Copyright Hartford Courant
While top Republicans in numerous towns managed to retain office, the blue wave that hit Connecticut on Election Day swept away GOP leaders in Enfield, Rocky Hill, Farmington, Bristol, Stratford, Milford, Newtown, Southbury, Ansonia and even conservative Plymouth. Based on unofficial results Wednesday, Democrats also kept control in the cities of New Haven, Stamford, Waterbury and Danbury while regaining power in New Britain, where they’d been out of the mayor’s office since 2013. Democrats retained traditional blue strongholds like West Hartford and Bloomfield while picking up wins in numerous middle-of-the-road suburbs. On the other side, it appeared that Republicans failed to defeat a single incumbent Democratic leader in any community. However, the GOP easily kept control in most of Connecticut’s reliably red towns such as Oxford, Scotland, Sprague, Sterling, Shelton and Thompson, with Republicans in some cases winning by nearly 2-to-1 margins. The GOP also held back Democrats who’d hoped to win Torrington and Southington, a pair of towns that have been trending toward the right in recently elections. And it held onto power in Southbury, Portland, Old Saybrook, North Stonington, Morris, New Hartford, Prospect, Burlington, Woodbury and Westbrook with uncontested races; Democrats never fielded challengers. Longtime political analysts from both sides on Wednesday were busily examining town-by-town and even district-by-district voting data, hoping to get a better handle on how much of the Democratic wins were based on local issues and how much resulted from Connecticut voters’ deep dislike of President Donald Trump and his policies. Some GOP office-seekers blamed their Democratic opponents for making local races a referendum on Trump. In his three presidential campaigns, Trump never got more than 42% of the votes in Connecticut — and polled just 39% in 2020 compared to Joe Biden’s 59%. Sharon Beloin-Saavedra, the Republican mayoral candidate in New Britain, said Tuesday night that Democratic opponent Bobby Sanchez’s campaign unfairly tied her to Trump’s policies. “They kept trying to muddy the waters about Donald Trump and myself instead of addressing issues like paving roads and plowing streets and funding schools — the things city government does on a local level,” she said. But John McNamara, majority leader of New Britain’s Democratic-dominated city council, said it’s time for GOP candidates to ask themselves some hard questions. “Blind loyalty to Trump needs to recede,” said McNamara, whose city will elected Bobby Sanchez as its first Democratic mayor since Republican Erin Stewart began her six-term reign in 2013. “What I heard knocking on doors was ‘how can this erratic administration go on, how long can there be chaos and something new every day?’,” McNamara said Wednesday. “What Trump has been doing has affected local government. There was the loss of Connecticut health care funds, and now SNAP has crystallized the issue for people. There are a lot of accumulated concerns and grievances about Trump.” Democratic leaders around the state have complained that too many Republican candidates — challengers and incumbents alike — duck the truth by refusing to criticize Trump’s policies, regardless of whether they hurt Connecticut or its towns. In some races, GOP candidates declined to discuss the MAGA movement, insisting that it was a distraction from local issues. But Sanchez and other victorious Democrats said Tuesday’s results show that’s simply not true. He also capitalized on two issues that are typically Republican strengths: property taxes and crime. “What I heard from voters is they’re very mad about taxes here. We have people living on fixed incomes saying ‘If my taxes go up one more time, I may lose my house.’ A lot of seniors told me they can’t afford the apartments they’re in and can’t find affordable housing,” Sanchez said. “You can’t say you’re a conservative Republican and then say that. You can’t. “Another thing I hear a lot about is the crime rate and speeding,” he said. “People asked why we don’t have community policing. It doesn’t exist in New Britain anymore. It used to.” In Bristol, Democrat Ellen Zoppo-Sassu also appeared to capitalize on discontent about rising property taxes. Her campaign distributed lawn signs where homeowners could write in how much their taxes had gone up under Republican Mayor Jeff Caggiano, and created TaxedByJeff.com, a website where homeowners could calculate the figure. She narrowly defeated Caggiano, whose administration oversaw an extension of the downtown revitalization plan with several large, multi-story buildings rising on land that had been vacant for more than 15 years. “If we’re going to do Wednesday-morning quarterbacking, we should have hit back earlier about their tax claims. It was disingenuous coming from the team that was voted out of office after raising taxes three of their four years,” Caggiano said. He also acknowledged