Norwich Mayor Swarnjit Singh was sworn in on Dec. 2 by CT Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz, alongside his family and Gov Ned Lamont. Source: Norwich Bulletin

2025 Elections Nationally in Review

It’s the last day of the year; therefore, everyone likes to reminisce on what happened in the past year. Election-wise, it was another crazy year. The year started with President Donald Trump being inaugurated as the country’s 47th President in a political comeback. Nationally and statewide, Republicans were jubilant at the gains they made across many minority communities and younger voters. Democrats struggled to figure out how Trump made his political comeback, with a lot of soul-searching … and pointing blame on their political misfortune.

By the end of the year, Trump’s approval rating had dropped to 36% (Gallup), and Republicans across the country and in Connecticut could feel it. Democrats have dominated numerous special elections. According to the election publication, The Downballot‘s 2025 Big Board, Democrats have overperformed the 2024 Presidential Results by 13.9 points across 65 races ranging from the State Legislature to Congress.

In November, Democrats saw hope. Zohran Mamdani won the mayorship in New York City, giving progressives a new voice on the national stage. Democrats Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill won dominantly in their gubernatorial victories in New Jersey and Virginia last month. Spanberger won by over 15 points against Republican Lt. Gov Winsome Sears. Sherrill, despite narrowing polls, won by an unexpectedly large 14-point margin against former State Assemblyman and 2021 Republican Nominee Jack Ciattarelli.

Things can change quickly in one year. Not uncommon in politics, but you never know which trends will stay and which political trends will disappear within a political cycle. Politics is fairly cyclical; it’s up to the opposition to use it to their advantage, especially at a time when voters are unhappy.

2025 Elections in CT

Connecticut Democrats had an amazing 2025 cycle. Democrats flipped the top office and control in 29 towns across the state. Numbers came from CT Mirror and CT Secretary of State Website. Notable wins for Democrats include

• Democrat Swarnjit Singh won 59-41 over Republican Stacy Gould for Norwich Mayor. Swarnjit also became the first Sikh mayor in Connecticut.
• Democrat Laurie Bursten won in an upset 52-48 against Republican incumbent Lori Spielman in the First Selectman race in Ellington.
• Democrat Bobby Sanchez won 58-40 against Republican Sharon Beloin-Saavedra in the New Britain Mayor Race. Sanchez flipped the seat for Democrats for the first time in 12 years.
• Democrat Rich Smith won against Republican incumbent Tony Giannattasio 55-45 in the Milford Mayoral Race.
• Democrat David Chess knocked out two-term Republican incumbent Laura Hoydick 55-45 in the Stratford Mayoral Race. Though Kamala Harris won by 19 points in 2024 in Stratford, Hoydick won by 26 points in 2021. Hoydick seems to have lost from Democrats not crossing over this year, unlike her previous victories.
• Democratic challenger Bruce Walczak knocked out Republican incumbent Jeff Capeci in Newtown’s First Selectman race. Walczak won 56-44.
• Former Mayor Democrat Ellen Zoppo-Sassu narrowly won back her seat against Republican incumbent Jeffrey Caggiano 50.5-49.5 in Bristol.

Republicans, despite a lot of losses, held some important races and flipped a mayoral race in one town.

• Republican incumbent mayor Vincent Cervoni won over Democratic challenger Alida Cella 58-42 in the Wallingford Mayoral Race
• Republican Molly Spino beat Democrat Stephen Ivain 54-46 in the open Torrington Mayoral Race.
• Incumbent Republican First Selectman Fred Camillo comfortably wins over Democratic challenger Anthony Moor 56-44 in Greenwich.
• Republican Dan Lent won over Democrat Nicholas D’Addario in a 50.1-49.9 squeaker for First Selectman in Easton. The lone Democrat to Republican flip of the night.

These are just some of the examples of wins from both Democrats and Republicans.

Many officials and reporters described the 2025 local races as a “blue wave”. Democrats did better than their most optimistic predictions. A big trend was the decline in split-ticket voting, as many Republican incumbents won by 10-20 points in previous races in 2021 and 2023, only to lose in 2025.

A map of Connecticut towns showing wins and losses by party in the 2025 elections based on unofficial results from the Secretary of the State’s office. Credit to Viktoria Sundqvist / CTNewsjunkie

What to Expect in 2026? To Start – A Barrage of Special Elections

No one has to wait too long for elections in Connecticut. Due to a variety of circumstances, there will be 3 special elections taking place in Connecticut from early January to early February.

On Jan. 5th, there will be a special election for the 25th State House Seat. The seat was vacated by Rep. Bobby Sanchez, who resigned after winning the mayorship of New Britain in November.

