Marquee races today: Democratic primaries for governor, Congress

This story has been updated.

Connecticut Democrats go to the polls today in two high-stakes primaries: An ideological fight over whether to stay the course with Gov. Ned Lamont or opt for a liberal challenger, Josh Elliott; and a generational challenge to Congressman John B. Larson by former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin and two others.

Polls are open until 8 p.m. About 8% of the 789,985 active Democrats had voted as of Monday by absentee ballots or in the seven days of early in-person voting that ended Sunday.

Elliott’s challenge to Lamont for the gubernatorial nomination is the only statewide primary in either party. Public polling shows the governor with a significant lead among likely voters, but the challenger is running aggressive ads testing the depth of the party’s allegiance to Lamont.

Lamont and Elliott crossed paths outside a polling place in Bridgeport on Tuesday morning. They shook hands.

Lamont had begun his day voting in Greenwich at 8:30 a.m. Elliott had cast his ballot in Hamden during early voting.

The first primary challenge to an incumbent governor is proving expensive: Lamont, who is largely self-funded, has spent $9.2 million; Elliott, whose biggest source of funding is a $3.75 million public grant, has spent $3.98 million. Their final pre-primary campaign reports show a late flurry of TV advertising.

Lamont spent $2.4 million from July 29 through Aug. 4, the final reporting period, with 65%, or $1.55 million, for television ads. Over the same seven days, Elliott spent $956,000, with 73%, or $700,000, for TV commercials.

In the 1st Congressional District of Hartford and 26 other communities, Larson, 78, is facing Bronin, 47, who won the party endorsement in a convention upset; Ruth Fortune, 37, a mayoral appointee of the Hartford school board; and state Rep. Jillian Gilchrest, 44, of West Hartford.

Five of the 10 communities with the most early votes cast are in the 1st Congressional District, where Democrats have been deluged with direct mail, mostly from Bronin and Larson, the only two candidates with significant resources. Larson is the first congressman to face a primary as an incumbent.

Larson, a 14-term incumbent, sits on Row D of the ballot. Bronin has the top line as the endorsed candidate. From there, the order is alphabetical.

Winning the Democratic congressional primary is tantamount to election. Republicans last won the seat in 1956.

Opposition to President Donald Trump, his war on Iran and his aggressive immigration crackdown have been ever present in both primary races, a likely harbinger of things to come in the general election for governor against the Republican nominee, Sen. Ryan Fazio of Greenwich.

Lamont has signed two revisions to the Trust Act, which limits the degree to which state and local authorities can assist ICE agents. In his State of the State address in February, the governor said, “ICE, everywhere you go uninvited, violence follows. Go home. We’re keeping Connecticut safe without you.”

In a press conference outside a Stamford courthouse, Elliott has proposed additional restrictions that would bar ICE from community health centers, family planning clinics and other outpatient medical settings. He also promised to direct the state police to arrest ICE agents who violate the state’s ban on masks.

All four of the congressional candidates say they favor abolishing ICE.

Other races

In Torrington, voting was decidedly light Tuesday morning: By 8 a.m., nobody had voted at the polling place at City Hall.

“This morning, we had a few voters come in, but when we looked them up, we had to redirect them to other voting locations,” said Stephen Ivain, a moderator.

Torrington is one of the Connecticut towns where both Democrats and Republicans have primaries — Democrats can vote for their preferred gubernatorial candidate, and Republicans have a choice between candidates to take on U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes in the 5th Congressional District in the fall.

About 42% of Torrington is unaffiliated, Ivain said, with the remainder of Democrats and Republicans about evenly split.

Elsewhere, there are down-ballot Democratic primaries in two state Senate and seven state House Districts, all currently represented by Democrats.

Four of the primaries feature challenges to incumbents; the other five are for open seats.

In the 2nd Senate District, Sen. Douglas McCrory of Hartford is opposed by Rep. Maryam Khan and school board member Ayana Taylor, both of Windsor. McCrory also faced a three-way primary in 2024.

The other high-profile challenge to an incumbent is in the 92nd House District of New Haven. The incumbent, Patricia A. Dillon, who was elected in 1984, is the longest-serving House member seeking reelection. She is opposed by Justin M. Farmer and Eli Sabin.

In the 4th House District, Rep. Julio Concepcion of Hartford is opposed by Venice Sotomayor of Hartford.

In the 58th House District, Rep. John Santanella of Enfield is opposed by Tom Tyler of Enfield.

The primaries for the open seats are to nominate successors to Sen. Jan Hochadel of Meriden in the 13th Senate, Rep. Henry Genga of East Hartford in the 10th House, Rep. Al Paolillo of New Haven in the 97th House and Rep. Frank Smith of Milford in the 118th House. 

The Democratic nomination in the 31st House District is open, even though the incumbent Rep. Jill Barry, D-Glastonbury, is running. She lost the party endorsement at a caucus, but she is running as an independent cross-endorsed by Republicans.

The endorsed Democratic candidate, Moise “Moses” Carelus, is challenged by Anthony DiLizia.

In the 13th Senate, the party-endorsed candidate, Rep. Jack Fazzino of Meriden, is challenged by Jim Jinks of Cheshire.

In the 10th House of East Hartford, the endorsed candidate, Angie Parkinson, is challenged by Tyron V. Harris.

In the 97th House of New Haven, Leland J. Moore is challenged by Wildaliz Bermudez.

In the 118th of Milford, Toni Lombardi is challenged by Christopher Saley.

Smaller slate of GOP primaries

With the exception of Rep. William Pizzuto of Middlebury in the 71st House District of Middlebury and Waterbury, no Republican incumbent is facing a challenge Tuesday. Pizzuto is opposed by Michael Grosso of Waterbury.

In the 19th Senate District, former Rep. Mike France of Ledyard is challenging the party-endorsed candidate, Jason Guidone of Hebron.

In the 50th House District, Republicans scrambled to find a challenger to the party-endorsed candidate, Jadon MacCormack of Brooklyn, after learning of his virulent anti-gay statements. That challenger is Anthony J. Emilio of Pomfret.

There are Republican primaries for Congress in the 4th and 5th districts, where there is little hope of unseating the Democratic incumbents in November.

In the 4th of Fairfield County, Republicans have a choice of Michael Goldstein, who lost overwhelmingly in 2024, and Daniel Miressi, a youth coach and former professional hockey player.

In the 5th of western Connecticut, the party-endorsed candidate is a firefighter and former Navy SEAL, Chris Shea. 

He is challenged by Jonathan De Barros, who killed a man in 1996 in what he called self-defense. He’s made news this cycle by suing Republicans who called him a murderer.

He was convicted of murder and served 19 years in prison, but he won a new trial on the grounds that potentially exculpatory evidence and testimony had been disallowed. The second trial ended with a hung jury. He later pleaded guilty to manslaughter under the Alford Doctrine.

CT Mirror staff reporter Julia Levine contributed to this story.