Connecticut Closes Primaries for Governor and 1st District as Lamont Spends $9.2 Million
Updated
Updated · The Connecticut Mirror · Aug 11
Connecticut Closes Primaries for Governor and 1st District as Lamont Spends $9.2 Million
3 articles · Updated · The Connecticut Mirror · Aug 11
Summary
Connecticut voters finished casting ballots Tuesday in high-stakes primaries for governor, Congress and state legislative seats, with few reported problems and no voter-fraud complaints.
About 8% of 789,985 active Democrats had already voted through absentee ballots or seven days of early in-person voting, while election officials said most of 43 hotline calls by 2 p.m. were routine questions.
The marquee Democratic contests pit Gov. Ned Lamont against liberal challenger Josh Elliott statewide and 14-term Rep. John Larson, 78, against former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, 47, and two others in the 1st District.
Money underscored the stakes: Lamont spent $9.2 million, largely self-funded, versus Elliott's $3.98 million, while the Larson-Bronin race was flooded with direct mail and TV ads.
The primaries also tested Democratic appetite for generational change and a harder anti-ICE line ahead of Lamont's expected general-election matchup with Republican state Sen. Ryan Fazio.