CT 2nd District Election Results: Allie-Brennan Vs. Carter

This article was updated Tuesday at 11:44 p.m.

BETHEL, CT — Democrat Rep. Raghib Allie-Brennan has declared victory in his re-election bid for Connecticut's 2nd House District election Tuesday, against Republican/Independent Dan Carter.

The 2nd District includes parts of Bethel, Redding, Newtown and Danbury.

"Humbled and honored to have earned your support for 2 more years as your voice in Hartford! Just spoke with Dan Carter who wants to sit down and discuss ways in which we can work together on the issues that are important to the 2nd District. Now we get back to work!!" Allie-Brennan tweeted shortly after 11 p.m. Tuesday.

A flashpoint issue in the hotly contested race was police reform. Allie-Brennan championed the police accountability bill which Gov. Ned Lamont signed in August. The new law will represent some of the biggest changes to law enforcement in the state in decades. Carter called the bill "hastily crafted," and one that "puts our safety and the safety of our officers at risk."

In an almost made-to-order election year crisis, power utilities failed to restore the juice to many neighborhoods in the 2nd district for nearly ten days after Tropical Storm Isaias blew through in August. As vice chair of the Assembly's Energy and Technology Committee, Allie-Brennan had a hand in penning proposed legislation which would require the utilities provide bill credits for food, medicine and reduced charges after extended outages, and tie executive compensation to the company's performance.

During a debate in October, Carter called Allie-Brennan's and the Energy Committee's work "pretty decent," but "still just a small band-aid fix."

"At the end of the day, we have to work at making our electric rates less," Carter said. "There's no reason to have electric rates holding the state back from being an affordable place to live."

In addition to the Energy Committee, Allie-Brennan, 29, has served on the General Law Committee, Public Safety and Security Committees. He is winding up his freshman term in the Connecticut General Assembly.

Carter was elected for three terms to serve in the House for District 2 in 2010, 2012 and again in 2014. Two years later he lost to Democrat incumbent Richard Blumenthal in a bid for the U.S. Senate. During his time in Hartford, Carter served on the General Law, Education, Finance Revenue & Bonding Public Health, Energy & Technology and Banking Committees.

Allie-Brennan, 29, has served as the vice president of Bethel's HERO Project, which raises awareness and resources to combat the opioid epidemic in the Danbury area, and is a board member of Triangle Community Center.

Carter, 53, a former Air Force officer and pilot who flew in Desert Storm, said that "finding common ground" would be his focus should he again be elected to represent the 2nd District in Hartford.

"Most of the time Republicans and Democrats agree that we need a solution to a problem, but we are miles apart on how to get there," Carter told Patch. He saw that divide growing as the extreme wings in both parties gained more traction during the just-ended election cycle.

Allie-Brennan also views himself as a unifier who knows how to cross the aisle to build consensus: "I believe in finding common ground and making connections, not exploiting divisions." He has accused his rival of pursuing a"divisive" narrative.

The 2nd District has been the battleground for a series of tight races, including a few out-and-out squeakers. In both their first forays into state politics in 2016, Republican Will Duff narrowly defeated Allie-Brennan, winning just 51.2 percent of the vote. Two years later, Allie-Brennan challenged Duff again, this time winning with 53.1 percent.

In addition to the presidential and congressional races, all Connecticut House of Representative and Senate seats were up for grabs.

Because of the pandemic, voting this year was atypical owing to a law which allowed absentee ballot voting.