Polls open today as CT decides on governor, General Assembly

Connecticut’s yearlong campaign for governor draws to a close today as voters go to the polls in all 169 cities and towns, with more than a half million of the 2.22 million eligible voters already having cast ballots.

Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., with all six statewide constitutional officers, five U.S. House members and 187 members of the General Assembly on the ballot in a year dominated by states where control of Congress will be resolved.

Neither of the state’s two senators are on the ballot, and the Cook Political Report rates all five U.S. House races in Connecticut as “solid Democratic” — an assessment shared by independent expenditure groups that have shunned the state.

Gov. Ned Lamont intends to vote Tuesday morning at Greenwich High School, then works his way north to an election night party at Dunkin Park in Hartford. His tentative stops include Stamford, Norwalk, Fairfield, Bridgeport, New Haven, Meriden, Newington, Hartford and West Hartford.

His Republican challenger, state Sen. Ryan Fazio of Greenwich, voted on Oct. 19, the first of 14 days of early voting. His Election Day schedule was unavailable Monday. Fazio’s election night party is at the Doubletree by Hilton hotel in Stamford.

The election is a laboratory of sorts: Will Connecticut’s second statewide election with early in-person voting and its first with no excuse absentee voting produce a higher voter turnout?

In the midterm election of 2022, when Lamont, a Democrat, won his second term and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal his third, the turnout was 57.62% Before the first votes are cast Tuesday, the turnout was already about 23%. 

At the end of early voting Sunday night, 505,973 ballots had been cast: 455,169 during the two weeks of early voting and 50,804 by absentee ballot, the secretary of the state’s office reported Monday.

Another 20,854 absentee ballots had been issued and not yet returned. To be counted, absentee ballots must arrive at local clerk’s offices or be deposited in official drop boxes outside town halls by 8 p.m. Tuesday.

By nearly a 4-1 margin, more Democrats than Republicans voted in the first days of early voting, but the gap closed to a little more than a 2-1 Democratic advantage: 216,155 to 89,157, with 149,857 unaffiliated or minor-party voters.

As of late October, the state’s 934,070 unaffiliated voters were the largest bloc of voters in Connecticut, followed by 802,247 Democrats and 485,827 Republicans.

The gubernatorial race between Lamont, a Democrat, and Republican Ryan Fazio is the first since the General Assembly dramatically increased the public financing grant to $18 million.

Whatever Fazio’s challenges have been as a Republican trying to unseat a wealthy self-funded Democrat in a blue state, money has not been among them. Spending by the two candidates has been roughly equal through Oct. 27.

Lamont had spent $18.7 million of the $20 million he contributed to his own campaign account, including a $2.2 million loan; Fazio, $17 million, with $2 million left to spend. 

The money Lamont gave his campaign goes back to him if unspent. In 2022, Lamont spent $26.2 million.

From Oct. 21 to 27, the period covered by the last report, Fazio spent more than $2 million, nearly all of it on television advertising ($1.2 million) or direct mail ($848,306). Lamont spent $1.16 million, most of it on television.

Neither party expects a significant change in the balance of power at the General Assembly, where Democrats have won strong majorities in every election since the 2018 midterm.

Democrats now have majorities of 102-49 in the House and 25-11 in the Senate.

On Thursday, Democrats plan to endorse the reelection of House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford,  for an unprecedented fourth term as speaker and House Majority Leader Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, as his second in command. The caucus will take place with a buzz about Ritter’s potential departure to become interim president of the University of Connecticut.

With the retirement of Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, Senate Democrats are set to endorse Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff of Norwalk as Looney’s successor and Sen. Gary Winfield of New Haven as Duff’s.

House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford, and Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, are expected to continue as the GOP leaders.

The new legislative terms begin Jan. 6, the opening day of the annual legislative session. The winner of the gubernatorial will be sworn in and address a joint session of the General Assembly the same day.