FOIA Records: Connecticut’s Top Election Official Got Messaging Playbook From Groups Linked to Post-Election Mobilization
Photo: The Connecticut Centinal
Records obtained through a Freedom of Information request by the group Greenwich Patriots show that Connecticut Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas received an August 2026 presentation from the Leadership Now Project titled “2026 Elections: Business Leader Engagement.” The deck, written as messaging guidance for the midterms, was forwarded to her by Gabriel Di Chiara of the progressive political action committee Every Eligible American following a call that included a Leadership Now briefing.
Leadership Now was founded by a group of Harvard Business School alumni. Its CEO and co-founder, Daniella Ballou-Aares, served as Senior Advisor for Development to Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry during the Obama administration and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, while former COO Meghann Curtis also held senior State Department posts under Obama. The group describes itself as a membership organization of business leaders who believe “a strong democracy is key to a thriving economy and political stability,” and its election protection model includes education and mobilization, employer toolkits, defending election officials, candidate pledges, rapid response, and legal advocacy.
The presentation sent to Thomas frames election risk as economic risk, including market volatility, operational disruption, and reputational harm, and notes that business remains a relatively trusted messenger. It lays out a “2026 Election Risk Environment” timeline of threats before, on, and after Election Day, ranging from election security funding cuts and threats to mail voting to ballot seizures, challenges to voter rolls, “delegitimization narratives,” federal law enforcement near polls, and certification disputes. It also includes a five-point checklist urging business leaders to engage early with election officials, support civic participation, share “nonpartisan” election information, plan for uncertainty, and “be ready to speak out.”
The report also notes that Ballou-Aares has appeared on the Revolutionary Optimism podcast hosted by Dr. Paul Zeitz, whose movements call for a sweeping constitutional renewal, a “United States 2.0,” citizens’ assemblies, and a potential “Third Founding.” The outlet ties this to what it calls “color revolution” infrastructure described in recent reporting and document releases by DataRepublican. According to those materials, former USAID democracy officers and allied groups developed “red line” scenarios in which the federal government could be declared illegitimate, coordinated street mobilization through networks including Indivisible and No Kings, and prepared for structural overhaul, drawing on Harvard scholar Erica Chenoweth’s 3.5% rule for nonviolent regime change.
DataRepublican’s reporting links Indivisible directly to that network, noting that co-founder and co-executive director Ezra Levin appears on one of the planning calls and in a video clip from the materials.
Local Indivisible chapters in Connecticut, including Greenwich, have circulated materials urging members to prepare for “mass nonviolent action in rapid response to election disruption or subversion,” including No Kings “Election Defense” calls and mobilization pledges. Thomas herself met with Indivisible Stamford in April 2026, telling attendees “we’re all in this together,” at a meeting focused on expanding voting access and countering perceived threats from the Trump administration. Indivisible CT has also been reminding people that Connecticut does not require a photo ID to vote, pointing to alternatives such as a current utility bill, a grocery store coupon card, or a theater membership card with a name on it, or casting a provisional ballot.
Other materials that reached Thomas’s office included analysis from the left-leaning Institute for Responsive Government, which has argued that claims from President Trump and DHS officials lack context or recycle “disproven conspiracy theories,” along with communications tied to Marc Elias and Democracy Docket. Congressman Jim Himes told Indivisible Greenwich last week that Elias will be on hand during the midterms to challenge perceived threats to voting access.
The report questions why the official responsible for neutrally administering Connecticut’s elections is receiving tailored messaging guidance from these organizations while activist groups in the same broader network organize a rapid street-level response if results are contested. It also asks why Thomas’s staff attorney blacked out every word of an email about Public Act No. 26-42, a new election law meant to keep law enforcement, especially ICE, away from polling places.
Section 57 of that law creates a 250-foot restricted zone around election sites, including polling places, early voting locations, and drop boxes, generally barring law enforcement officers and other officials authorized to use force, search, detain, or arrest people from remaining inside it, with limited exceptions. Violations can be charged as a Class C felony.
