Connecticut 2010 Election Results

Connecticut held its general election on November 2, 2010, deciding 187 legislative seats and 6 statewide offices led by the governorship. No chamber changed party control.

Highlights

• Dannel Malloy (D) became the first Democrat in two decades elected governor, succeeding Republican Gov. Jodi Rell, who was not seeking re-election, and giving his party full control of state government. Democrats' House and Senate majorities, now 100-51 and 23-13, each fell one seat short of two-thirds, the margin needed to override a veto, which mattered far less with a Democrat as governor.
• Malloy beat Tom Foley (R) by about 6,400 votes, under one point. The count turned on Bridgeport, which ran out of ballots in 12 of 23 polling places and fell back on photocopies. Foley conceded six days after the election, saying a review found no credible evidence of fraudulent voting.
• Republicans' House gain was the largest shift to one party since Connecticut abolished straight-ticket lever voting in 1986, and several seats turned on a few dozen votes:
  • Brenda L. Kupchick (R) unseated Thomas J. Drew (D) in House District 132 by 21 votes.
  • Bill Wadsworth (R) won the open House District 21 by 41.
  • Rob Sampson (R) beat Corky Mazurek (D) in House District 80 by 46.
  • William Simanski (R) beat Annie Hornish (D) in House District 62 by 58.
  • Christopher Davis (R) unseated Ted Graziani (D) in House District 57 by 69.
• Democrats swept all six statewide offices. Nancy Wyman (D) won the lieutenant governorship on Malloy's ticket, and George Jepsen (D) beat Martha Dean (R) for the open attorney general's seat by about 10 points. Denise Merrill (D) and Kevin Lembo (D) won the open secretary of the state and comptroller posts, and Treasurer Denise Nappier (D) won another term.
• All 15 legislative seats that changed party went from Democrats to Republicans, and all 13 incumbents who lost were Democrats, among them Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D), who lost a rematch to Al Adinolfi (R) in House District 103, two years after unseating him. In the Senate, Jason Welch (R) unseated Tom Colapietro (D) in Senate District 31, the only seat to change hands there. Outside the flips, 3 races finished inside two points:
  • Steve Cassano (D) kept the open Senate District 4 by 67 votes.
  • James Crawford (D) held the open House District 35 by 23.
  • John Rigby (R) survived in House District 63 by 35.

Legislature

• House (151 seats): 114 D, 36 R, 1 other or vacant before the election, 99 D, 51 R, 1 other or vacant after; control stayed with Democrats.
• Senate (36 seats): 24 D, 12 R before the election, 23 D, 13 R after; control stayed with Democrats.

Statewide races

Legislative races