Sam Gurwitt Photos
George Logan, Jorge Cabrera.
Jorge Cabrera appeared to lead his race at the end of Tuesday night if, as expected, thousands of uncounted absentee ballots from Hamden fall heavily in his favor.
Cabrera, a business representative for United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 919, challenged incumbent Republican George Logan for his seat representing the 17th senate district. In 2018, he lost by just 77 votes after a recount.
Tuesday evening, it appeared that this year’s race would go in his favor. His campaign manager Dhrupad Nag said the campaign was encouraged by the results so far, but was not ready to make any declarations about the race.
At around 1 a.m., his campaign released a statement. “We are encouraged by the results so far this evening, and while we await the rest of the absentee ballots in the 17th State Senate District, we feel confident that the current results will hold once all votes are counted over the next few days,” the statement read.
Logan did not return multiple calls Tuesday evening.
Logan’s campaign stopped counting vote numbers at around 10 p.m. The campaign hosted a Zoom call with a spreadsheet showing live results. At 10, the campaign wrote on a Word document shared over the Zoom conference: “No more numbers coming in this evening. Thank you to all who logged in – and WORKED SO HARD!”
Cabrera at an campaign event Monday.
Preliminary results from the state’s database and from the campaigns and volunteers showed Logan prevailing in towns in the Naugatuck Valley, including Derby, Ansonia, Naugatuck, Beacon Falls, and Bethany, but Cabrera winning Hamden and Woodbridge.
At midnight, based on a tally of unofficial numbers reported to the state and on numbers collected by volunteers in Hamden, Cabrera appeared to be leading by just over 20 votes. He and Logan were neck and neck, each at almost 23,000 votes.
But those numbers did not include thousands of uncounted absentee ballots in Hamden. Cabrera won the town’s in-person voting by more than two-thirds. Those thousands of absentee ballots were expected to follow the same pattern, if not even more starkly, pushing Cabrera to victory. Hamden comprises 40 percent of the district, by far the largest voting block of any town.
Signs at Miller Memorial Library.
At the end of the evening Tuesday, Rep. Josh Elliott appeared comfortably on his way to winning reelection over Republican challenger Kathy Hoyt in the 88th district. Elliott won about 55 percent of the vote at the polling places. Absentee ballots are likely to fall in his favor as well.
Reached Tuesday evening, Elliott said he would wait until the count is final to call the race.
Hoyt said the same.
“I am going to patiently wait until the absentee ballots come in to see what happens. I’m curious to see where this election will land.”
In the 91st house district, incumbent Democrat Mike D’Agostino (pictured above) easily fended off a challenge from petitioning candidate Weruché George. Preliminary results from in-person showed him with about 86 percent of the vote.
Brotherly Love At Keefe
Eric and George Logan.
Eric Logan drove hours, and spent over $20 in tolls in New Jersey and New York, to stand outside Hamden’s Keefe Community Center with a sign showing his brother’s face Tuesday. If his brother gets his way, Logan won’t have to pay an additional toll once he arrives in Connecticut to make that trek.
Logan lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, but made the trip up the coast to poll stand for his brother George Logan in his bid for re-election to the state’s 17th senate district seat. The Logans grew up in New Haven, in the Hill. Eric now works in IT in New York and commutes in on the train. George lives in Ansonia.
Tuesday afternoon, Eric Logan stood talking and laughing with the opposition. Rhonda Caldwell and Marnie Hebron were standing outside the Keefe Center to poll stand for Logan’s opponent, Jorge Cabrera. That didn’t stop them from getting along.
Naturally, the conversation had turned to Trump. Logan marveled at how the president managed to pay $750 in taxes. He agreed with Caldwell and Hebron about the president — he said he considers himself “center left” and does not support the president.
But he can set aside the fact that his brother appears on the same line as Trump on the ballot.
“Nobody who knows about government thinks that a state senator is in cahoots with what’s happening at the national level,” he said.
He said it’s important to have balance in Hartford. With Democrats in control of the governorship as well as both houses of the General Assembly, he said it’s important to make sure there is representation of the opposition.
Caldwell and Hebron did not agree. There were there hoping voters would vote row A — for Democrats — all the way down the ballot.
Caldwell laughed as she and Hebron walked away down the sidewalk after chatting with Logan.
“Don’t vote for George Logan!” she called. “But I do love you, Eric.”