Blue wave crashes over CT General Assembly

Republicans lost as many as eight of their 11 seats in the Connecticut Senate and at least nine in the House, with some races still to be determined early Wednesday morning, leaving the GOP with its smallest-ever presence in the upper chamber.

Democrats projected majorities as large as 33-3 in the Senate and at least 111-40 in the House, with House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, saying if other close races fall their way, the House Democratic advantage could be as much as 115-36.

In the Senate, only three of the Senate’s 11 Republicans were clear victors: Sen. Eric Berthel of Watertown, Sen. Henri Martin of Bristol and Sen. Rob Sampson of Wolcott. Democrats currently have a 25-11 majority. Incomplete results showed Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, trailing his Democratic challenger Aaron Zimmer with 71% of the votes counted.

Harding said Wednesday morning he believed he had lost, swamped by a national wave exceeding the worst fears of a Connecticut GOP that held half the state Senate seats in 2017 and 2018.

“It’s a caucus of three. You know, we go from a caucus of 11 to a caucus of three in one night. It’s as bad as it gets,” Harding said.

In the 34th Senate District, with 100% of the vote counted, Sen. Paul Cicarella, R-North Haven lost by about two dozen votes to Democrat Brandi Mandato, with a recount expected. In the 21st District, unofficial results showed Carolann Reid unseating Sen. Jason Perillo, R-Shelton, with 50.87% of the vote.

Democrats said they also unseated three other incumbents: Sen. John Kissel of Enfield, a state senator for 34 years, lost to David Kiner in the 7th District; Sen. Heather Somers of Groton lost to Joe de la Cruz in the 18th; and Sen. Jeff Gordon of Woodstock lost to Ethan Werstler in the 35th.

Democrats also won two open seats in Fairfield County. Rob Blanchard of Newtown won the 28th District seat that had been held by Sen. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, and Democrat Jill Oberlander of Greenwich captured the 36th District seat held by Sen. Ryan Fazio, the GOP nominee for governor.

House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford, who was unopposed, said, “Basically, every seat that we thought we had a challenge in, we lost.”

The Republican base in Fairfield County continued to erode, with Democrats also flipping state House seats in Newtown and Shelton, Democrats said.

House Democrats claimed early victories in the 106th and 113th House district, with Michelle Embree Ku unseating Rep. Mitch Bolinsky of Newtown and Bryan Lizotte winning the open seat in Shelton.

Democrats did not lose a seat in either chamber.

Other Republican incumbents to lose included Rep. Cara Pavalock-D’Amato of Bristol, who was a strong public supporter of Trump and ICE’s enforcement of immigration law, Rep. Steve Weir of Hebron, Rep. Carol Hall of Enfield, Rep. Mark Anderson of Granby, Rep. Chris Aniskovich of Clinton, and Rep. Greg Howard of Stonington.

In the 77th House District of Bristol, unofficial results showed Democrat DeWayne K. Wynn, Jr. easily beating Pavalock-D’Amato with 56% of the vote. Rick LeBorious beat Hall in their rematch in the 59th House District. With 80% of the vote counted, Democrat Cinzia Lettieri was far ahead of Aniskovich in their 35th District rematch. Ellen Paul defeated Weir in the 55th House District with 53% of the vote.

On her third try, Democrat Kim Becker unseated Anderson in the 62nd House District of Barkhamsted, Granby, Hartland and New Hartford.

Other Democratic gains came in open seats.

In the shoreline’s 23rd House District of Lyme, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook and Westbrook, Democrat Jane Wisialowski won in making another run after getting 48.5% of the vote in a close loss to Rep. Devin Carney, R-Old Saybrook, in a previous election. Carney did not run this year.

In the 8th House District, where Rep. Tim Ackert, R-Coventry, is quitting after an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor, the GOP nominee was Will Gifford, a 21-year-old UConn journalism student who posted a video in December in which he nods in seeming agreement as a white Christian nationalist figure tells him Judaism is “evil.” He lost to Democrat Francis Lombard.

Democrats retained the 31st House District seat in Glastonbury, where Moise “Moses” Carelus defeated Rep. Jill Barry, a Democrat who ran on the Republican and Independent ballot lines after Carelus won the Democratic nomination in a caucus. He won with 58% of the vote.