U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, the first Black woman to represent Connecticut in Congress, was leading early Wednesday in a rematch against Republican George Logan.
It has been 18 years since Connecticut voted to send a Republican to Washington. Logan was trying to end the party’s long losing streak in a rematch with Hayes, the three-term Democrat who defeated him two years ago by a margin of less than 1% of the vote.
The race between Hayes and Logan was among the state’s most closely watched contests on an Election Day when voters also chose state legislators and reelected a U.S. senator.
In their first matchup in 2022, Hayes defeated Logan by just 2,004 votes. This time, Hayes is hoping to get an extra boost from sharing the ballot with Vice President Kamala Harris.
By midnight on election night, after Harris had won the state, Hayes was optimistic of securing a fourth term. While she told her supporters that she was waiting for The Associated Press to call the race, she thanked them for their efforts.
“You guys did this. You organized, you mobilized, you showed up, you brought your family, you brought your friends. You did this,” she told the crowd in Waterbury. "You didn’t like that number from two years ago and you opened it up. You opened it up. So thank you. Thank you for just all of your faith in me.”
Logan, a mechanical engineer and former state senator who now works as a community relations director for a public water supply company, did not hold an event for supporters on Tuesday night and was expected to make a public statement on Wednesday. Throughout the campaign he promoted himself as an independent-minded Republican who wouldn't be beholden to the national party.
He also focused heavily on his personal background. If elected, the Afro-Latino son of Guatemalan immigrants would become the first Hispanic member of Congress from Connecticut.
“I believe Washington is broken and needs to be fixed. I want to be part of the solution,” he told reporters after a debate with Hayes. “I want to work in a bipartisan basis.”
The race is playing out in a district in the northwestern part of the state where President Joe Biden defeated former President Donald Trump by 11 points in 2020.
Logan said he would vote for Trump, but he has walked a careful line on the campaign trail.
He avoided talking about the Republican presidential nominee or aligning himself with Trump’s policies and the MAGA movement. Instead, he spoke repeatedly about being focused on the needs of the district and not the contentious presidential race, pledging to be an “independent voice” who would work with whoever won the White House.
The race has mostly been a reboot of 2022, with Logan even reusing some of his same advertising. He has criticized Hayes for voting “with the failed Biden-Harris administration 99% of the time” and has focused heavily on economic issues. Hayes has accused him of being a risk to abortion rights and siding with “extremist” Republicans in Washington. Logan has said he supports abortion rights.
Connecticut has been challenging territory for Republicans in recent decades. The last Republican to win a House seat representing the state was former U.S. Rep. Chris Shays, who was voted out of office in 2008.
Incumbent Democrats in the state’s other four congressional districts all won their bids for reelection. U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, in the eastern part of the state, won a 10th term in a rematch race against former Republican state Rep. Mike France, whom he beat by 18 points two years ago. U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro won an 18th term; U.S. Rep. John Larson won a 14th term; and U.S. Rep. Jim Himes won a ninth term.
Sen. Chris Murphy won a third term in a rematch against Republican Matt Corey, a small business owner who has pitched himself as “the fighter Donald Trump needs by his side.” The last Republican senator from Connecticut was Lowell Weicker, who lost in 1988 and later left the party.
“I’m here to say thank you and I’m here to pledge to the state of Connecticut that in my third term, there will not be a single day that I won’t look upon this opportunity as the greatest gift of my life,” Murphy told supporters in Hartford.
All state legislators are also up for reelection this year. Democrats currently hold a two-thirds majority in the state Senate but are just short in the House of Representatives. If they secure a net gain of three House seats, without losing any Senate seats, Democrats will have a supermajority in the General Assembly needed to override a gubernatorial veto.
Susan Haigh, The Associated Press