that some Republican voters from 2023 may have stayed home this year because of national politics. “Yes, national politics probably had a role. How could it not?,” he said. In Farmington, Democrats were ecstatic after a sweeping win that pushed out the Republican administration. “What a historic night — every single Farmington Democratic candidate won their race!,” Farmington Democrats posted on Facebook. “Led by our next Town Council Chair, Brian FX Connolly, this incredible team worked for months — knocking on doors, talking with neighbors, and sharing a vision for a better Farmington. Together, we made history.” “Not the results we wanted for our team and congrats on an absolutely dominant Election Day by the Farmington Democrats,” wrote GOP council member Keith Vibert, who will serve in the minority for his next term. In Rocky Hill, Republican Mayor Lisa Marotta — who took office after the 2019 election and won commanding victories in 2021 and 2023 — narrowly lost to Allan Smith. His Democratic ticket swept the school board and town council as well. Dozens of supporters posted messages of thanks to Marotta for her work, but a few used her page to launch partisan fury. “Good thing I’m moving out of this town. It used to be my home, but now its destruction is assured by communism,” wrote Chris Buckbee. Along with picking up towns, Democrats retained communities where they already held power. Manchester Mayor Jay Moran’s ticket turned back a campaign attacking Democrats over the downtown modernization plan, and Wethersfield Mayor Ken Lesser’s team prevailed over a group that criticized Democrats over the timing of the recent high school referendum. West Hartford Mayor Shari Cantor and her Democratic caucus on the town council won with huge margins over a Republican ticket that campaigned partly on culture wars issues. With YouTube video titles like ‘Say ‘no’ to boys in girls sports’ and ‘Our campaign against DEI initiatives,’ ” the Republican slate came under heavy criticism in one of Connecticut’s most liberal communities. The local GOP “is ripping a page straight from Trump’s campaign playbook. On Election Day, send them a message that West Hartford is better than this,” the local Democratic Party posted on Facebook. West Hartford voters elected all six council Democratic candidates, with even the lowest vote-getter receiving more than 10,900. Minority party rules ensure that the top three Republicans get seats, but otherwise their entire ticket would have been swept away: Their top voter-getter polled just 4,222, with the rest finishing under 3,800 each. A rancorous start In Bloomfield, a Democrats prevailed as expected, but with a twist that signals political rancor in that town will continue. The council is expected to choose a new mayor from among its members, but that appears likely to be contentious. The three incumbent Republicans and five incumbent Democrats on the council will be back, along with a fresh face on the Democratic ticket: former mayor Suzette DeBeatham-Brown. A bitter Democratic primary this year put DeBeatham-Brown on the party’s council slate, along with four and she was Tuesday night’s top vote-getter with 3,398 — a shade ahead of Mayor Anthony Harrington’s 3,396. By past practice, that would suggest DeBeatham-Brown would become mayor. The charter allows the town council to choose each new mayor, but in almost all past elections the job went to the top vote-getter. DeBeatham-Brown, however, was part of the challenge slate running against the Democratic incumbents in the summer primary, and she has publicly criticized how the council has been conducting business. Soon after election results were posted, former Mayor Danielle Wong posted on her Facebook page “Congratulations Mayor Tony Harrington and Deputy Mayor Cindi Lloyd.” When resident Amy Lillis responded “Actually, Suzette DeBeatham-Brown won the most votes,” Wong replied “Actually, what does that have to do with congratulating the mayor and the deputy mayor on their re-election? Don’t bring your drama to my page.” When Lillis explained she thought the post was implying that Harrington and Lloyd would be chosen as leaders for the next two years, Wong responded “Keep your gaslighting and victimization off my page too. Please refer to the town charter. Highest votes does not get you mayor. The council elects the mayor. That’s how Suzette became mayor in her first term as she did not receive the highest votes then.” DeBeatham-Brown posted screenshots of the exchange, writing “Hey Bloomfield! We need to start better.” Meanwhile, Councilor Shamar Mahon — by far the top Republican voter-getter — posted “I’m looking forward to working with our new Mayor Suzette DeBeatham-Brown as we pave a brighter future for Bloomfield.” Mahan has been a relentless critic of the Democratic incumbents and consistently clashed with Wong during her administration. The council meets Nov. 20 and Dec. 8, and is expected to choose its new mayor then.
