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Dems Dominate City

By Andy Hart

November 08, 2012

President Barack Obama pull off a convincing win over his Republican challenger Mitt Romney Tuesday night, and took a lot of local Democrats over the top with him. Both of Hartford’s Democratic State Senators, incumbents John Fonfara (1st District) and Eric Coleman (2nd District), easily defeated their Republican opponents, as did the Democratic candidates for all six of Hartford State Representatives seats.

President Obama won big in Hartford, getting 31,735 votes against 2,138 for Romney. Obama’s capture of 93 percent of the votes cast in Hartford was far higher than the 58 percent of the votes he captured statewide.

Despite a massive effort in Hartford, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Linda McMahon only managed to capture 10 percent of the Capital City’s votes (3,373 votes) while her opponent, Congressman Chris Murphy, pulled 89 percent (29,557). Statewide, Murphy got 55 percent and McMahon had 43 percent of votes cast.

U.S. Congressman John Larson (1st District), a close ally of the president, also dominated Hartford once again. District-wide, Larson captured 70 percent of the votes cast (202,980 votes) while his challengers, Republican candidate John Decker and Green Party candidate Michael DeRosa, got 28 percent and 2 percent district-wide, respectively. But in Hartford, Larson pulled 93 percent of the votes, roughly the same as Obama, while Decker got 5 percent and DeRosa got 1 percent. Results for local races (based on preliminary figures released by The Hartford Courant) include:

State Senate (1st District)

John Fonfara (D) 20,338 81 %

Barbara Ruhe (R) 4,225 17%

State Senate (2nd District)

Eric Coleman (D) 31,100 85%

Malvi Garcia Lennon 5,276 15%

State Rep. (1st District)

Matt Ritter (D) 6,038 94%

Ken Lerman (R) 413 6%

State Rep. (3rd District)

Incumbent State Representative Minnie Gonzalez (D) ran unopposed. (Figures not available at presstime)

State Rep. (4th District)

Angel Arce (D) 3614 91%

Rico Dence 341 9%

State Rep. (5th District)

Brandon McGee (D) 7,542 84%

Paul Panos (R) 1,488 16%

State Rep. (6th District)

Edwin Vargas (D) 5,031 89%

Michael Lupo (R) 620 11%

State Rep. (7th District)

Douglas McCrory (D) 6,237 97%

Colleen Rankine (R) 188 3%

Ritter, Gonzalez and McCrory are all incumbents.

Of the new State Represen­tatives-elect, Arce is a long-time community activist. He is taking the seat currently held by Kelvin Roldan, who failed to win the Democratic endorsement.

Vargas, former president of the Hartford Teachers’ Union, is taking the seat currently held by Hector Robles. In 20008 and 2010 he unsuccessfully challenged Fonfara for State Senator. Robles lost in a primary against Vargas in August.

McGee, a community activist making his first run for office, had the toughest path to the Capital. In the Democratic Primary in August, McGee’s opponent, Leo Canty of Windsor, was initially declared the winner by a single vote. McGee took the election to court and a second primary was held, which McGee won.