Connecticut’s governor and Democratic state chair framed the blue wave that flipped control of 28 cities and towns to Democrats as evidence of a revived party ready to compete in the 2026 midterm elections after the disastrous and demoralizing 2024 presidential cycle.
“That is remarkable. That is historic, and we did it with a broad spectrum of folks in the electorate,” said Roberto Alves, the Danbury mayor and state party chair. “We had moderate candidates, we have progressive candidates. We are the big-tent party.”
Alves and Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat on the verge of kicking off a campaign for a third term, were quick Wednesday to point to the Democratic successes in Connecticut and elsewhere as evidence of a party shaking off an election that gave Donald J. Trump control over the White House and Congress.
“Obviously, there was a lot of underlying concern about the dysfunction in Washington, D.C., the chaos in Washington, D.C., and just a sense that Connecticut is a bit of a safe harbor compared to what’s going on there,” Lamont said. But he added, “My message to the Democrats is, ‘Just don’t run against Donald Trump. You got to tell people what you are for.’”
[RELATED: Democrats score big in CT municipal races, flipping GOP seats]
Mindful of the 2024 post mortems faulting Democrats for obsessing on Trump and failing to connect with voters on kitchen table issues of affordability, the governor and his hand-picked state party chair insisted affordability and opportunity were core values to Democrats and the coming midterm campaigns.
Democrats now control municipal governments in 102 of the state’s 169 cities and towns, every congressional and statewide constitutional office, and two-thirds of the seats in the General Assembly. But the state also is one with a high cost of living, expensive energy and health costs, and high taxes.
Ben Proto, the Republican state chair, said the Democrats are less than credible when they claim to be the party focused on making the state more affordable, not just committed to resisting the policies of the president.
“They’ve run completely against Donald Trump. The issue they don’t address when they talk about kitchen table is the issue of affordability and how totally unaffordable Connecticut is,” Proto said.
When the Democrats condemn the president for suspending the SNAP food assistance program, they are underscoring that the 360,000 SNAP recipients in Connecticut are evidence of an economic failure: About 10% of residents cannot afford to feed themselves, Proto said.
“What is their answer to the problem? Their answer is not make things more affordable, it is to give them more money to buy breakfast food and diapers,” Proto said. “The economy, that’s going to be the issue next year. It’s not going to be Donald Trump. It’s not going to be the shutdown.”
[RELATED: SNAP cuts to families in CT will hit harder than any other state]
Officials of the two parties agreed, however, that the extent of the Democratic victories in the first general election since Trump’s return to the White House was stunning.
Communities where Democrats flipped Republican mayoral or first selectman seats included Ansonia, Branford, Bristol, Brooklyn, East Granby, New Britain, Norwich, North Canaan, Milford, Rocky Hill, Stratford and Westport. They also flipped control of local legislative bodies in other places, including Enfield and Farmington.
While results still were being analyzed by both parties, it appeared that the only Republican gain Tuesday night was a narrow win giving the GOP control over local government in Easton, a community of about 8,000 residents in Fairfield County.
“What we saw were Democrats coming out, Democrats supporting issues that matter, Democrats uniting,” Alves said. “And when Democrats unite, and Democrats talk about affordability, when Democrats talk about things that matter, when you give Democrats something to vote for, they come out and vote, and they come out in overwhelming numbers.”
[CT 2025 municipal elections: Live results]
Lamont, a political moderate who had not favored Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic mayoral primary in New York City, praised the mayor-elect as a Democrat who connected with young and disaffected voters over issues of affordability.
“He spoke to really key issue that mattered to people,” Lamont said.
In Stratford, Democrat David Chess scored a stunning upset over the Republican mayor, Laura Hoydick. He won by 10 percentage points.
Chess, a physician and businessman, said his victory was due to the confluence of local issues, an aggressive door-to-door campaign, and the general backlash in blue states to Trump.
“We outpaced every town in Connecticut for early voting,” Chess said Wednesday. “That goes beyond the national Trump reflex, ‘We gotta do something.'”
His key issues, he said, included addressing the absence of a pension benefit for police and fire, which has led a high rate of turnover, the deterioration of the school system and a lack of economic growth.