Photo Courtesy of Andrew Kupovich ’26
Connecticut is an overwhelmingly blue, Democrat-voting state. And in the leadup to the midterm elections on November 8th, there was little reason to think that would change. Elections analyst FiveThirtyEight gave Democratic governor Ned Lamont 98 in 100 odds at besting his Republican challenger; Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal stood at 99 in 100. The entire Connecticut congressional delegation – two U.S. senators and five U.S. representatives – is Democratic.
But pop the hood, and things aren’t so clear cut. In rural, less wealthy parts of the state, conservatism dominates; in other areas, purple politics prevail. Since 2015, New London, Waterford, and the surrounding towns that make up the deeply purple 20th State Senate district have been represented by centrist Republican Paul Formica. The longtime senator, though, did not run for reelection, sparking a competitive race to replace him. In the hotly contested campaign that followed, the same nasty scare tactics and talking points that national politicians had been hammering for months managed to rear their ugly head in our corner of Connecticut.
On one side, Republican Jerry Labriola vowed to carry the torch of “moderate” Republicanism, and on the other, Democrat Martha Marx promised to be a progressive in the Senate. Objectively, neither candidate was particularly extreme; most likely, neither was evil, either. At this local level of politics, there’s not a whole lot of similarity with the national political scene. State senators and representatives get votes the old fashioned way: knocking on doors, going to events, calling anyone who still has a landline.
These people are no Biden or Trump – chances are, you’ve seen your state representative from back home around town. Maybe their niece or nephew was even on your baseball team in fourth grade. But despite the colossal gap between state and national politics, the race for the 20th State Senate district brought a vitriolic, partisan microcosm of the national political environment to New London.
On the Republican side, Jerry Labriola’s campaign seemed determined to convince voters that Martha Marx, a local nurse and mother of four, wants to set the police officers of Southeastern Connecticut on fire. In fact, on one absurd flier that landed in the mailboxes of 20th district voters, Marx is depicted doing just that – setting aflame a police hat and badge, under text that reads “LESS POLICE. LESS FUNDING. MORE DANGER.” The Connecticut GOP and Labriola’s campaign also set up TheRealMarx.com, where voters were reminded that the New London Democrat will “destroy[] our quality of life.” The website urged visitors to “Stop RADICAL MARTHA MARX before it’s too late.” Despite having positioned himself as a moderate, throughout the campaign, Labriola utilized scare tactics straight out of the Trump playbook.
For her part, Democratic candidate Marx, too, parroted the same talking points that her national Democratic colleagues had lodged at their opponents. Attempting to capitalize on the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs and political anxieties around abortion access, Marx repeatedly accused her opponent of being pro-life, and painted herself as the only candidate to protect reproductive rights – despite the fact that he has unambiguously expressed pro-choice views. And just as Labriola cast his Democratic opponent as an unhinged extremist (“marxist Martha Marx”), Marx accused Labriola of being an election-denying Trumpist.
The Connecticut 20th State Senate District is as purple as they come: in 2020, the Republican incumbent won by just 2.3% of the vote. Although national elections get far more media attention, it is ultimately state and local officials who have the most direct impact on our day-to-day lives. And that’s the way it should be. They’re our neighbors, members of our communities – exactly the people who should be making the decisions that affect us most. Whether you’re registered to vote here in the 20th district or back home, your vote matters. I hope you used it.
