Republican candidates in Connecticut flipped two state legislative seats in a five-race special election held Tuesday.
Gennaro Bizzarro pulled off the biggest upset of the night. He defeated Democratic Rep. Rick Lopes in the 6th District Senate race with 53 percent of the vote, the CT Mirror reports. The seat was vacated after the incumbent was appointed to a state role by newly elected Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration.
All five vacancies were a result of Lamont appointing legislators to state roles. Lamont was elected in November after former Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy announced he wouldn’t seek reelection. Malloy had one of the lowest approval ratings in the country, with just 23 percent of voters saying they approved of how he was running the state in an October poll.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton won by more than 23 percent in the 2016 presidential election in the same New Britain district that Bizzarro flipped.
Bizzarro told supporters after the election that the race was a “referendum on taxes and tolls.”
“I told everybody that this was a special opportunity that voters of the 6th district had to be heard on the governor’s budget,” Bizzarro said, according to the Record-Journal.
Meanwhile in the 99th House district, Republican Joseph Zullo flipped the seat when he defeated Democrat Josh Balter with 51 percent of the vote. That district is not quite as blue. President Trump won it with 53 percent of the vote in 2016.
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel celebrated Bizzarro’s and Batler’s victories.
“Republicans just flipped two Democrat seats in Connecticut!” she said in a tweet. “Democrats have held both for years – one of them for more than a quarter-century. Great news for the state and our party!
Republicans just flipped two Democrat seats in Connecticut!
Democrats have held both for years – one of them for more than a quarter-century.
Great news for the state and our party!
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) February 27, 2019
Democrats held the other three seats in Tuesday’s election — two in the Senate and one in the House. And despite the two gains, Democrats still hold firm majorities in the state legislature, 91-60 in the House and 22-14 in the Senate.
CORRECTION: In a previous version of this story, the Washington Examiner misstated the name of the city where Bizzarro’s district is. It is New Britain. The Washington Examiner regrets the error.
