Hartford, Ct. – No matter how Connecticut Republicans try to spin it, Democrats won big in today’s municipal elections.

• This week, the Connecticut Republican Party called the Fairfield First Selectman’s race their ‘number one target,’ trying to bill the race as a referendum on statewide Democrats. Tonight, Democratic First Selectman Mike Tetreau was re-elected 52%-47%.

  “‘This is our number one target,’ declared J.R. Romano, chairman of the Republican party in Connecticut. ‘I am personally invested, and the party will be invested, in Fairfield.'” [Hartford Courant, 11/01/15]

• In J.R. Romano’s home town of Derby, where Romano was personally invested,  and the Connecticut Republican Party publicly committed significant time, effort, and resources, Democratic Mayor Anita Dugatto was re-elected with more than 51% of the vote.
• In Brookfield… really? In Brookfield, where Democrats haven’t controlled the First Selctman’s office in decades, Democrat Steve Dunn upset the Republican incumbent.
• In Trumbull, J.R.’s best buddy Tim Herbst was re-elected by nearly 3,800 votes in 2013. Now, after a failed statewide run and his buddy getting elected state GOP chair, voters cut his margin of victory by 90 percent, a clear rebuke of Tim Herbst and J.R. Romano’s leadership of the Republican Party.
• In Simsbury – where Republicans resorted to petty tactics by cutting the (female) First Selectman’s pay by 35 percent in 2014 – voters stood strong and re-elected a Democratic woman. This is further proof that the Republican Party has never and shows no signs of supporting pay equity for women.
• And the list goes on, as Democrats in important communities like Rocky Hill and Meriden defeated celebrated Republican incumbents – a clear admonishment of Republican priorities and politics.

“So much for J.R. Romano’s promise of a new Republican message. As J.R. crisscrossed the state, attempting to make this election a referendum on statewide Democrats, the Democratic Party proved once again what was demonstrated last year: a state of the art grassroots organization and a message of progress in our communities defeats hyperbole and misinformation every time. There is no doubt that this was a good night for Democrats as we move toward 2016.” – Connecticut Democratic Party Executive Director Michael Mandell