Connecticut U.S. Senate and Congressional Races: What You Need to Know

Election Day 2016 on Nov. 8 is just over a week away and in Connecticut, in addition to choosing between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump for President, residents are also charged with selecting a United States Senator and five members of Congress.

Below are snapshots of the six U.S. legislative races in Connecticut, with brief profiles of each candidate. To find a sample ballot for your community, click here.

And here is a list of all of the candidates who will appear on a Connecticut ballot.

Polls open in Connecticut at 6 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. To vote, you must be registered in the state; you must be a U.S. Citizen and live at a Connecticut address; and you must be 18 years old on Election Day.

Additionally, you cannot vote if you have been convicted of a felony, unless if you have had your voting rights restored. Click here for information on how to have your voting rights restored in Connecticut if you have been convicted of a felony.

At the polls, you must show one of the following, a Social Security Card, or a pre-printed form of identification that shows your name and address, or name and signature, or name and photograph. For additional information on Connecticut voter identification requirements, click here.

U.S. Senate Race:

The race isn’t expected to be as close as the 2010 senate race between Blumenthal and WWE magnate Linda McMahon, who reportedly spent about $100 million of her own money against Blumenthal and later Sen. Chris Murphy.

Blumenthal leads Carter by a margin of 54 to 33 percent,according to a September Emerson College poll. Nearly six out of 10 likely voters view Blumenthal favorably. Additionally as of his October campaign filing with the Federal Election Commission, Blumenthal is crushing Carter in fundraising, with more than $4.7 million compared to about $70,000 for Carter.

One of Carter’s main issues is name recognition with 30 percent of those polled saying they have never heard of him and 42 percent have an undecided opinion.

Blumenthal beat McMahon by a margin of 55 to 43 percent.

Blumenthal Profile

Dick Blumenthal, 70, is a Greenwich resident who served as Connecticut’s Attorney General for 20 years from 1991 to 2011, at which time he was elected to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Chris Dodd.

He has built a reputation as a tireless advocate for consumer rights, gun control, law enforcement and labor protections, and as such he is one of Connecticut’s most-recognizable political leaders.

“His aggressive law enforcement for consumer protection, environmental stewardship, labor rights, and personal privacy has helped reshape the role of state attorneys general nationwide, and resulted in the recovery of hundreds of millions of dollars for Connecticut taxpayers and consumers each year,” states Blumenthal’s official biography.

Prior to becoming Attorney General, Blumenthal was a U.S. Attorney for Connecticut from 1977 to 1981, and served in the state House from 1984 to 1987, and the state Senate from 1987 to 1990.

In addition to fighting to end the plague of gun violence, he also has made rail safety a signature priority.

He also continues to fight for consumers, whether against Mylan’s price hikes for EpiPens, or Wells Fargo’s predatory banking practices.

Carter Profile

Dan Carter served in the United States Air Force from 1989 to 1999 where he served in Operation Desert Storm and relief efforts in Bosnia Herzegovina. He attained the rank of major and was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal.

He ran and won the State House 2nd district race in 2010 and has served a total of three terms in the house. His district covers Bethel, Danbury, Newtown and Redding. He is the Republican leader of the General law Committee and also serves on the Education, Finance Revenue and Bonding committees.

Carter has criticized Blumenthal as an out-of-touch wealthy politician who subscribes to many of Gov. Dannel Malloy’s policies.

He supports a balanced federal budget and a predictable tax code, according to his campaign website. He advocates for the repeal of Obamacare due to high deductibles and other reasons, but wants to keep certain measures such as coverage of pre-existing conditions and keeping children on their parent’s health insurance until age 26.

Carter was the only Newtown-area legislator to vote against Connecticut’s gun control bill that was passed after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. He said the bill was “overreaching.”

Libertarian Richard Lion

Green Party Candidate Jeffrey Russell

U.S. House Races:

1st District:

Manchester businessman Matthew Corey is challenging nine-term incumbent U.S. Rep. John Larson for the state’s First Congressional District for the third time.

Larson’s campaign had more than $546,000 on hand as of his October filing with the FEC while Corey’s has a little more than $6,000.

Larson Profile

U.S. Rep John Larson is in his ninth term. He sits on the House Ways and Means Committee—including the Subcommittees on Select Revenue Measures and Social Security.

Larson was one of the congressmen that helped orchestrate a sit-in in the U.S. House over gun control legislation.

Prior to becoming a congressman Larson owned Larson & Lysik insurance company, was a history teacher and football coach at George J. Penney High School. He later became an East Hartford Board of Education and Town Council member and also served 12 years in the state senate.

He continues to live in East Hartford with his wife, Leslie. They have three children: Carolyn, Laura, and Raymond.

Corey Profile

Corey served in the U.S. Navy from 1983 to 1987. He then worked for the U.S. Postal Service as a driver and launched high-rise window cleaning company Advanced Services International. He also opened McKinnon’s Irish Pub in downtown Hartford during 2002.

