With the last amended results dribbling in Wednesday morning, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill certified the results of the 2014 election Wednesday, the day set by state law.
Yes, Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat, was re-elected to a second term, as he declared shortly after midnight on Election Day and his Republican challenger, Tom Foley, acknowledged the following the day.
| Ticket | Votes |
|---|---|
| Dannel P. Malloy-Nancy Wyman | 554,314 |
| Thomas C. Foley-Heather Bond Somers | 526,295 |
| Joe Visconti-Chester Frank Harris | 11,456 |
| Jonathan Pelto-Ebony S. Murphy | 568 |
| Daniel R. Gaita-Jason D. Smith | 108 |
| John Traceski-Elizabeth Traceski | 20 |
| John Renjilian-Jason Renjilian | 12 |
But the final, official vote count was a long time coming.
Hartford sent the state amended results Tuesday and Glastonbury won the distinction of being the last of Connecticut’s 169 cities and towns to report, filing amended results Wednesday morning, according to Av Harris, a spokesman for Merrill.
Malloy won with a 50.7 percent of the 1,092,773 votes cast for governor. Foley had 48.2 percent. Visconti, who remained on the ballot after suspending his campaign and endorsing Foley two days before the election, had one percent.
Jonathan Pelto, who failed to gather sufficient signatures to earn a place on the ballot, led four write-in candidates with 568 votes.
In 2010, Malloy won a three-way race with 49.5 percent over Foley and Tom Marsh.
Malloy’s margin of victory this year was 28,019 votes, better than a fourfold improvement over his 6,404-vote margin in 2010. More importantly, Malloy’s votes on the Democratic line were enough to win, so his party will have the top ballot line in the next election.
Republicans had the top line this year because Malloy’s victory over Foley in 2010 required the votes he received on the ballot line of the Working Families Party. Foley won more votes on the Republican line four years ago than Malloy received on the Democratic line.
This year, Malloy was cross-endorsed again by the Working Families and Foley was cross-endorsed by the Independent Party.
With only the votes cast on the Democratic and GOP lines, Malloy beat Foley, 529,552 to 503,998. Malloy won an additional 24,762 votes on the WFP line, while Foley won 22,297 votes on the Independent line.
His second term as Connecticut’s 88th governor begins Jan. 7, the same day all 187 members of the General Assembly begin their new two-year terms.