Connecticut Liberation Day

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy delivers his budget address to members of the house and senate at the state Capitol in Hartford, Feb. 8. Photo: Associated Press

Wailing and lamentations broke out in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and even as far away as Texas and Florida, as Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy announced Thursday that he won’t seek a third term in 2018. Politicians in these and other states are disappointed that Mr. Malloy’s policies won’t continue indefinitely to be a source of jobs and taxpayers fleeing Connecticut.

“Listen, I’m going to be Governor until January of 2019,” Mr. Malloy said in announcing his decision, “and every single day I expect that myself and my staff will be working very hard to continue the process of finishing the work that we began literally on the first day I was sworn in.” So Mr. Malloy’s neighbors still have 22 months to cash in.

In the April Morning Consult poll, Mr. Malloy was the third most unpopular governor in America, after Sam Brownback in Kansas and Chris Christie in New Jersey. With Mr. Malloy’s approval rating at 29%, a host of Democrats and Republicans have been lining up to challenge him. We’re not sure why they want the job given that the state is bleeding population and has a projected two-year budget deficit of $1.7 billion despite multiple tax increases on Mr. Malloy’s watch.

Voters everywhere make mistakes, and Connecticut proved they sometimes repeat them by narrowly re-electing Mr. Malloy in 2014 and expecting different results. The Nutmeg State is a case study in the collapse of a state run by public unions who soak state taxpayers into fleeing, which further shrinks the tax base, which makes public-employee pensions unaffordable. Mr. Malloy hasn’t said what he’ll do in retirement, but perhaps he’ll join the other refugees seeking better economic climes.