Iris Noemi Sanchez, Democratic nominee (on the right), and Jamie Vaughan, Republican nominee (on the left), are the candidates for today’s special election. Source: CT Examiner
Brief Overview
Gov Ned Lamont ordered a special election for today, Jan 6th, on November 21st. The seat became vacant after former State Rep. Bobby Sanchez resigned from his seat on November 12th, following his election win to become the mayor of New Britain. Sanchez successfully changed party control of the mayorship of New Britain from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party.
Both parties’ nominated candidates, as there are no primaries for special elections in Connecticut. Neither candidate faced any opposition at their respective nomination. New Britain Democratic Alderperson Iris Noemi Sanchez faces off against New Britain Republican Constable Jamie Vaughan.
25th State House Democratic Nominee
Iris Noemi Sanchez, Alderperson in Ward 3 of New Britain’s town council, is the Democratic Nominee. She was born in Puerto Rico and has lived in New Britain since 1994, after moving with her family after graduating high school. She is the single mother of two adult children and has worked previously as a medical office assistant and caregiver. Sanchez has been elected to the council five times, first winning a seat in 2017.
Sanchez has the support of New Britain Mayor Bobby Sanchez (not related), who held this seat for 14 years prior. She also has the support of State Rep. Hilda Santiago, a Puerto Rican-born state legislator from Meriden.
Sanchez lists her priorities on housing, public safety, education, and the needs of working families.
25th State House Republican Nominee
Jamie Vaughan, a member of the New Britain Constable, is the Republican nominee. Vaughan was the Republican nominee for this district in 2024, where he lost to Bobby Sanchez 30-70. He is also a U.S Marine Corps Veteran serving as a 3531 motor vehicle operator and served on New Britain’s Veterans Commission. He is married with two adult daughters living in New Britain, nearly all his life.
Vaughan has the support of former New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart, who is running for the Republican nomination for governor.
Vaughan listed his priorities as reducing property taxes, tackling high electric bills, and making policy decisions to help the business community create jobs. In a YouTube video on his campaign website, Vaughan calls out Democrats for causing such a high cost of living in the state. He also talked about supporting no tax on tips, and no taxes on seniors’ social security.
He also talks about fighting one-party rule in Connecticut by making advances on the Republican side, in an Instagram reel on the Connecticut Young Republicans page, and on his campaign website.
25th State House Seat District Information
The 25th State House seat has long centered around parts of New Britain from 1972 to 1980, and since 2002. From 1982 to 2000, the district contained parts of New Britain and Newington. The district changed slightly in the 2022 redistricting, dropping and adding a few precincts, but it remained mostly the same.
A map of the district marked in pink: Source: New Britain Progressive
The following voting precincts are in the district
- Voting District 6: Chamberlain School (120 Newington Ave.)
- Voting District 7: School Apartments (50 Bassett St.)
- Voting District 8: Graham Apartments (107 Martin Luther King Dr.)
- Voting District 9: New Britain Senior Center (55 Pearl St.)
- Voting District 10: Generale Ameglio Society Hall (13 Beaver St.)
- Voting District 11: International Church (40 Acorn St.)
In all of Bobby Sanchez’s election wins since 2010, he has never received less than 70% of the vote, remaining a Democratic stronghold.
Sanchez overperformed Kamala Harris in this district. Kamala Harris won here by a smaller but still large 64-34 spread.
According to the Hartford Business Journal, the 25th State House District is 56% Latino. Republican nominee Jamie Vaughan says Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 5 to 1 in this district. Larger than the 3 to 1 margin in New Britain as a whole.
Both candidates relied on public financing for their campaigns. Both qualified for a grant of just above $27,000.
What to Expect in Today’s Special Election
Today’s Ballot. Source: Secretary of State Website
Democrats are widely expected to win this Harris+30 seat. This is a safe Democratic seat. In terms of expected overperformance, that is harder to predict. Turnout for this special election is expected to be low. In addition, today is Three Kings Day, a notable occasion of importance in Puerto Rican communities.
According to the Downballot, Democrats have overperformed the 2024 Presidential Results in special elections by 13.8 points. With Democratic voters very motivated as we enter the second year of Trump’s presidency, we will see the level of overperformance! It is important to note that special election overperformances have not been as high in Connecticut last year. Though two of the three elections took place around Shelton, where Republicans tend to overperform on the local level. There was a 16-point Democratic overperformance in CT-HD-40, in the southeast part of the state. There was a 7-point Republican overperformance in CT-SD-21 and another 5-point overperformance in CT-HD-113. So it will be curious to see where this election ends up.
Early voting was light in the district. Early Voting took place on December 31st, Jan 2nd to Jan 4th. The Hartford Business had the early turnout as follows.
“72 Democrats, 26 Republicans, 20 unaffiliated voters, and three registered Independents had cast in-person, early-voting ballots. Another 22 Democrats, six Republicans and seven unaffiliated had cast absentee ballots.”
Either way, Democrats will likely win the seat! We will update on Twitter/X as results come in after polls close at 8:00 pm.
Join us next week as well, for another special election on the 13th!
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