Here are five races to watch this Election Day
As voters to head to the polls Tuesday for Election Day, they will pick new leaders in fastgrowing and demographically changing cities such as Danbury and Stamford, and weigh in on coronavirus orders and the national debate over critical race theory, which have become issues in some local school board races.
Below are some of the key races to watch.
DANBURY
A familiar name will be absent from this year’s ballot in Danbury: Mark Boughton. The longtime former Republican mayor took a job with Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration, leaving the city’s top post vacant for the first time in 20 years.
Democrats will try to seize on that vacancy and gain power in the city, which has an unusually large unaffiliated registration. Their candidate, Roberto Alves, a firstterm city council member and 38-year-old immigrant and father of two children, has pitched himself as the voice of local families. He’s contrasted himself with the current politics in Danbury, saying he’ll bringing a fresh perspective instead of more of the same.
Republican Dean Esposito has worked for the city for 15 years including as Boughton’s chief of staff and under current Mayor Joseph Cavo, who announced he would not run for the seat after completing Boughton’s term. Esposito has highlighted his role in successful city initiatives over the years and his experience in government.
STAMFORD
The most high-profile race in the state is in Stamford where retired baseball manager and local sports star Bobby Valentine and state Rep. Caroline Simmons are vying to be the city’s next mayor. Simmons beat incumbent David Martin in a primary.
The race has been cast as a generational battle between Simmons, 35, a Democrat, and Valentine, 71, a longtime former Republican who is running as an unaffiliated candidate. There is no name on the Republican line of the ballot.
Registered Democrats in the city outweigh registered Republicans by more than 2 to 1 but Valentine’s name recognition is rare in a municipal election, which has drawn big-name donors and more than $1 million to the two campaigns.
Among the top issues are the city’s affordable housing stock, development, school maintenance, and upgrading the city’s infrastructure including the Stamford Transportation Center. The race has become increasingly contentious in its final days, with the latest clash over comments Valentine made calling Simmons “a 35year-old girl,” which she called “offensive.”
WEST HAVEN
Incumbent Democratic Mayor Nancy Rossi easily defeated her challenger in the primary last month — an election that brought victory to all but one candidate on Rossi’s slate.
But now West Haven has become enshrouded in scandal with the arrest of former state Rep. Michael DiMassa, also a former city hall employee, who is charged with wire fraud in connection with what authorities say was a scheme to steal federal funds intended for COVID-related expenses.
Rossi, a certified public accountant, has not been accused of wrongdoing but the election could reflect voters’ view of events that happened on her watch. She has announced more oversight of the city’s finances since DiMassa’s arrest.
In her campaign, Rossi has pointed to her efforts to promote development, including along the city’s shoreline, and to closing a multimillion dollar budget deficit with the help of the state.
Her opponent, Republican City Councilman Barry Lee Cohen has accused Rossi of holding onto information about the alleged misuse of funds and has said she failed in her job to “protect the taxpayer.” His campaign has centered on making the city more business-friendly to developers and potential buyers and on quality of life issues and those facing seniors.
NEW BRITAIN
Popular Republican mayor Erin Stewart, who has been in office since 2013, is facing her first real challenge in several years in Democratic state Rep. Bobby Sanchez, cochairman of the Education Committee at the state Capitol.
Stewart was a late entrant to the race for goverrnor in 2018, then switched to run for lieutenant governor two months later. She came in second in a three-way GOP primary behind then-state Sen. Joe Markley of Southington after a split among moderate voters.
Stewart has touted her record spurring economic development in the city. She’s faced some criticism for the city’s low COVID-19 vaccination rate.
Sanchez says he’d provide more funding to local schools and would help attract businesses to areas in the city that haven’t benefitted from economic development under the current administration.
GUILFORD
The national debate over critical race theory, an academic concept developed in the 1970s to examine American history through the lens of racism and power, has consumed some local school board races in Connecticut — including Guilford’s.
Conservative activists who campaigned on dismantling anti-racist curriculum ousted moderate incumbents on the board of education to get the GOP nomination. School officials have said the academic theory is not being taught.
The five Republican candidates, all political newcomers, will face a unified slate of Democratic and unaffiliated candidates, who have tried to align their challengers with former President Donald Trump. Democrats hold a majority on the board, with guaranteed minority party representation of four of the nine seats.