Sources: Donovan will give up 5th District campaign by Wednesday

Sources with knowledge of Friday’s meeting among leaders of the state’s Working Families Party say that Speaker of the House Chris Donovan, once the shoo in for the Democratic nomination for the 5th Congressional District seat, will abandon his scandal-plagued campaign next Wednesday, the 29th, if not sooner.

On the 30th, the small 171-member party with the important extra line on the ballot because of its big turnout in recent elections, is scheduled to endorse Democrat Elizabeth Esty, the former one-term state House member from Cheshire who’s the wife of state DEEP Commissioner Dan Esty.

Major state labor leaders recently shifted their endorsement to Esty, who is battling state Sen. Andrew Roraback for the congressional seat representing 41 towns in northwest Connecticut, including Meriden, Danbury, Torrington and Waterbury.