Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti listens as UCONN women’s basketball Coach Geno Auriemma addresses the annual Swim Across the Sound fundraising breakfast at the Holiday Inn in Bridgeport, Conn., on Wednesday, March 6, 2013. File photo by Brian A. Pounds.
Entrenched as Shelton’s mayor for the past two decades, Republican Mark Lauretti is entertaining a run for governor in 2014.
“I’ve been discussing it with some people,” Lauretti told Hearst Connecticut Newspapers Monday, though he emphasized that no formal decision has been made.
Lauretti, 58, cruised to an 11th term in 2011, capturing 65 percent of the votes cast in a rematch of the 2009 election against challenger Chris Jones.
Last year, Lauretti flirted with running for Congress against U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District, but ultimately stayed on the sidelines.
Those familiar with the mindset of Lauretti, whose city has long been the subject of a federal corruption probe, characterized the mayor as highly motivated to make the leap to higher office.