Gov. Ned Lamont has scheduled a special election for Jan. 23 to choose a successor to Rep. Dorinda Borer, a Democrat who vacated her 115th House District seat upon taking office as mayor of West Haven on Dec. 2.
The district strongly favors Democrats, who have held the seat for decades. Borer won the seat in a special election in 2017, succeeding Democrat Stephen Dargan after he quit to take a job on the state Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Borer was unopposed in 2020 and 2022 and was elected with 72% in 2018 after winning the special election in 2017 with 64%.
With her resignation, Democrats outnumber Republicans in the House of Representatives by a margin of 97-53.
In West Haven, Borer took over a municipal government rocked by a financial scandal and is under the oversight of the state Municipal Accountability Review Board.
Borer is the second woman to be elected mayor of West Haven, succeeding Nancy Rossi, who did not seek reelection after four terms. Borer’s ex-husband is H. Richard Borer Jr., who was mayor from 1991 to 2005.
