Connecticut Supreme Court Associate Justice Andrew McDonald was thrust into the national spotlight last month, as his controversial selection by Gov. Dannel Malloy to become chief justice of the court was met with partisan conflict and, ultimately, rejection in the state Senate.

While a successful confirmation of the state’s—and the nation’s—first openly gay chief justice would have set a historic milestone here, Connecticut lawmakers had a different outcome in mind for the 52-year-old Stamford native. Instead of making history, a bitter confirmation process made national headlines for exposing a partisan divide in Connecticut—underscored by personal animosities and dislike of the governor among Republicans, who closed ranks in order to deliver a political defeat.