2022 Primary Headquarters
Welcome to Sullivan & LeShane’s annual primary coverage! On Tuesday, Democrats and Republicans went to the polls to choose their candidates for the 2022 General Elections. On the ballot were primary contests for two statewide races, and a handful of State House and State Senate races. Below, we've outlined all the hot-button contests, the shockers, and the ones that were too close to count. Enjoy!
Hot Legislative Primaries

This year, a few races stood out above the rest as the hottest contests. Down in the 23rd State Senate district of Bridgeport and Stratford, embattled incumbent Dennis Bradley faced off against the Democrat-endorsed Reverend Herron Gaston for the district's Democratic primary. Bradley, facing federal charges for issues related to the state's Citizen's Election Program, lost his party's endorsement, but secured enough support to force a primary. The race was close all night, and was ultimately decided by absentee ballots. Gaston eked out a win, 1,775 votes to 1,628, and is the strong favorite to win the general election for the seat.

In the 69th district's Republican primary, incumbent State Representative Cindy Harrison went into the contest without her party's endorsement as well. With heavy amounts of party in-fighting leading up to the convention, the Republican party ended up endorsing her challenger, Jason Buchsbaum, a selectman from Southbury. The two ran harsh campaigns against each other in an effort to make the case for why they should get the party nod. Harrison narrowly surpassed Buchsbaum by a margin of 915 votes to 869. No Democrat has filed to run for the seat.

In East Haddam, John Olin and Kurt Comisky were on the ticket for the 34th State House District's Democratic Primary. In May, the convention split 50/50, with no endorsed candidate emerging. Despite the lack of endorsement, Olin cruised to victory with a whopping 81% of the vote. The winner will go on to face State Representative Irene Haines in a district that consistently sends Republicans to Hartford.

Another hot button race included the 116th State House District Primary in West Haven, where incumbent State Representative Trenee McGee faced progressive Joseph Miller. Last session, McGee won a special election to succeed former State Representative Michael DiMassa. McGee drew a lot of attention last session being an outspoken pro-lifer despite the Democratic Party's strong pro-choice position. Despite the turmoil, McGee still earned the Democratic Party's endorsement in May. The pro-choice Miller hopped into the race to try and unseat McGee, but to no avail. McGee, the first black woman to hold the 116th's seat, defeated Miller by a margin of 540 to 308, winning by 27%. She will go on to face Republican Aaron Haley in the general election.

Up next we have the 78th State House District Primary in Bristol and Plymouth featuring Joe Hoxha and Aileen Abrams. Like the 69th, no Democrat has filed to run for the seat, making this feel like a general election. Hoxha, the endorsed candidate, routed Abrams 75% to 25%.

Last but not least, we move on down to Branford and Guilford, where school board member/party-endorsed candidate Moira Rader defeated Andrew Gottlieb to run as the Democratic nominee for former Rep. Sean Scanlon's old seat. She will go on to face Republican Gloria Nemczuk this November.
Big Surprise

 Many will agree that the biggest surprise of the night came from the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. Former Minority Leader Themis Klarides came into the night as the party-endorsed candidate, and the clear favorite. As a pro-choice moderate who helped pass certain gun-control measures during her time in the legislature, Republicans believed she had a real shot at winning over the state's independent and unaffiliated voters to unseat Senator Richard Blumenthal. Hard-line conservative candidates Leora Levy and Peter Lumaj attacked Klarides throughout the campaign, saying she was not conservative enough to truly represent the Republican party. According to the polls Klarides had the best chance to defeat Blumenthal in November, and she seemed to be the most likely candidate to win the primary. However, in an eleventh-hour move, former President Donald Trump endorsed Leora Levy days before the primary, clearly shifting the tide. When all the ballots had been counted, Levy handily defeated Klarides by over ten points, 50.64% to 39.98%. It was a true shocker. Most thought that the race would be close, but no one could have predicted such a resounding victory. Leora will go on to face Senator Richard Blumenthal.
Statewide Speed Round

As for the Secretary of State races, there were primaries for both Republicans and Democrats. The GOP ended up selecting Dominic Rapini, a career salesman for Apple who received the party's endorsement over veteran State Representative Terrie Wood. Freshman State Representative Stephanie Thomas won the Democratic primary for Secretary of State over New Haven's Maritza Bond with a commanding 75% of the vote.

The Democrats saw a three way contest for the primary for State Treasurer between former vice-chair of the CT Democratic Party Eric Russell, hedge fund manager Dita Bhargava, and New Haven Housing Authority President Karen Dubois-Walton. In the end, Russell ultimately secured the candidacy with 57.54% of the vote compared to Bhargava's 22.77% and Dubois-Walton's 19.7%. Russell will go on to face State Representative Harry Arora in November.
Too Close to Count
This year, there were two primaries that closed with incredibly narrow margins. The closest was in the 127th district where Incumbent State Representative Jack Hennessy battled against Bridgeport City Councilman Marcus Brown. Brown secured the Democratic Party's endorsement in May, much to Hennessy's chagrin. Some felt that Hennessy lost the party's backing due to his very public anti-vaccine stance. He was stripped of his deputy speaker role and his seat on the Public Health Committee. The veteran Hennessy had a tough path to re-election, but was determined to fight for his spot. Politicos knew it would be a close race, but no one had any clue how close it actually would be. After all was said and done on primary night, Brown led Hennessy by just five votes, 579-574, triggering an automatic recount. The recount must begin within five business days of the primary. As of this posting, the recount has not begun yet. In Connecticut primary elections, automatic recounts are triggered when the margin in an election is either less than .5%, or less than 20 votes.

In Simsbury, attorney Melissa Osborne sought to take on party-endorsed, former First Selectman Eric Wellman for the Democratic primary of the 16th State House District. The winner would go on to face Republican Mike Paine, who Wellman has defeated before in a previous election for Simsbury First-Selectman. The race was tight, with Osborne just barely defeating Wellman by 33 votes, with a margin of 50.82% to 49.18%. The margins did not trigger an automatic recount, and Wellman conceded the race Tuesday night.
CT Election Management System

To view the Secretary of the State's election results hub, click here. You can filter by Democratic or Republican primary at the top, and then look at how the candidates fared in each municipality!
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