TONG WINS AG; ARESIMOWICZ FACES RECOUNT; GENERAL ASSEMBLY GOES BLUE.
Republican Hatfield Loses In Close Race; Democrats Take Other Underticket Races
Democratic state Rep. William Tong became Connecticut’s first Asian-American attorney general with an unusually narrow victory over Republican newcomer Sue Hatfield.
Hatfield, a state prosecutor, conceded to Tong in a telephone call Wednesday morning after a drawn-out vote count. Hatfield led for much of the night Tuesday, but the race was called for Tong by midday Wednesday as late results were reported from heavily Democratic cities.
“It’s been a very competitive year,” Tong said. “It was a hard-fought, hard-won victory.”
There was a bruising, intraparty Democratic contest to replace retiring attorney general George Jepsen. Five Democrats fought for the nomination at the party convention and Tong later was victorious in a three-way primary. He called Hatfield a great prosecutor and a great candidate. Hatfield said the campaign was inspiring.
“We worked hard and made many friends along the way, but we fell just short,” Hatfield said. “It was an amazing effort, and we should be proud of the enthusiasm we generated and the broad support of people across the political spectrum that rallied to our cause.”
Tong won by 51 percent to 46 percent. Hatfield had led earlier by as much as 2 percentage points.
The dramatic, back-and-forth vote count was unusual in a state race for attorney general, a contest Democrats have won, often handily, since 1954. The races for all the constitutional offices on the state underticket — attorney general, treasurer, comptroller and secretary of the state — had some drama as the results were tabulated into Wednesday morning
Tong, of Stamford, was the early favorite in the attorney general contest and tried to turn the campaign into a referendum on what he called “the hateful policies coming out of Donald Trump's Washington.”
“The deck is being stacked against the middle class and working families while immigrants and communities of color are being threatened by the hateful and bigoted policies of Donald Trump, and we need leaders who are willing to stand up and fight,” Tong said.
Tong took the state's large cities and picked off affluent towns in Fairfield and Litchfield counties and in the lower Connecticut River Valley.
Hatfield, a state prosecutor from Pomfret in the state's rural northeast corner, proved to be an indefatigable campaigner and made the race an unexpected contest. A native of eastern Connecticut, she was a Trump delegate in 2016 and, years earlier, worked for former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Hatfield promised she wouldn't react reflexively to Trump administration policy, but would balance administration policy against the state's interests.
Democrats led Republican opponents for treasurer, comptroller and secretary of the state for most of Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, but sometimes by margins of
less than 1 percentage point.
Treasurer
Hartford lawyer and former City Council President Shawn Wooden beat his Republican challenger Thad Gray, a financier from Sharon in Litchfield County, with 54.21 to 44.66 percent of the vote. A poll showing Gray with a 20-point lead a week before the election threw a scare into the Wooden campaign, but proved to be flawed.
Both candidates for treasurer ran on their experience. Wooden, 49, runs the pension practice for his Hartford law firm. He said that as Hartford council president, he helped close an inherited $50 million deficit by reducing wasteful spending.
Gray, 58, of Sharon was involved for years with public and private pension management as a partner with the private equity firm Abbott Capital Management. He said Wooden was responsible for Hartford's near insolvency and said it was a $550 million state bailout of Hartford's bonded debt that saved the city, not Wooden's leadership.
Gray also hammered Wooden for his support of Hartford's new minor league baseball stadium, an expenditure Gray complained almost bankrupted the city. Democrats at the top of the ticket happened to make the ballpark their election headquarters Tuesday night.
Wooden said Gray congratulated him on the phone when conceding Tuesday. Wooden said it felt “special” to take that call at the stadium because Gray's campaign ads complained that Wooden had “struck out” in supporting the controversial project. Wooden claimed the election “vindicated” him.
"I couldn't be more proud that I ran a positive campaign focused on the challenges and opportunities facing Connecticut, and how as treasurer I will invest in the right priorities to move our state forward — job creation, infrastructure and education,” Wooden said.
Gray said he was proud of his campaign.
“The campaign was an amazing personal adventure for me, and the highlight was the hundreds of new people I met and places I visited across our beloved state,” Gray said.
Comptroller
Incumbent Comptroller Kevin Lembo, a Democrat, beat back a challenge from Republican First Selectman Kurt Miller of Seymour. Lembo had 53.93 percent of the vote at midday Wednesday to Miller's 44.37.
“Thank you to the voters who have supported the fights I've taken on for the people of Connecticut to reduce pharmaceutical costs, to save money on health care, to stop the tax giveaways to multimillion-dollar corporations and to bring transparency to state government spending,” Lembo said
Miller had campaigned against Lembo by calling him a rubber stamp for outgoing Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the Democratic legislature.
The two, who argued over who would be the more independent guardian of the state's fiscal health, were dividing the vote fairly evenly between cities and suburbs.
Lembo, a 55-year-old Guilford Democrat, ran on his record over two prior terms, and claimed to have been a watchdog on Malloy spending during both. This year, he said he saved the state more than $1 billion. He said he saved millions more in prior years in prescription benefit costs, while making budget, payroll and pension data public through the internet.
Miller, 48 and a four-term first selectman, said Lembo should have advocated more forcefully against the state's increasing indebtedness.
Secretary of the State
Two-term Democratic Secretary of the State Denise Merrill ran away from challenger Susan Chapman, a former Republican first selectman in New Fairfield. Merrill had 55.32 percent of the vote to Chapman's 43 percent.
Before being elected first selectman, Chapman, 51, was a member of the board and also served on the town's planning commission.
Merrill, 70, has been a Democratic insider for years. Before her election as secretary of the state in 2010, Merrill was the state representative from Mansfield from 1995 to 2011, and served as House majority leader.
“Thank you to the voters of Connecticut for trusting me with the honor of serving as your Secretary of the State,” she said in a written statement. “Over the next four years I will continue to fight to make voting more convenient for Connecticut citizens, to increase voter registration, and to make it easier for businesses to start and grow in Connecticut.”