Senate Democrats flipped at least seven Republican-held seats and will hold a minimum of 32 of the Senate’s 36 seats. One more race is headed to a recount
Some of the districts Democrats flipped had elected Republicans for decades, including the seat held by the Senate Republican leader
Senate leaders said voters endorsed the caucus’s record on affordability
Connecticut Senate Democrats won seven Republican-held seats in Tuesday’s election and will hold at least 32 of the chamber’s 36 seats. A recount is pending in the Republican-held 34th Senate District.
At 32 seats, this is the largest Senate Democratic majority ever. Democrats held all 25 seats they had going into Election Day and picked up the following districts:
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7th District: David Kiner defeated Sen. John Kissel, R-Enfield
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18th District: Joe de la Cruz defeated Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton
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21st District: Carolann Reid defeated Sen. Jason Perillo, R-Shelton
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28th District: Rob Blanchard defeated Amybeth Laroche for an open seat
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30th District: Aaron Zimmer defeated Senate Republican Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield
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35th District: Ethan Werstler defeated Sen. Jeff Gordon, R-Woodstock
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36th District: Jill Oberlander defeated Joe Kelly for an open seat
In the 34th District, the race between Democrat Brandi Mandato and Sen. Paul Cicarella, R-North Haven, is headed to a recount.
Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven, and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, said in a joint statement that voters had rewarded the caucus’s record.
“Connecticut voters sent a clear message last night,” Looney and Duff said. “They looked at what Senate Democrats have done, cut taxes for the middle class, took on the utility companies to lower electric bills, made child care more affordable, and paid down the state’s debt, and they gave us the largest Democratic State Senate majority ever.”
Several of the flipped districts had long histories of Republican representation, the leaders said.
“Tonight voters sent us Democratic senators from seats Republicans had held for decades: Carolann Reid in the 21st, Republican since 1966; Rob Blanchard in the 28th, the first Democrat to hold it since 1976; Aaron Zimmer in the 30th, the Senate Republican Leader’s own seat, the first Democrat to hold it since 1981; and David Kiner in the 7th and Ethan Werstler in the 35th, the first since 1992,” they said.
Looney and Duff said the incoming senators came from varied backgrounds, including a retired union sheet metal worker, a musician who built his own record label, an educational nonprofit worker, a 26-year-old who fought hunger on his college campus, a local official who chaired her town’s finance board, and a senior advisor to Gov. Ned Lamont.
“Every one of them ran to make life more affordable for the people they’ll represent,” they said.
The leaders also tied the results to the national political climate.
“For two years, Connecticut Republicans stood with a Trump regime that drove up costs, started a war that caused needless suffering, and slashed services in our state, then told people the pain wasn’t real,” Looney and Duff said. “Voters knew better.”
Lamont also won reelection Tuesday, and Democrats will hold supermajorities in both the Senate and the House.
“We have a mandate to make Connecticut more affordable, and we intend to use it,” the leaders said.
Looney, Connecticut’s longest-serving Senate President Pro Tempore, did not seek reelection and will retire in January after 46 years in the General Assembly. The new senators will be sworn in when the 2027 legislative session opens Jan. 6.
By Kevin Coughlin
