UPDATE: Carter Wins Bethel Special First Selectman Election

BETHEL, CT —Republican Dan Carter defeated Democrat Rich Straiton in the town's special election for first selectman.

The official tally from the Registrar of Voters was 2,218 Carter votes to Straiton's 1,567.

Carter thanked his followers shortly after 9:30 p.m. on Facebook, saying he would be "on the job at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow!"

The special election was scheduled by the Board of Selectmen in the wake of a lawsuit filed against several Bethel officials by Republican Town Committee Vice President Daniel Nostin. The suit claimed there was an abuse of process in the swearing in of Straiton as first selectman in September.

Straiton moved into the first selectman's chair following the resignation of Matt Knickerbocker, who left Bethel government to take the job of town administrator in Wilton.

Nostin withdrew his lawsuit coinciding with the Board's announcement of the special election, and its official appointment of Straiton as acting first selectman. The Town Charter specifies the Board of Selectmen name someone to be acting first selectman in the absence of the elected first selectman, but had failed to do so in November.

Carter, who sits on the town's Finance Board, served three terms in the state House and was the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2016. He was defeated by Democratic incumbent Richard Blumenthal.