(Image source from: Sputnik International)

Connecticut's top primary election on Tuesday is the race for governor. Since incumbent Governor Dannel Malloy is retiring, the race is considered wide open.

Businessman Ned Lamont is on the Democratic side who is the party endorsed candidate and Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim. Earlier in 2010 he ran for governor but lost to Malloy. Ganim was under seven years of imprisonment for corruption charges, before making it back to the public office in 2015.

The party-endorsed candidate Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, on the Republican side, former Trumbull first selectman Tim Herbst, Businessmen - David Stemerman, Steve Obsitnik, and Bob Stefanowski are as well running.

WSHU reporter Ebong Udoma says even though Connecticut is a blue state, Malloy is unpopular in Connecticut, leaving a chance for a Republican to win the general election. However, he says voters in Connecticut are wary of the politics in Washington.

"We have a situation here where the president is very unpopular in Connecticut and that will be a problem for the Republican candidate," Udoma said on CBSN. "So they have to, not distance themselves from the president, but at the same time not embrace him."

Connecticut is as well seeing a surge of new voters since the 2016 election. The Connecticut Secretary of State's office says between the election and June of 2018, more than 80,000 new voters registered as Democrats, while around 43,000 registered as Republicans.

By Sowmya Sangam