The 25th State House Seat is likely to stay in the Democrats’ hands. Kamala Harris won this seat 64-34 in 2024. The district contains parts of New Britain.

On Jan. 13th, there will be a special election for the 139th State House Seat. The seat was vacated by Rep. Kevin Ryan due to his death in late November.

The 139th State House Seat could potentially be competitive, but leans towards the Democratic Party. Kamala Harris won this seat 53-47 in 2024. The districts contains parts of Montville, Ledyard, and Norwich.

On Feb. 3rd, there will be a special election for Fairfield First Selectman. Democratic First Selectman Bill Gerber sadly passed away in July. The two remaining Selectmen, Democrat Christine Vitale and Republican Brenda Kupchick, could not pick a successor. The town charter specified that the party that held the seat, the Democrats, could appoint a replacement. Democrats picked Vitale. However, the charter also allowed a special election to take place if enough signatures were gathered. Republican State Sen. Tony Hwang successfully gathered enough signatures to force this special election for the remainder of the term.

The Fairfield First Selectman special election will be competitive, despite Kamala Harris winning the town 59-40 in 2024. Republicans have frequently performed better on the local level, and State Sen. Tony Hwang has won over Democratic voters in his State Senate elections, where he represents a district Kamala Harris won by 18 points. I mark the race as a toss-up.

2026 Primary Elections

It will be an active cycle during the 2026 primaries this year. It will start at the convention, where it will be a competitive race for delegates, and continue into the late summer for the primary.

The main event is the expected competitive Democratic primary in Connecticut’s 1st Congressional District, where incumbent Rep. John Larson faces multiple challengers in former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, State Rep. Jillian Gilchrest, Hartford Board of Ed. Member Ruth Fortune and perennial candidate Mark Greenstein. Though not all the challengers are expected to make the ballot, if anyone makes the ballot, it will mark the first primary against an incumbent member of the U.S. House in Connecticut since the modern system was put in place over 50 years ago.

Larson faces his strongest competition, but if his challengers don’t consolidate, it is likely that Larson can easily win with a plurality. Larson has endorsements from most elected officials in the district as well as the state’s entire federal delegation. The race can get unpredictable, but it’s Larson’s race to lose. The race has already been pretty negative between Larson and his challengers, and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon, with everyone throwing jabs at each other.

No other Incumbent House Democrat faces a significant challenger; time will tell if any emerge. All the attention will be on CT-01 until that changes.

There is also a competitive Republican primary for governor. This race is currently between State Senator Ryan Fazio and former New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart. Both represent a generational shift in the party, as both are more than three decades younger than current Democratic Governor Ned Lamont. There have been reports that former Lt. Gov of New York, Betsy McCaughey, might enter the race as well. This primary can also get messy.

On the Democratic side, State Rep. Josh Elliott hopes to stop Ned Lamont from securing a 3rd term. Elliott, who has struggled to gain traction and fundraise, still has time to prove to voters why Lamont shouldn’t be the nominee. He hopes for a breakthrough moment, and maybe as the race approaches, he finds it somewhere.

There will be expected primaries in the state legislature against both incumbents and in open races. The incumbent most likely to have a primary challenge is State Sen. Doug McCrory of the 2nd district, who has been linked to state spending under investigation by federal investigators. Coverage will increase as we get closer to the primary cycle, as most state legislature members haven’t filed for re-election yet, but it should be a busier primary cycle than usual. I expect a real test of Democrats’ appetite for younger challengers/fighting mentality, as well as a sign of how State Republicans want to proceed to make some gains across the state.

2026 Statewide Elections

All statewide Democratic incumbents are expected to run again next November. This includes Gov. Ned Lamont, Lt. Gov Susan Bysiewicz, Attorney General William Tong, Comptroller Sean Scanlon, Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas, and Treasurer Erick Russell.

If anyone decides not to run, it will open up a competitive Democratic primary, but it is not expected.

Republicans have not won a statewide race since 2006, and will have to field numerous strong candidates if they hope to take any statewide race. They lost every race except for Treasurer in 2022 by double-digits, and still lost Treasurer by nearly 8 points. It will take a lot for Republicans to do well in what is expected to be a blue year. Republicans might again take a similar strategy to 2024, where they put all their resources on CT’s 5th Congressional District Race, but a blue year may make that strategy unsustainable.

Remember to expect the unexpected in politics.

It will be another crazy year of elections. I deeply appreciate everyone who reads the blog. This was the first year of the blog project, and I will call it a success. We hope to continue to grow the blog, and hope to gather more readers, and expand the coverage on Connecticut Elections.

• Follow the blog on Twitter/X @ctelectionguide,
• Email me at contact@ctelectionguide.com with feedback or questions.
• Or Comment down below
  
  Thanks for Reading!