Jack Orchulli

Jack Orchulli (born in Pennsylvania 1946) is a Darien, Connecticut millionaire who was the unsuccessful Republican candidate for the Connecticut seat held by Christopher Dodd in the U.S. Senate election, 2004. Orchulli became a Republican in August 2003 shortly before launching his bid for the U.S. Senate and ran for office with no prior political experience. Just months before deciding to run for the U.S. Senate, Orchulli sold his family's half-interest in Michael Kors (a fashion enterprise) and announced his retirement from business.

In November 2004, Orchulli garnered only 32% of the vote in a largely self-financed bid. He never improved from long-shot standing against incumbent Senator Christopher Dodd, who won his 5th consecutive term for the Democrats with 66% of the vote.

Two years later, Orchulli promoted himself as a possible mid-campaign replacement for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Alan Schlesinger, who had come under media fire for a claim that Schlesinger had gambled in the past under an assumed name at Connecticut casinos. Schlesinger was running for the seat held by U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman in the November 2006 election. It was rumored in the media that Schlesinger had been called on by Gov. M. Jodi Rell and then Republican State Chairman George Gallo to withdraw from the race against Lieberman and Ned Lamont. The rumors were not substantiated. Schlesinger failed to withdraw and Orchulli received no support for his bid.

In 2006 and 2007, Orchulli, as a newcomer to small-town politics, led the local Darien (CT) Republican Party to its largest defeat in the history of the town's municipal elections. In November 2007, in the town where Republicans outnumber Democrats 3 to 1, Orchulli and the Republicans lost control of the Board of Selectmen to the Democrats by a vote of 65% to 35%, unprecedented for the town and mirroring Orchulli's 66% to 32% defeat by Dodd three years earlier.

External links

* [http://www.jackforsenate.com/home.shtml Jack for Senate] official site of his campaign.
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/03/politics/03dodd.html New York Times: In Connecticut, Dodd Easily Tops Orchulli for 5th Senate Term] , November 3, 2004
* [http://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary.asp?ID=CTS2&Cycle=2004]

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On January 10, 2008, a Republican Caucus of Darien town electors rejected 19 of 21 members of a slate of candidates proposed by the Nominating Committee. Orchulli was one of the nominees rejected.