Visconti promises an "over the top" race against Larson

Rough and tumble Republican Joe Visconti, a musician who captured a West Hartford town council seat last year, is prepping for a congressional run against longtime incumbent U.S. Rep. John Larson.
“I consider him [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi’s pit bull,” Visconti said. “And I’m not going to be a Golden Retriever.”
Visconti said he’s “still in the process of taking a good, hard look” at the logistics of taking on the popular East Hartford Democrat who has represented the 1st District since 1998.
But the GOP hierarchy is counting on Visconti to challenge Larson – and Visconti doesn’t sound like a man with many doubts.
“I don’t believe that a normal, blue blazer Republican will beat” Larson, said Visconti, who promised his campaign “will be over the top.”
"If Joe Visconti plans to run,” said state Republican Chairman Chris Healy, then “John Larson better get on the Stairmaster."
Visconti, who had to beat the GOP establishment in a primary in West Hartford last fall in order to get on the municipal ballot, said he drives a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, and normally wears jeans and construction boots.
He vowed to make the race “the most entertaining” Larson has had and to dazzle the public along the way.
But, Visconti said, he’s also taking the campaign seriously and plotting how to run it “at a very high level.”
The Republicans intend to pick their candidate at a May 10 convention. Visconti said he would make a formal announcement of his intentions in March.
“For me, it’s really issues and ineffective government,” he said.
“I won’t go into this half-baked,” Visconti said. He said he’ll offer new ideas and solutions to the voters so that even if he comes up short, he can make a difference to the nation’s policy debate.
Visconti said that people treat Republicans as an oddity in “the blue dragon” that is New England, but the GOP has more support than most people appreciate.
“If he is the Republican nominee,” Healy said, Visconti “will show many people they have a chance to elect someone who is more interested in them than the trappings of power in Washington, D.C."
Healy called Visconti “a business man, elected official, single parent” and fighter for taxpayers who brings “a real life perspective” to the issues.
Bristol Republican Chairman Art Mocabee, who serves as the party’s second vice chairman in the 1st District, said that Visconti plans to seek the GOP nomination.
“As you learn more about Joe, you will discover many refreshing things about him that will serve the constituents of the 1st. District far better than our current congressman,” Mocabee said.
“For example, Joe supports our military and their efforts to keep terrorists out of our country and other countries around the world. This is good policy for us as Americans as well as for those of us who work in this state's defense industry which is quite large. To be anti-military in Connecticut is to be anti-job in Connecticut, which is a peculiar position for our current Congressman to represent us from,” Mocabee said.
Visconti said he is “dealing with a lot of personal stuff” at the moment, which is “the reason I didn’t come out swinging” as soon as his name surfaced this weekend on the Bristol Blog.
Visconti is well known in West Hartford for his vehement opposition to the recently opened Blue Back Square project as well as increases in town spending. He calls himself a champion of the taxpayers – and hasn’t been afraid to stake out rhetorical territory that most politicians avoid.
For example, in challenging the town’s school spending last year, Visconti said on the West Hartford Blog that those who see his point are “not the Bleeding Heart, Union Brainwashed, 28 kids to a class is too many, Duplicity Addicted, Educational Cartel controlled Zombie Yes Voters this Company called West Hartford has as a Majority.”
Despite his primary win, Visconti still tallied the lowest vote total of any of the Election Day winners for the town council in November. He has never run for a higher office.
It is possible other Republicans may be interested in running against Larson, who has never had a congressional opponent get more than 41 percent of the overall vote. The general election is in November.

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Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com