Candidates: Connecticut Comptroller
The Connecticut Office of the State Comptroller acts as the State’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO). The agency is tasked with duties that include providing accounting and financial services; administering employee and retiree benefits; and preparing financial reports for state, federal, and municipal governments and the public.
The agency also develops accounting policy and performs accounting oversight for the State, according to its website. There are 256 full-time employees in the office, which is organized into six divisions: Central Accounts Payable; Budget and Financial Analysis; Healthcare Policy & Benefit Services; Information Technology; Statewide Payroll & Time Management; and Retirement Services.
CANDIDATE: Sean Scanlon
OFFICE: Comptroller (incumbent)
AGE AND PARTY: 39, Democratic
POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: Four terms in Connecticut House of Representatives
Democratic incumbent Sean Scanlon, 39, of Guilford has been Comptroller since 2023.
“The simplest definition of what I do is I'm the chief fiscal watchdog of the state, chief fiscal officer of the state,” Scanlon told The Goshen News in July. “We pay the bills, we keep the books, we pay the employees, we audit the budget, we run the large benefit packages that the state offers.
“We run retirement programs, meaning for pensions,” he said. “We run the small business retirement program for the state, which has about 8,000 businesses in it called MyCTSavings. We do a lot of the functions that a typical CFO in a company would do.”
Scanlon served in the Connecticut House of Representatives for four terms from 2015 to 2023, representing the 98th District. He served on the Insurance Committee and helped power legislation protecting people with pre-existing conditions. He also championed the lowest monthly co-pay cap for insulin in the nation at $25, worked to require insurance companies to pay for mental health treatment equally with physical health care, and supported the state’s first prescription drug price transparency law.
He served as Chair of the Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee and cooperated with Gov. Ned Lamont to pass the largest tax cut in state history.
Scanlon has worked as Comptroller to reform the State’s municipal and disability pension systems, and he created the state’s first prescription drug discount card. He advocates for stronger benefits for first responders and expanded enrollment in Connecticut’s small business retirement plan. Scanlon also wants to promote economic growth and work for policies that lower costs.
While he has been in office in the State, unfunded pension liabilities that plagued Connecticut’s financial health have been improved to reach a level of being 60% funded, he told The Goshen News in July.
“So between 1939 and 1971, '39 being when we started offering pensions in the state, the state put aside $0 for those pensions. And between '71 and 2011, they put aside next to nothing,” Scanlon said. “Starting in 2017, when we passed a bipartisan budget that changed the way that we budget and instituted what are known as the fiscal guardrails, we started setting aside money to make overage payments on that debt.
“And so far, in the last seven years, we've made $10 billion of overage payments on that debt,” he said. “We intend to make another, my office predicts, another billion-dollar payment in the fall when we close the books on the fiscal year that ends on June 30th. And that debt payoff is having a significant impact on the fund in the sense that last year in 2025, the main pension fund, which was called SERS, was 60% funded. In 2018, it was only 32% funded.”
Scanlon started the Connecticut Citizens Assembly to address the state’s property tax system by bringing people from local government, Democrats and Republicans, together to strive for a solution. He said he wants to continue focusing on property tax system improvements and in 2027 to tackle a universal healthcare option for the state.
“We've been referring to that as the Connecticut Option,” he said. “I think our healthcare system, like the property tax system, is completely broken. It's unaffordable for just about everybody in our state. Access is getting worse, insurance is covering less, it's costing more.
“You'll see me making a very big push in 2027 to work with the governor to create a newer system in the state that can try to lower those costs for people and give them a new option,” Scanlon said.
A Guilford native, Scanlon earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Boston College and is a former Executive Director of the Tweed-New Haven Airport. He is a former legislative aide for Connecticut U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D). He also has served as a victim advocate for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
CANDIDATE: Jen Tooker
OFFICE: Comptroller (challenger)
AGE AND PARTY: 56, Republican
POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: First Selectman, Second Selectman of Westport; roles on Westport Board of Finance, Conservation Commission, and Board of Education.
Republican challenger Jennifer “Jen” Tooker, 56, of Westport said she “is running for State Comptroller to restore accountability, transparency, and discipline to Connecticut’s finances,” according to her website.
She served as First Selectman in Westport from 2017-2021. She also has been a member of the Westport Board of Finance (2013-2017), the Conservation Commission (2009-2011), and the Westport Board of Education (2011-2013), according to the Westport website. She has run unsuccessfully for election as governor of Connecticut.
According to the town website, Westport has achieved key upgrades to its infrastructure and amenities under her leadership. Tooker helped promote the Westport Together initiative, focusing on the social and emotional health and well-being particularly of children in the community. She helped launch StartUp Westport to boost entrepreneurship and innovation.
Tooker also started Westport Means Business, a series of events in 2018 to foster cooperation among local business owners and entrepreneurs. She led the ReOpen Westport Advisory Team in May 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a volunteer, she has served on boards promoting education for all children, including the State Education Resource Center and the Adam J. Lewis Academy in Bridgeport, as well as Bishop Frank Caggiano’s Education Commission for the Diocese of Bridgeport. She also has volunteered in the community with the Westport-Weston Family YMCA, Westport Sunrise Rotary Club, and Westport Soccer Association.
Tooker says she will address what she calls a “significantly underfunded” State retiree health care program. Tooker also wants to emphasize the State’s fiscal guardrails – policies that help the Constiution State build and maintain a stable financial foundation. She said honest fiscal leadership is key to affordability, according to her campaign website, and government should be run with the same discipline households and employers use daily.
Pointing to her local government experience, Tooker says she is accustomed to balancing budgets, making hard decisions, and delivering results. Her work helped ensure retiree medical benefits in Westport were fully funded, she says, and she’s been transparent and put taxpayers first.
A Westport resident, Tooker has nearly 25 years of business management experience in the international property/casualty reinsurance industry, according to her biography. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and International Studies.
Reinsurance is about measuring risk and looking ahead, Tooker wrote in an opinion piece on her campaign website, and she said that’s why she’s running for Comptroller.
“On the surface, things look stable. But underneath, we are making a series of decisions that push costs into the future, limit flexibility, and make long-term obligations harder to manage,” Tooker wrote. “Connecticut does not need more noise around its finances. It needs clarity and discipline.
“It needs a Comptroller who will report the numbers as they are, identify risks early, and ensure that short-term decisions are made with a clear understanding of their long-term consequences,” Tooker wrote.
