’s defeat than animosity over the U.S. Senate primary.
“There were people that were upset about what happened — that’s not a secret,” Klarides said. “But since then, there were other things that have happened. At a certain point, it’s cumulative. And people made the decision that it was time for change.”
Klarides said she was referring to complaints that Levy had refused to share fundraising contacts with other candidates.
“It got to the point where people just really wanted to change because they want to say that they believe in someone who will always put the party first over their own agenda,” Klarides said.
Stravato said the vote reflected a desire to close the books on the bad feelings of 2022.
“I think it’s time we unite as a party,” Stravato said.
Trump was not an issue, she said.
“At the end of the day, he’s our nominee, and we’ll unite behind him and move forward, because that’s what’s in the best interest of Connecticut,” she said. “For me, it’s always been what’s best for Connecticut.”
Levy’s supporters stressed the contacts she’s made in national GOP politics since her election to the RNC in 2016, including the former president who nominated her as the ambassador to Chile. The Senate never voted on her confirmation.
“She has a direct line to Donald Trump, who will be our nominee,” Mary Ann Turner said in a nominating speech, halting as the committee members applauded the Trump reference. “And as a sidebar, I will be voting for Donald J. Trump.”
That was a dig at Klarides.
But Andy Wainright, who gave one of the two nominating speeches for Stravato, noted that Levy originally had backed Jeb Bush over Trump, falling into the president’s campaign only after he clinched the nomination. He said he and Stravato were lonely Trump supporters on the state central committee.
“Today, our party and our committee is so pro-Trump, it’s great, but eight years ago, it was a different story. It was really just Annalisa and me, and I remember it well,” Wainright said.
Stravato won the vote among the 74 committee members, 41 to 33. Because the votes of committee members are weighted to reflect the Republican registration in their districts, the formal vote for Stravato was 49.5 to 38.5.
The roll call vote was conducted over dinner and drinks in a crowded function room, where Levy and Stravato sat back to back at adjacent tables. When the result was announced, Stravato hugged Susan Hatfield, the former state party chair who nominated her.
Levy stood, leaned forward and shook Stravato’s hand.
The fight came as the party is struggling to focus its limited resources on the 5th Congressional District race. The Republican nominee, George Logan, lost by just 2,004 votes two years ago and is running again to unseat the three-term Democrat, Jahana Hayes.
Gerry Smith, the first selectman of Beacon Falls, agreed to take on U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat heavily favored to win a third term this fall, but he unexpectedly found himself facing a Republican primary.
Smith clearly was dispirited at his convention two weeks ago. He easily won a four-way fight for the endorsement with 68% of the delegate vote. But Matthew Corey, a late entrant who has unsuccessfully run for state Senate, Congress and the U.S. Senate, qualified for a primary with 28%, nearly double the minimum threshold of 15%.
Smith has not made any public appearances since the convention.