Voting 2012...A Quick Guide to the Election

In less than two weeks millions of voters in Connecticut and throughout the country will decide the fate of our state and nation.  There are so many personal decisions that go with voting in an election.  With so many changes that will happen with this election, the results can and will impact laws that pertain to the plumbing, heating and cooling industry.

This post, by no means, is intended to advise you to vote for one candidate or another.  This is simply an informative guide to the election.  Special thanks to CT-PHCC lobbyist, Andrew Markowski, from Gara & Markowski for providing the following content.

This year, every member of the Connecticut General Assembly (state legislature) is up for election, which includes all 187 seats (36 state senators, 151 state representatives).  The CURRENT breakdown in the State Senate is 22 Democrats and 14 Republicans.  The CURRENT breakdown in the State House is 99 Democrats and 52 Republicans.

These numbers will obviously change after the Nov. 6th elections, but no one is certain to what extent.  The one thing that is certain is that there will be many new faces in the State legislature in January when the new session convenes in Hartford.  This is because incumbent legislators are choosing not to run for reelection or "retiring."  There are 24 open seats in the House and 3 in the Senate.  Two of those three open senate seats are certainly races to watch.  The first is the 19th Senate District which includes Norwich and the surrounding towns of Andover, Bozrah, Columbia, Franklin, Hebron, Lebanon, Ledyard, Lisbon, Montville and Sprague.  The second is the 33rd Senate District which includes Westbrook and the surrounding towns of Chester, Clinton, Colchester, Deep River, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Haddam, Lyme, Old Saybrook (part), and Portland. 

The Presidential election aside, Connecticut also has at least two very important federal races to watch, both of which are garnering national attention as we head into the final two weeks of the campaign.  The open U.S. Senate seat held by Joe Lieberman is up for grabs and pits Republican nominee Linda McMahon against Democrat nominee Chris Murphy.  And in the 5th Congressional District, (northwest corner of the state, includes Litchfield county, the towns of the Farmington Valley, and the cities of Danbury, Meriden, New Britain, Waterbury among others), the open seat features a race between Republican nominee Andrew Roraback against Democrat nominee Elizabeth Esty.  Also, in the 2nd Congressional District (which encompasses nearly the entire eastern half of the state), incumbent Democrat Joe Courtney faces a strong challenge for Republican Paul Formica.

Polls are open in every city in town on Tuesday, November 6th from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

For more information on elections and voting, contact the Connecticut Secretary of the State – Elections & Voting Division.

Have your voice heard and vote on November 6, 2012.