Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on November 27, 2022. Read more about CT Mirror’s “Best of 2022” article here.
When the newly elected class of representatives takes office on January 4, the balance of power in the Connecticut legislature will remain largely unchanged, with a net gain of one seat for the Democratic majority in each House.
But the arrival of 8 new Senators and 28 new Representatives will also continue the era of rapid change. Since 2018, more than half of his seats in the House of Representatives and almost two-thirds of his seats in the Senate will be replaced.
House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelola (North Branford, Republican), elected in 2006, said:
The 2018 election saw nearly a decade of steady growth, culminating in an 18-18 draw in the Senate and 72 seats in the House of Representatives in 2016, culminating in 2016 when it edged closer to the 76 seats needed for a majority. The Republican victory has come to an end.
In January, Democrats maintain a 98-53 majority in the House and a 24-12 majority in the Senate. By winning all three of her seats in Greenwich and another in Fairfield County, House Democrats will represent some of the richest and poorest census districts in the United States.
House Speaker Matt Ritter (D-Hartford) said:
Ritter said the culture must be tolerant of the different needs and interests of its members.
“He has a much harder job than I do,” Candelola said. His candidate was largely rejected by voters in Fairfield County’s upscale suburbs. “We are officially a party of the middle class.”
The new Class of 2022 MPs will bring their stories, experiences and perspectives to the Citizens Council, where the majority of members have outside jobs. Retirees and 20s, grandparents and newlyweds.
Physician, anesthesiologist, visiting nurse, union president, cookbook author, architect, retired intelligence officer, 2 licensed clinical social workers, 2 preachers, at least 4 lawyers, business owner , there are educators.
“Different classes have different personalities and different experiences,” Ritter said.
Marcus A. Brown of Bridgeport sits in the House of Commons as the first openly gay black man.
Rep. Domink E. Johnson of Norwalk, who is also an LGBT activist like him, recently criticized two openly gay congressmen, Rep. Jeff Curry of East Hartford and Rep. Raghib Ally Brennan of Bethel. and released a personal statement condemning the mass shooting. At a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs.
“Our voices are loud, but our strength is in numbers,” said four Democrats. “He has added two new representatives to the LGBTQ+ community under the Capitol Dome, but we need more. , must share the struggle.”
Senator Heron K. Gaston of Bridgeport, a young black clergyman with degrees from Yale Theological Seminary and Quinnipiac Law School, was falsely accused of sexual assault while in college in Florida and subsequently acquitted. It’s a memoir about
He also wrote a book on mass incarceration.
“Much of my scholarship and work has been related to the U.S. criminal law system, and I have criticized that system through the lens of theology,” Gaston said. Technically second he can be seen as a person of chance and
The influx of newcomers comes after 31 were elected to the House in 2018 and 21 in 2020.
Some seats have changed owners many times.
Clinton City Council Speaker Chris Aniskovic, a Republican mortgage broker, has fired first-term Democrat Christine Goupil. She had taken the vacancy left by Jesse McLachlan, a young Republican who was elected in 2014 and didn’t run for office in 2020. Aniskovic’s brother is former state senator William Aniskovic.
Rachel Chaleschi, the Republican chairman of the Danbury School Board, has fired Democrat Kenneth Gucker, who fired a Republican in 2018.
The newly elected physician is Republican Jeff Gordon from Woodstock, who will join South Windsor Democratic Senator Saud Anwar as one of two Senate practitioners. Gordon is an oncologist and hematologist.
“We’ve had doctors who do this kind of work, and we talked about how they managed to make ends meet. So I got a lot of good advice,” Gordon said.
Gordon spoke with Anwar and Dr. William Petit of Plainville, a Republican who did not seek reelection to the House of Commons, and Dr. Prasad Srinivasan of Glastonbury, an allergist who did not seek reelection to the House of Commons in 2018. .
The Democratic Senator from Manchester is MD Rahman, an immigrant from Bangladesh and an entrepreneur who has launched businesses in healthcare, construction and real estate investment.
He is one of at least four elected officials born outside the United States.
The other two are Democrats who won the Republican seat in Greenwich. Hector Arzeno from Argentina and Rachel Canna from France. Republican Joe Hoxha, who won an open Republican seat in Bristol, immigrated to the United States from Albania at a young age.
Arzeno, a retired treasurer who advocates for the state to use surplus funds to service its debt and maintain a strong budget reserve, said the state had no reserves and faced huge deficits in 2010. Ritter said he was elected when he was elected. Arzeno said Ritter appeared committed to fiscal discipline.
“So far, I like what I hear. I mean, given my background, I like what I hear,” said Arzeno.
The Senate Democratic group also adds two ardent unionists who may have different views on fiscal policy.
In her third run, New London’s Martha Marx took the seat vacated by the retirement of Republican Paul Formica. AFT Connecticut president and national vice president Jan Hochadel will replace Mary Daugherty, a Democrat in Meriden, on his Abrams.
Groton’s Aundré Bumgardner becomes his second congressional freshman.
In 2014, he was a 20-year-old Republican whose election brought youth and racial diversity to the GOP caucuses, stealing Democratic seats. The vanguard donor is black.
Democrat Joe De La Cruz fired him in 2016, the year Donald J. Trump was elected and the beginning of Bum Gardner’s period of introspection.
Bum Gardner left the Republican Party in 2017, but Trump’s call for a ban on Muslim immigration as a candidate and advocacy for white supremacists after violent protests in Charlottesville, Va. It was opposed because it appeared to be a slam dunk, and because there were few Republican voices willing to oppose it.
He served on the Democratic town committee, served as election treasurer for the man who defeated him, and was elected to the town council.
In January, Bum Gardner will return to the House of Representatives, this time as a Democrat, replacing de la Cruz, who did not seek a fourth term.
“I am very much looking forward to joining the freshman class of 2023. I am still in touch with the 2014 class,” he said.
Bum Gardner, now 28, married Kayla Leasco, a former employee of Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, the day after Thanksgiving. He’s on good terms with at least some Republicans in his 2014 class.
His best man was Jesse McLachlan, a young Republican in the class of 2014 who didn’t run in 2020. The guest list was bipartisan.
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