Editor’s Note: This article is part of CT Mirror’s Spanish-language news coverage developed in partnership with Identidad Latina Multimedia.
Special elections will be held Feb. 28 to fill vacancies created by the death of Rep. Quentin Williams, D-Middletown, and the resignations of Rep. Dan Fox, D-Stamford, and Rep. Edwin Vargas Jr., D-Hartford.
Gov. Ned Lamont ordered the elections Monday.
The balance of power is not an issue as Democrats won a majority of 98-53 in the state House of Representatives in November. All three House districts favor Democrats.
Vargas and Williams were unopposed in November. Fox was elected to his seventh term with 68% of the vote.
Vargas and Fox did not take the oath to begin their new terms on Jan. 4, the first day of the legislative session. Fox is pursuing an an appointment as a judge and Vargas in academia.
Williams, 39, was killed in a collision with a wrong-way driver on Jan. 5 while returning home after the governor’s inaugural ball. His funeral was Saturday.
Williams had recently been appointed as co-chair of the Labor and Public Employees Committee.
Rep. Manny Sanchez, D-New Britain, who was vice chair of the committee in the previous session, is expected to be named co-chair on Tuesday by House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford.
The 6th House District represented by Vargas covers the South End of Hartford and a small section of West Hartford. Williams’ seat in the 100th District is within Middletown. Fox’s in the 148th is within Stamford.
Under state law, the governor is required to issue a writ of special election within 10 days of a vacancy in the General Assembly, and a special election must be held 46 days after the writ has been issued. He issued the writs on Jan. 13.
There are no primaries in special elections, but candidates who are not endorsed by a party can petition for a place on the ballot.