Lopes Wins New Britain but Bizzarro Wins Seat

While State Rep. Rick Lopes (D-24) won the vote in New Britain, votes from Berlin put Republican Gennaro Bizzarro into the State Senate in the special election.

Lopes’ won in New Britain by a five-hundred vote margin, in unofficial results from the Secretary of the State, but the vote in Berlin delivered Bizzarro a more than nine-hundred vote advantage in that town, enough to win the overall election.

In the entire Sixth Senatorial District, from the Secretary of the State’s unofficial results, Lopes received 3,437 and Bizzarro received 3,878.

Lopes’ received votes both as the Democratic candidate and as the cross-nominated candidate of the Working Families Party. Lopes’ votes from both lines are added together to determine his total vote.

On a frigid February day, low voter turnout also figured into the election. The total number of votes cast in the special election was 26.7% of the votes for State Senate in the 2018 regular election in November.

Bizzarro had promised voters he would, “Say no to tolls and taxes.”

It was a theme that some voters agreed with. One commenter online said, “Bizzarro is a no to new taxes. Lopes is for tolls and Lamont!!”

Bizzarro’s lopsided win in Berlin largely reflected the outcome of the election for governor in that town in 2018. Lamont lost in Berlin 3,656 to 5,543 to Republican Bob Stefanowski.

Also in the 2018 election, despite winning the overall election, former State Senator Terry Gerratana (D-6) lost Berlin 4,686 to 5,022.

The 2018 election was largely seen as a referendum on Republican President Donald Trump and the Republican Party he leads. While Democrats received solid majorities in New Britain and much of the rest of the state, the opposite was true in Berlin.

In fact, the last time Trump, himself, was on the ballot, he solidly won in Berlin. In 2016, Democrat Hillary Clinton received 4,913 votes in Berlin, while Trump received 6,210.

The results show a sharp divide in the votes between Berlin and New Britain. Clinton won New Britain by 15,468 to 6,055 votes in 2016, and, in 2018 Lamont won in New Britain by 10,378 to 5,193 votes.

While the Sixth Senatorial District’s last senator, Gerratana, won on the strength of New Britain votes, despite losing in Berlin, the opposite is true of Bizzarro, who lost in New Britain and won in Berlin.

How that will affect the priorities of Senator-elect Bizzarro (R-6), is now on the desk of the new legislator. While he promised to oppose taxes and tolls, he also promised to address both, “a budget deficit of more than a billion dollars,” and, “inequities in how we fund our schools.”

Those are likely to be difficult issues over the next year and a half, and Democrats are likely to pose a strong challenge to Bizzarro in the 2020 general election. Bizzarro will have a challenge holding onto the seat in an election when Democratic turnout is likely very high and Bizzarro will likely share the Republican ticket with Trump, himself.

Bizzarro is also likely to continue to face criticism about his past defense former Republican Mayor Timothy Stewart despite 2017 comments that were widely criticized as racist. At that time, it was Bizzarro, who is chair of the board of the Greater New Britain Chamber of Commerce, who announced that Stewart would remain as Chamber President, despite the public outrage. Stewart’s recent misogynistic words about female members of Congress renewed calls for Stewart’s removal and ultimately led to his resignation from the Chamber presidency and two city commission positions.

In the meantime, the result of the special election for the Senate seat is that the two former opponents will serve together in the legislature. Lopes continues as the State Representative for the Twenty-Fourth District, representing neighborhoods in New Britain and Newington.