Left to Right:Councilwoman-elect Shirley Surgeon, Councilwoman Maly Rosado, Treasurer Adam Cloud, Councilwoman-elect Marilyn Rosetti (behind Treas. Cloud), Councilman-elect Nick Lebron, Mayor Luke Bronin, Councilman T.J. Clarke III, Councilman James “Jimmy” Sanchez
Elections were held in all 169 municipalities across Connecticut last week. Now that the dust has settled, here's a breakdown of the major trends and insights coming out of the evening.
No surprises in the big cities
There were no upsets in any of the big-city races across the state.
Incumbent Mayors Luke Bronin (D-Hartford), Erin Stewart (R-New Britain), Mark Boughton (R-Danbury), Joe Ganim (D-Bridgeport), Michael Passero (D-New London), Harry Rilling (D-Norwalk) and Neal O'Leary (D-Waterbury) all won by comfortable margins.
In New Haven, endorsed Democrat Justin Elicker defeated incumbent Mayor Toni Harp by a 2-1 margin. Harp, who lost to Elicker in the Democratic primary, was running on the Working Families Party line. Elicker recently launched his transition team, which will be co-chaired by three women—state Rep. Robyn Porter, Kica Matos and Sarah Miller.
Democrat Ben Florsheim bested Republican Seb Giuliano by roughly three percentage points and will be the new mayor of Middletown. The Florsheim name may sound familiar, and with good reason. He’s a direct descendent of the founder of the Florsheim Shoe Co. The Mayor-elect spent years working for Sen. Chris Murphy as an in-district aide, crisscrossing the state helping to manage the senator’s constituent engagement efforts.
Major Republican wins and pickups
Republicans flipped the first selectman seats in Fairfield and Sprague and the mayor's seat in Rocky Hill. The race in Sprague was particularly contentious, fueled by outside funding and assistance from both parties as the now former first selectman (and current state senator) Cathie Osten fought to keep her seat.
The Republicans also flipped the town councils in Rocky Hill, Newington, Wethersfield and Southington.
The GOP was able to hold on to the Greenwich First Selectman's seat, in a race that was hotly contested. You may remember that in 2018, Greenwich sent a Democratic state senator and a Democratic state representative to the General Assembly for the first time in generations. Popular Republican State Rep. Fred Camillo was able to buck the recent Democratic trend, however, and ended up winning the race by 15 percentage points.
Major Democratic wins and pickups
Democrats took control of the Town Council in Norwich, and won a surprise victory in the Madison First Selectman's race.
Democrats took control of the open East Haven mayor's seat. Democrat Joe Carfora and members of his slate won a bruising victory against Republican candidate “Big Steve” Tracey, a former professional wrestler. Credit for the victory can be attributed in part to the new East Haven Democratic Town Counsel Chairperson James Albis, who is a former state representative and current senior advisor to Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Scharf Dykes.
—James Woulfe, Esq.
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