Wild Night Ahead in Land of Steady Habits?
Watch CTNJ's Election Results Coverage Live!
HARTFORD – CT News Junkie columnist Heath W. Fahle will be live on CTNJ’s Election Night coverage from 7-11pm on Tuesday, November 2 with host Brian Parker and fellow CTNJ contributor Sarah Darer Littman discussing the election results.
Viewers can tune in to the broadcast beginning at 7pm online at CT News Junkie.
There will be plenty of action to follow with the potential to make it a wild night in the Land of Steady Habits. The statewide race between former Ambassador Tom Foley and Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy is expected to go down to the wire as Connecticut elects a new Governor for the first time since 1994. Recent polling has showed a clear trend toward Mr. Foley, but the polling also predicted a tight race for Malloy in the primary before he won a convincing victory over Ned Lamont.
It seemed that the die had been cast for the U.S. Senate race as late as Friday of last week, when a host of polls showed Attorney General Richard Blumenthal with a sizable lead over former WWE CEO Linda McMahon. But over the weekend, polling and a strong GOTV effort pushed up the McMahon numbers, termed by Quinnipiac University Pollster Doug Schwartz as a “mini-surge”. Whether the mini-surge will be major enough to put her over the top remains to be seen.
Perhaps the biggest story in Connecticut’s races for the U.S. House of Representatives is that there are races for the U.S House in Connecticut. The Republicans, after years of fielding very mediocre candidates for several of these races, put forward their best slate in years.
In the First Congressional District, stalwart Democrat John Larson actually ran television advertisements – a major change from most of his other campaigns. Republican challenger Ann Brickley has run hard and gotten her name into the discussion very effectively. Rep. Larson will likely win his race this evening, but it may well be closer than any other race he has had.
It could get crazy tonight in CT
The Second Congressional District is no stranger to close races after playing host to the nation’s closest race in the last “wave” election between then-incumbent Rep. Rob Simmons and now-incumbent Joe Courtney in 2006. The 2010 iteration of this race pits Rep. Courtney against former news anchor Janet Peckinpaugh.
In the New Haven-area Third District, Rep. Rosa DeLauro is being challenged by Wallingford attorney Jerry Labriola. Labriola has run far stronger than any other Republican in recent memory, including several hilarious YouTube videos, but its likely that DeLauro will manage another win in the politically-challenging Third District.
Two years ago, Fairfield County’s Fourth District spurned their longtime Republican Congressman, Christopher Shays, for Democrat Jim Himes during the 2008 Obama wave. Now, those same voters look to jettison their mouthpiece in Washington yet again as hope and change gave way to frustration and discontent. Republican State Sen. Dan Debicella is on Line “A” for the GOP.
Last but not least, in the Fighting Fifth, Democratic wunderkind Chris Murphy fights for his political life against State Sen. Sam Caligiuri. Though Murphy is rumored to have far higher ambitions for his political career, those may be derailed tonight by the strong challenge from Sen. Caligiuri and the GOP tide that may return a Republican to Congress from the Fifth Congressional District after a four year hiatus.
It’s a good thing that Connecticut voters like voting, because they don’t just get to vote for Governors, Senators, and Representatives today. The constitutional offices – Attorney General, Secretary of the State, State Comptroller, and State Treasurer – are also on the ballot today.
In the race for Attorney General, Republican Martha Dean is vying against Democrat George Jepsen. Dean’s controversial comments on firearms training for schoolchildren and Tea Party-powered rhetoric have the potential to make this a race to watch as the results unfold.
Wallingford native Jerry Farrell, Jr. is the Republican nominee for Secretary of the State against Democratic State Rep. and party hack Denise Merrill. While Merrill has a run a classic “I am a Democrat, therefore I am” campaign, Commissioner of Consumer Protection Farrell has racked up the endorsement of every major newspaper in Connecticut and looks to upset Mrs. Farrell – easy in real life but hard at the ballot box, sadly.
Though voters likely don’t know what the Office of State Comptroller does, they still get to vote for it. Fashion executive Jack Orchulli of Darien is running against Democrat Kevin Lembo. The race has rightly received almost no attention at all during the campaign. Why this is an elected office instead of an appointed position is a mystery to most observers.
Perhaps the most enjoyable race to watch this cycle has been between Democratic incumbent State Treasurer Denise Nappier and her Republican challenger, Newington Mayor Jeff Wright. Campaigning on a slogan of being Connecticut’s “Cash Cop”, Wright has amused voters with his Poncherello and Baker-type advertising and his promise to stand the Legislature on its head by refusing to borrow money to pay the state’s operating expenses. The incumbent Nappier is a proven vote-getter but she’s never run against the Cash Cop, so it could be closer than expected.
Be sure to listen in tonight from 7-11pm to get all the election night results as they are announced. It should be exciting.
