Election 2020 Updates: Races To Watch In Connecticut

Connecticut is a heavily Democratic state and is expected to vote for Joe Biden for president. There is no U.S. Senate race in Connecticut this election cycle.

At the Congressional level, incumbent Democratic congresswomen Jahana Hayes and Rosa DeLauro are defending their seats against Republican challengers David Sullivan and Margaret Streicker in Connecticut's Fifth and Third Congressional Districts. Those two races are likely to be the most competitive in the state, and both are said to lean towards the Democrats.

Republicans have said they feel the best about flipping Hayes' seat.

The information below will be regularly updated. Please refresh the page if the charts do not load.

An unprecedented amount of absentee voting has made it unclear whether complete results will be available by election night. Absentee ballots are allowed to be counted beginning on Election Day before polls close.

Congressional Democrat stronghold

Connecticut is a blue state that voted against President Trump in 2016. Trump has not visited the state since he campaigned here four years ago.

Democrats long-secured the state’s Congressional seats. Ron Schurin, political scientist at the University of Connecticut, said it would be a “shock of cosmic proportions” if the Republicans took the state at the national level this year. Still, Republicans say they have a shot.

Incumbent Democrat John Larson faces Republican Mary Fay and Green candidate Tom McCormick in CT-1. Larson has been in office for nearly two decades.

Incumbent Democrat Joe Courtney versus Republican Justin Anderson, Liberterian Daniel Reale and Green candidate Cassandra Martinaeau for CT-2.

Incumbent Democrat Jim Himes faces Republican Jonathan Riddle and Independent Brian Merlen for CT-4. Himes won in 2008, taking the last Republican-controlled congressional seat, and has held it since.

State poised to be blue

The entire General Assembly is on the ballot. Democrats gained five state Senate seats in 2018 to shift the control of the split chamber to a Democratic majority.

Republicans say Democrats have been ineffective with their one-party rule in the state. They pin the state’s slow economic recovery since the 2008 recession and loss of business and jobs on Democrats and Democratic Governor Ned Lamont, who is not on the ballot. Lamont’s popularity has at least doubled for his handling of the pandemic.

Senate Democrats hope to secure a few more seats to gain a supermajority. Races in the New York City suburbs that once leaned Republican have had more Democrats register in recent presidential elections, including 2020.

Hearst Connecticut Media has identified nearly 30 bellwether towns that were split in 2016.

Leadership changes

Several state legislative leaders have decided not to run for reelection in 2020.

Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano announced in May 2020 that he would retire and not run for another two-year term. Republican Paul Cicarella Jr. will face Democrat April Capone for Fasano’s seat.

House Minority Leader Themis Klarides will vacate her seat in January. Republican Dan DeBarba versus Democrat Mary Welander for Klarides’s seat.

House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz is not on the ballot for reelection. Democrat JoAnn Angelico-Stetson will challenge Donna Veach for the seat.