John,

How are you doing? I know it’s been a tough stretch in the aftermath of last week’s elections across the country. There’s no sugarcoating it, the Vice President and Democrats across the country underperformed significantly. And now, we all have some reflection and analysis to embark on.

Donald Trump made inroads with nearly every voting demographic and in nearly every single county across the country, including here in Connecticut. Democracy demands our involvement not just during an election season, so we need you now more than ever to stay engaged for the hard work we have ahead.

While we acknowledge the losses across the country, and chart a path forward, there are successes we must share with you, too:

In Connecticut, voters re-elected Senator Chris Murphy, and all five of our Democratic US Representatives including Congresswoman Jahana Hayes.
We expanded our majorities in both the state House & Senate. In fact, it’s our largest Senate majority since 1986, and the first time since 2008 that we won more than 100 House seats!
Democrats flipped six state House seats, ousting five Republican incumbents and winning an open seat last held by the GOP!
New state Representatives Rebecca Martinez (Plainville) and Nick Menapace (Niantic) each ran for the second time this year, having come up short in 2022. Each of their districts was last won by a Democrat ten years ago.
Nick Gauthier (Waterford) and MJ Shannon (Milford) each flipped districts that were last won by a Democrat twelve years ago.
Kaitlyn Shake (Stratford) won the largest vote share for any Democrat in 50 years in her district, while Ken Gucker (Danbury) reclaimed the seat he last won in 2020.
Democrats retained every open seat held by a Democrat who was not running for re-election. Nine new State Representatives will replace a fellow Democrat.
Several Democrats who were in tight races two years ago won this year with much more comfortable margins. We not only want to flip districts blue, but keep them blue.
Finally, Democrats flipped one state Senate seat in a historically tough district for Democrats, while retaining another open seat. We protected our incumbents, and we welcome our new state Senators - Paul Honig in the 8th District and Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox in the 22nd!

While celebrating these wins, we also know we need to look inward. As we move forward, we must better understand - and listen - to the needs of our communities, communicate our message clearly, and fight for working people with an economic agenda that will make a difference for them.

I’m ready to do this hard work and fight for a brighter future. Are you with me?

A heartfelt thank you to all the candidates who put their names forward, and to everyone who volunteered and supported our candidates in this election. We could not have done it without you.

Onward,

Jimmy Tickey
Vice Chair