New Britain Voter Registration Appears Down Compared to Close 5th CD Election in 2022; Democrats Lower And Republicans Higher

Recent New Britain voter registration figures may show troubling signs for Democrats and opportunity for Republicans in the closely contested Fifth Congressional District race between incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Jahana Hayes (D-5) and Republican challenger George Logan.

It appears that there could be nearly 2,000 fewer registered voters in New Britain than in 2022.

Voter registration numbers from yesterday, published by Council Majority Leader, Ald John McNamara (D-4), showed that there were 31,803 voters in the city. The voter registration numbers reportedly reflect an increase over the years between the 2022 and 2024 elections, as normally occurs, due to the presidential election.

But these 2024 voter registration numbers appear to show 1,928 fewer voters than the 33,731 voters from a similar point reported by the New Britain Progressive two years ago.

The number of registered Democrats appears to be 1,118 lower in 2024 than in 2022, with 14,888 Democrats in 2022 and 13,770 yesterday. While Democrats had less registration, there appear to be 288 more Republicans, with 4,121 in 2022 and 4,409 in 2024. Voters with no party affiliation appear to have been 14,267 in 2022 and 13,162 yesterday, 1,105 fewer.

But, in 2022, Hayes won re-election by a narrow margin, only 2,004 votes out of a total of 253,672, less than 1% ahead of Logan.

Hayes can largely thank New Britain voters for her win, since she won in the city by more than 25%, 8,761 to 5,198. That 3,563 vote win for Hayes in New Britain was, by far, the difference between a win and a loss in the whole Fifth Congressional District, which includes, generally, the northwestern fifth of the state.

But what is less clear is whether the lower New Britain voter registration compared to two years ago, and especially favorable net change for Republicans, could contribute to an advantage for Republicans in the 5th Congressional District election.

However these 2024 numbers are not the final voter registration totals for this year. The office of Connecticut Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas (D) says that this Friday, October 18, 2024, is the deadline for voter registration, both in the Registrars of Voters office in city hall, or online at voterregistration.ct.gov. In Connecticut, voters who miss this deadline also have the opportunity to register to vote on election day.

Editor’s note: The article was corrected to clarify that the difference in registration was comparing 2022 and 2024, rather than reflecting a decreasing trend over the two years.