Daily Kos Elections’ project to calculate the 2016 presidential results for every state legislative seat in the nation ventures to Connecticut, a blue state with two closely divided chambers. You can find our master list of states here, which we'll be updating as we add new states; you can also find all our data from 2016 and past cycles here.
The Nutmeg State backed Hillary Clinton 55-41, but the 2016 legislative elections were not particularly good for Team Blue. The GOP reduced the Democratic state House majority from 86-64 to 79-72, while they chipped their state Senate edge from 21-15 to an 18-18 tie. Democrats still control the upper chamber thanks to Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman’s tie-breaking vote, but it’s not a great place for Democrats to be in. All legislators serve two-year terms.
We’ll start by looking at the state Senate. Clinton carried 27 of the 36 seats, trading six Obama districts for three Romney seats. The median point in the chamber backed Clinton 54-41, almost the same as her statewide win. No Democrats sit in Trump seats, though Clinton only carried two blue seats by a margin of less than 2 percent. However, nine Republicans represent Clinton turf. The bluest GOP-held seat is SD-26, which includes Ridgefield and part of Westport; Clinton won 59-36 here, a big improvement from Romney’s 50-49 win in 2012, but Republican state Sen. Antonietta Boucher won a fifth term 60-40.
Two Democratic senators lost their seats to Republicans last year, while the GOP won one open seat. Democratic incumbent Joseph Crisco lost his bid for a 13th term in SD-17 50.6-49.4 to Republican George Logan even as Clinton was winning this seat 53-44, though that’s a big drop from Obama’s 60-39 victory. In SD-13, second-term Democrat Dante Bartolomeo lost 51-49 to Republican Len Suzio while Clinton was winning 54-41, though that was also a drop from Obama’s 61-37 margin. SD-18 flipped from 56-42 Obama to a 67-vote Trump win, and Republican Heather Somers won the open seat 57-43.
Republicans relentlessly tied Democratic candidates to unpopular Democratic Gov. Dan Malloy, which helps explain why they ran ahead of the presidential ticket in these seats, but the districts’ swings toward Trump didn’t help things either. Currently, one Democratic and one Republican seat are vacant, but both parties should be able to hold on in the Feb. 28 special elections. SD-32 backed Trump 57-39, making it his best seat in the state. SD-02 supported Clinton 83-14.
Over in the state House, Clinton carried 105 of the 151 seats, trading 24 Obama districts for 10 Romney seats. The median district backed Clinton 54-42, a little to the right of her statewide win. A whopping 33 Republicans represent Clinton seats, with HD-150 being the bluest. Clinton carried this Greenwich seat 61-35, a big swing from Romney’s 51-48 win, but Republican Mike Bocchino won his second term without opposition. Seven Democrats hold Trump seats; the reddest is HD-51, which swung from 51-47 Obama all the way to 56-38 Trump. However, Democrat Daniel Rovero won a fourth term 58-42.
