Miller: ‘Hallelujah’
With Stamford absentee ballots still to be counted, Esses concedes state Senate race
STAMFORD — Despite absentee ballots from Stamford still to be counted, state Rep. Patricia Billie Miller yelled out “Hallelujah” Tuesday night after Republican candidate Joshua Esses called to concede the race for the 27th state Senate District.
Taking into account all votes from Darien and inperson votes from Stamford, Miller was up by about 100 votes over Esses, according to unofficial results from Stamford Democratic City Committee headquarters.
“Joshua just called, and he called me senator-elect. And I want to thank him because he did run a good clean and fair campaign,” Miller said
around 9:15 p.m.
Stamford City and Town Clerk Lyda Ruijter said her office had issued 2,610 absentee ballots since Jan. 29. Unlike in past years, all voters could opt to vote my mail, citing the COVID-19 pandemic as their reason.
Esses said after seeing the in-person numbers, he didn’t see a path to victory given that absentee ballots tend to lean Democratic.
“I just called the senatorelect to congratulate her on her victory tonight and to wish her the best of luck, to do good work for the people of Stamford and Darien,” Esses said. “It was a privilege to share my vision and my ideas about the future of the state of Connecticut. I love Stamford and this area, and I still do. And I look forward to making it better in whatever capacity I can.”
Despite not having final numbers, a jubilant — albeit socially distant — crowd gathered inside Stamford DCC headquarters Tuesday night. There was music blasting from cell phones as supporters drank champagne through straws underneath their masks.
“We don’t have the absentee ballots yet, but the results look favorable for Pat,” Stamford DCC Chairman Josh Fedeli said. “She worked hard on the campaign and I’m excited for the work she will continue to do for Stamford.”
“We cannot wait to have you in our state senate,” Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz told Miller on a congratulatory Zoom call. “I never doubted for a second that you would be our next senator.”
Miller will be the first woman to represent the 27th District, as well as the first woman of color. She is also the fourth Black female state senator in Connecticut’s history, following Margaret Morton, Toni Harp and Marilyn Moore.
“It is historic especially since it’s happening in women’s month, but I’m going in as a legislator — not as a Black woman, and not as a woman. I’m going in as the representative for the 27th District, for Stamford and Darien,” Miller said.
Miller said the decision to run for the state senate, after 12 years as a member of the state House, was a tough one for her and her family.
“I realized I needed to take this position because I wanted to do more. And I can do more in the senate,” Miller said.
Voters returned to the polls Tuesday just four months after Carlo Leone won reelection to the state Senate, where he represented the 27th District for a decade. In January, Leone gave up his seat to become a special adviser to Joseph Giulietti, the commissioner of the state Department of Transportation.
At some polling places in Stamford, the turnout was nearly nonexistent early in the day.
“This is what it’s looked like all morning,” moderator Alan Heftman said about 10 a.m., gesturing to an empty gymnasium at the South End Community Center. As of that time, only 23 votes had been cast at the polling location.
City Rep. Terry Adams, D-3, who was at the community center to campaign for Miller, said an expected uptick in absentee balloting may have been contributing to the low in-person turnout.
“I think a lot of people might choose to vote by absentee ballot in this election,” Adams said.
Moderators at Stamford’s District 7 polling location at the First Presbyterian Church also noted “a slow trickle” of voters on Tuesday morning. As of 11 a.m., there had been only 40 votes cast at the church.
Moderator Peter Romersa attributed the low turnout, in part, to what he called “election fatigue.”
“With the presidential election happening just last year, I think people are just tired,” he said.
Romersa said Leone’s resignation from the legislature might have flown under the radar and voters just weren’t aware of the special election.
That wasn’t the case for Imani Tisdale, who made time Tuesday to get out and vote.
Tisdale said she felt that special elections like Tuesday’s deserve as much attention and turnout as the larger elections.
“This is a statement of where we are. I think a lot of people care about what is happening, but they don’t recognize that this is the way to make a difference,” she said.
Stamford’s District 13 polling location at Rippowam Middle School was seeing more activity than some other places Tuesday. As of 11:30 a.m., 131 votes had been cast there.
Charles Spaulding, the District 13 moderator, said turnout started out slow in the morning but had been “consistently picking up” throughout the day.
Susan Archer was one of a dozen people who made the trip to Rippowam to vote around lunchtime Tuesday. She cited the “dire” state of affairs between Democrats and Republicans as what prompted her to cast a vote for Miller.
“She stands up for what I think is right,” Archer said.
Dan Bivona, moderator at Stamford’s District 4 polling spot at Julia A. Stark Elementary School, said there had been a slow but steady stream of voters on Tuesday.
As of noon, 72 of the 2,372 voters in the district had cast a ballot in person at the school.
Alexandra Sehulster and her husband, Salvatore Delucia, were among the handful of District 4 voters who turned out around noon.
The couple said they dropped off their daughter at daycare before going to vote together. Delucia said they both voted for Miller, a Democrat, in a show of opposition to the “craziness” of the Republican Party in recent years.
“You never want to just vote down party lines necessarily, but there’s been nothing in the past 10 years that has made me want to deviate from voting that way,” Sehulster said.