Connecticut first lady Cathy Malloy chats with Michael Cacace at the Palace Theatre in Stamford, Conn., March 7, 2011. Gov. Dannel Malloy and former Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele were presented with the 2011 Excellence in Education Award by the Stamford Public Education Foundation at the event.
It helps to have references like Richard Blumenthal.
Michael Cacace, 62, a Stamford lawyer who has played a major supporting role in Blumenthal’s ascent from the state Senate to activist attorney general and ultimately to the U.S. Senate, is Connecticut’s newest member of the Democratic National Committee.
Democratic leaders from across the state overwhelmingly tapped Cacace last week to fill a coveted vacancy on the DNC, which sets the agenda for Democrats nationally and marshals resources for targeted political races as part of its 50-state strategy.
Cacace replaces Anthony Avallone, a lobbyist and development lawyer from New Haven who was nominated for a state Superior Court judgeship by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and confirmed by the General Assembly.
“It seemed like a logical position for me to seek since I have been so active with candidates around the state in a number of capacities,” Cacace told Hearst Connecticut Media Thursday.
A bundler for Democratic candidates at the state and local level, Cacace has hosted recent re-election fundraisers for Comptroller Kevin Lembo and U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn.
From Blumenthal’s race for state Senate in 1987 through Blumenthal’s two decades as state attorney general, Cacace served as Blumenthal’s campaign chairman, reprising that role during the 2010 U.S. Senate race against Republican wrestling matriarch Linda McMahon.
Following the 2013 municipal election, Cacace was a member of Stamford Mayor David Martin’s transition team.
The last party stalwart from Stamford to serve on the DNC was Ellen Camhi, who died in February 2013 at the age of 73. Under party rules, Camhi’s successor had to be a woman, forcing Cacace to bide his time until there was another opening on the DNC.
Despite Democrats having won every statewide and congressional election since 2006, Cacace said there is work to be done.
“Notwithstanding the fact that Connecticut tends to be a blue state, we had 20 years prior to Dan Malloy of Republican governors,” Cacace said.
On Malloy, who served as Stamford mayor from 1995 to 2009, Cacace said, “Dan is in a heated contest. We will all be working very hard to see that he is re-elected, along with all the constitutional officers and our congressional delegation.”