2008 Connecticut Senate election explained

Election Name:	2008 Connecticut State Senate election
Country:	Connecticut
Type:	legislative
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	2006 Connecticut State Senate election
Previous Year:	2006
Next Election:	2010 Connecticut State Senate election
Next Year:	2010
Seats For Election:	All 36 seats in the Connecticut State Senate
Majority Seats:	19
Election Date:	November 4, 2008
Leader1:	Donald Williams
Party1:	Connecticut Democratic Party
Leader Since1:	July 1, 2004
Leaders Seat1:	29th
Last Election1:	24
Seats Before1:	24
Seat Change1:	1
Seats After1:	24
Leader2:	John McKinney
Leader Since2:	June 2007
Party2:	Connecticut Republican Party
Leaders Seat2:	28th
Last Election2:	12
Seats Before2:	13
Seat Change2:	1
Seats After2:	12
Map Size:	300px
President pro tempore of the Senate
Before Election:	Donald Williams
Before Party:	Democratic Party (United States)
After Election:	Donald Williams
After Party:	Democratic Party (United States)

The Connecticut Senate election, 2008 was held on November 4, 2008, to elect Senators to the Connecticut State Senate for the term which began in January 2009 and ended in January 2011. The election occurred on the same date as other federal and state elections, including the quadrennial U.S. presidential election.

The 2008 election saw the election or re-election of 24 Democrats and 12 Republicans to fill the Senate's 36 seats. The incumbent party in each district held onto control of their respective seats in the election, except for one seat which changed control from Republican to Democratic.

Results

Results of the 2008 Connecticut Senate election.^[1] Party shading denotes winner of Senate seat.

District	Constituency	Incumbent	Votes for Democratic candidate
1	Hartford (part), Wethersfield (part)	John W. Fonfara (D)		John W. Fonfara 18,898^WF ^TP
2	Bloomfield (part), Hartford (part), Windsor (part)	Eric D. Coleman (D)
3	East Hartford, East Windsor, Ellington, South Windsor	Gary LeBeau (D)
4	Bolton, Glastonbury, Manchester, Marlborough	Mary Ann Handley (D)
5	Bloomfield (part), Burlington, Farmington (part), West Hartford	Jonathan A. Harris (D)
6	Berlin, Farmington (part), New Britain	Donald J. DeFronzo (D)
7	East Granby, Enfield, Granby (part), Somers, Suffield, Windsor (part), Windsor Locks	John A. Kissel (R)
8	Avon, Barkhamsted, Canton, Colebrook, Granby (part), Hartland, Harwinton (part), New Hartford, Norfolk, Simsbury, Torrington (part)	Thomas J. Herlihy, Jr. (R)
9	Cromwell, Middletown (part), Newington, Rocky Hill, Wethersfield (part)	Paul R. Doyle (D)
10	New Haven (part), West Haven (part)	Toni N. Harp (D)
11	Hamden (part), New Haven (part)	Martin M. Looney (D)
12	Branford, Durham, Gilford, Killingworth, Madison, North Branford	Edward Meyer (D)
13	Cheshire (part), Meriden, Middlefield, Middletown (part)	Thomas P. Gaffey (D)
14	Milford, Orange, West Haven (part)	Gayle Slossberg (D)
15	Naugatuck (part), Prospect, Waterbury (part)	Joan V. Hartley (D)
16	Cheshire (part), Southington, Waterbury (part), Wolcott	Sam S.F. Caligiuri (R)
17	Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Bethany, Derby, Hamden (part), Naugatuck (part), Woodbridge	Joe Crisco (D)
18	Griswold, Groton, North Stonington, Plainfield, Preston, Sterling, Stonington, Voluntown	Andrew M. Maynard (D)
19	Andover, Bozrah, Columbia, Franklin, Hebron, Lebanon, Ledyard, Lisbon, Montville (part), Norwich, Sprague	Edith G. Prague (D)		Edith G. Prague 32,458^WF ^RWI
20	East Lyme, Montville (part), New London, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook (part), Salem, Waterford	Andrea L. Stillman (D)
21	Monroe (part), Shelton, Stratford (part)	Dan Debicella (R)
22	Bridgeport (part), Monroe (part), Trumbull	Rob Russo (R)		Anthony J. Musto 21,747^WF ^RWI
23	Bridgeport (part), Stratford (part)	Ed A. Gomes (D)
24	Bethel (part), Danbury, New Fairfield, Sherman	David J. Cappiello (R)	Michael A. McLachlan 19,262^I ^TP
25	Darien (part), Norwalk	Bob Duff (D)
26	Bethel (part), New Canaan (part), Redding, Ridgefield, Weston (part), Westport, Wilton	Judith G. Freedman (R)
27	Darien (part), Stamford (part)	Andrew J. McDonald (D)
28	Easton, Fairfield, Newtown, Weston (part)	John P. McKinney (R)
29	Brooklyn, Canterbury, Killingly, Mansfield, Putnam, Scotland, Thompson, Windham	Donald E. Williams, Jr. (D)
30	Brookfield, Canaan, Cornwall, Goshen, Kent, Litchfield, Morris, New Milford, North Canaan, Salisbury, Sharon, Torrington (part), Warren, Washington, Winchester	Andrew W. Roraback (R)
31	Bristol, Harwinton (part), Plainville, Plymouth	Thomas A. Colapietro (D)
32	Bethlehem, Bridgewater, Middlebury, Oxford, Roxbury, Seymour (part), Southbury, Thomaston, Watertown, Woodbury	Rob Kane (R)
33	Chester, Clinton, Colechester, Deep River, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Haddam, Lyme, Old Saybrook (part), Portland, Westbrook	Eileen M. Daily (D)
34	East Haven, North Haven, Wallingford	Len Fasano (R)
35	Ashford, Chaplin, Coventry, Eastford, Ellington (part), Hampton, Pomfret, Stafford, Tolland, Union, Vernon, Willington, Woodstock	Tony Guglielmo (R)
36	Greenwich, New Canaan (part), Stamford (part)	William H. Nickerson (R)

Notes^TP Denotes that a minor, third party candidate (or candidates) also ran in this district's election.

^RWI Denotes that a registered write-in candidate (or candidates) was also present in this district's election.

^WF Denotes that this candidate also ran on the line of the Connecticut Working Families Party. The votes won by this candidate include both their Working Families and their party of affiliation figures combined.

^I Denotes that this candidate also ran on the independent line. The votes won by this candidate include both their independent and their party of affiliation figures combined.

Notes and References

Web site: Election results for State Senator . Secretary of the State of Connecticut . PDF . March 2, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110619170447/http://www.sots.ct.gov/sots/lib/sots/electionservices/electionresults/2008_election_results/2008_state_senator.pdf . June 19, 2011 . dead .