The race for Connecticut’s 5th District remained too close to call early Wednesday as Democratic Rep. Jahana Hayes and Republican George Logan were locked in a tight race that has captured significant national attention.
The Hayes-Logan matchup has major state and national consequences, with Democrats seeking to protect their all-blue state congressional delegation as well as their majority in the U.S. House. Hayes is seeking a third term over Logan, a former state senator, who is looking to be the first Republican to win a U.S. House seat in Connecticut since 2006.
The 5th District, which covers Hayes’ home town of Waterbury as well as much of the northwestern part of the state that borders Massachusetts and New York, is typically the most competitive race in the state, but this year the campaign reached new heights with upwards of $12 million in outside spending from both parties that blanketed the region with campaign ads.
Hayes addressed her election watch party at the Courtyard Marriott in Waterbury at midnight. When the event started earlier in the night, party-goers occasionally swayed to the upbeat music with people chatting and snacking. Three hours later, the music was still blaring, but the crowd had calmed as the race tightened.
But when a jubilant Hayes walked into the room, the crowd immediately stood up and surrounded her. The congresswoman said her team had not received complete results and would patiently wait, and she thanked her supporters for pitching in, especially when polling showed a close race.
“For 19 months, my character, my integrity my humanity, my reputation, my name, my family, my record were attacked in this race, and I stayed above the fray because I knew my record was enough,” Hayes said to a room of supporters.
“The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated,” she added. “I’m going to be respectful and not assume anything. … So we’ll wait. I don’t plan on going to sleep.”
An hour earlier, Logan held his own event at the Italian restaurant Verdi. The atmosphere was more low-key as guests mingled and watched a TV screen airing results from Fox News. Occasionally, they booed or cheered in reaction to Connecticut election results.
But attendees perked up as they were first addressed by New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart, followed by the candidate himself. Like Hayes, Logan also had a very optimistic view about the trajectory of the race but reminded supporters that it would be a long night ahead.
“They are covering this nationwide; this is a big deal. We know how to flip blue districts,” Logan said to cheers. “And now we put in the work. The votes have to be counted. I am confident, though, that in the end we will prevail.”
As the 5th District remains undecided, control of the U.S. House is also hanging in the balance. Republicans need a net gain of five seats to win back the majority. Connecticut’s 5th is one of a few places in New England where the GOP hoped to pick up seats, though the party lost in Rhode Island’s 2nd District, an open seat Republicans thought they could win.
The issues that animated competitive races across the U.S. came heavily into play in the 5th District, especially debate over the economy, what has contributed to inflation, and access to abortion both at the state and federal levels.
Hayes landed on the political scene two years after winning 2016 National Teacher of the Year. She was a political newcomer, but support from U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy helped her beat out a much more well-known Democrat in the 2018 primary.
Logan, meanwhile, is new to national politics but no stranger to competitive districts. He knocked off a 24-year Democratic incumbent state senator in 2016 and squeaked by in his reelection race after a recount. But he narrowly lost in 2020 and went back into the private sector as a government affairs official for Aquarion, a water company owned by Eversource.
Because there was limited public polling, the recent survey from WTNH/The Hill/Emerson College gave a jolt to the race and the first real snapshot of a campaign in a dead heat.
In an interview at a Sunday campaign stop in Southbury, Hayes said voters were starting to get “a bit complacent” until they saw the poll that had Logan narrowly leading within the margin of error. She said it gave her “an opportunity to remind people you can’t just sit on the sidelines.”
A few voters in Waterbury on Tuesday said they struggled to pick between candidates — ultimately it came down not to party lines but to who they felt were candidates “of the people.”
Inga Martin voted at the Edward D. Bergin Building in Waterbury after she got off work. Early voting would have made things easier on that front — she can’t easily take off of work on Election Day. So she voted for the ballot measure that would have changed the Connecticut constitution to allow early in-person voting, as well as for Hayes.
“She felt more warm,” Martin said of Hayes. “She was more in tune with what I would do.”
As Republicans attacked Democrats over the economy and cost-of-living concerns, some Democratic voters said they wished the party communicated better on the issue.
Despite the harsh reality of record inflation, Steve Sheron, a voter in Plainville, said there are plenty of ways Democrats have improved people’s economic lives, but the party has done a bad job of communicating its wins.
“Democrats didn’t tell their story,” Sheron said Tuesday when casting his vote.
Former U.S. Rep. Nancy Johnson, the last Republican to win the 5th District, said the electorate has changed a lot since she represented it more than a decade ago. She represented the state’s now defunct 6th District for 20 years before serving in the 5th. She ultimately lost to Murphy in 2006. Democrats have held the seat ever since.
“A lot has changed. But mostly the electorate has changed. They are being fed much more extreme stuff,” Johnson said at an interview during Logan’s watch party. “We are a state that’s so one-sided you don’t get the other side.”
Democrats, however, clinched victories in Connecticut’s other House races, according to results from Decision Desk.
In the 1st District, longtime Democratic Rep. John Larson defeated Republican Larry Lazor and Green Party candidate Mary Sanders. Larson has represented the Hartford-based district since 1999.
Larson leads the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Social Security, though he will lose his chairmanship if Republicans take back the House majority. As Republicans threaten spending cuts next year, Larson will likely be Democrats’ point person preventing cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
In the eastern part of the state, Democratic Rep. Joe Courtney bested Republican state Rep. Mike France, Green Party candidate Kevin Blacker and Libertarian William Hall for a ninth term.
Courtney has focused on his longtime support for the defense and submarine industry in his eastern Connecticut district, earning the nickname “two-sub Joe” for helping to secure the production of two new submarines a year.
France is a retired Naval officer and electrical engineer who previously worked on submarine manufacturing. National Republicans came to the district to campaign with him, but France did not get the same resources as Logan in the 5th.
Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro won a 17th term in the 3rd District, defeating Republican Lesley DeNardis, Independent candidate Amy Chai and Green Party candidate Justin Paglino. The seat includes New Haven and its surrounding suburbs.
DeLauro is the longest-serving member in Connecticut’s congressional delegation and was elevated in 2019 to chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee to oversee the government funding process. Like Larson, she will lose her leadership role if Republicans take back the House.
And Rep. Jim Himes defeated Republican Jayme Stevenson, a former Darien first selectman, in the 4th District, which covers the southwestern part of the state including Bridgeport, Greenwich and Stamford.
Himes’ seat used to be more competitive, but he’s easily won since his first election in 2008. That year, he defeated longtime Rep. Chris Shays, who was the last Republican from Connecticut to serve in Congress.
Since Shays’ defeat, the state’s congressional delegation has been represented entirely by Democrats. That could change depending on the outcome in the 5th District.