Corey supports lowering the corporate tax in order to bring money stored overseas back to the United States and argues that the national debt has become a drain on economic progress, according to his campaign site.

He is a supporter of the 2nd amendment and vows to vote against any bill that would restrict the right to keep and bear arms.

Corey also wants the government to stop borrowing from the Social Security trust fund.

On Obamacare he supports using the exchanges already set up, but to use them in a free market system where insurance customers can buy policies across state lines. He would also abolish the individual and employer mandates.

2nd District:

U.S. Rep Joe Courtney has served in Congress for 10 years. He is being challenged by Republican Daria Novak.

Courtney’s campaign had more than $949,000 cash on hand as of his October filing with the FEC while Novak had $1,795.

Courtney will also defend his seat from Green Party candidate Jonathan Pelto and Libertarian Party candidate Daniel Reale.

Courtney Profile

Courtney prides himself on helping to secure funds for Electric Boat to build submarines, according to his biography. The company plans to hire 4,000 new workers over the next decade. The company now builds two submarines a year and is building at a rate that hasn’t happened since the 1980’s.

He also helped secure more than $80 million for new construction at the submarine base in New London.

On several occasions he has partnered with congressmen from across the aisle.

Courtney served in the 56th House District in the Connecticut General Assembly for four terms prior to becoming a congressman. He lives in Vernon with his wife, Audrey, a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, and their two children, Robert and Elizabeth.

Novak Profile

Novak is currently an executive consultant and former president of ERUdyne LLC, an international cross-cultural business management and homeland security training consulting firm.

She Previously she was a Ronald Reagan appointee in the State Department from 1979 to 1989 and served as a senior coordinate for the Secretary of State’s 300-member Chinda Task Force during the Tiananmen Square crisis.

Among her top priorities are: pushing for across-the-board tax cuts, reducing federal spending, modernizing the military and ensure forces aren’t committed overseas unless it’s for national security interests.

Pelto Profile

Pelto has been active in Connecticut politics for nearly 40 years and served five terms in the state House of Representatives starting in 1984, according to his biography. He eventually rose to the level of deputy majority leader.

He petitioned to get on the ballot during the 2014 gubernatorial election, but didn’t get enough signatures to qualify.

Pelto now runs a blog called Wait? What?

Reale Profile

Reale, the Libertarian candidate is running on a traditional Libertarian platform that encourages smaller government, removing the federal government from the education business and limiting military use to protect the United States.

He is also a strong supporter of second amendment rights.

He has offered a detailed proposal for health care reform, including lifting the ban on imported medicine, allowing policies to be written without mandated coverage for things such as fertility and allowing consumers to buy solely catastrophic coverage.

3rd District:

Thirteen-term incumbent Democrat Rosa DeLauro is seeking re-election in the Third Congressional District against Republican Angel Cadena, a Shelton truck driver.

If history is any indication, Cadena will have his work cut out for him in defeating DeLauro. According to the Hartford Courant, she has averaged 72 percent of the vote in each of her last five campaigns.

DeLauro Profile

Having first been elected to the U.S. House in 1990, Rosa DeLauro has risen within the ranks to become co-chair of the Steering and Policy Committee in the Democratic Leadership.

She is also the ranking member on the Labor, Health, Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, and she used that influence when calling for FDA action in the listeria outbreak earlier this year.

Among her political priorities is fighting for the Middle Class and improved jobs and pay for Connecticut residents. She is from New Haven, and also worked as Chief of Staff for former Senator Chris Dodd.

DeLauro is married to Stanley Greenberg, President of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, a public issues research firm, and they have three grown children.

Cadena Profile

Republican Angel Cadena has not held political office but unsuccessfully ran for state comptroller in 2014.

He wants to see the nation’s immigration laws strengthened, and 2nd Amendment rights protected. And he is a supporter of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Cadena is a Marine Corps veteran, who was born in Chicago. He currently lives in Shelton and is employed as a truck driver. He has three children.

4th District:

Democratic incumbent Jim Himes, from Cos Cob, is seeking re-election, which would be his fifth term. He defeated longtime Republican Congressman Chris Shays for the Congressional seat in 2008, and will face three-term Republican state Rep. John Shaban, an attorney who lives with his family in Redding.

The task for Shaban will not be an easy one, because Himes has been a formidable force on Election Day, scoring relatively easy victories with the district's lower Fairfield County constituency.

Himes Profile

Jim Himes is is a member of the House Committee on Financial Services, serves as the ranking member of the NSA and Cybersecurity Subcommittee of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and is Vice-Chair of the New Democrat Coalition.

With a background in finance at Goldman Sachs, Himes has made financial regulatory matters a central focus.

Additionally, like the entire Connecticut Congressional Delegation, he has made the fight to end gun violence one of his key priorities.

He and his wife have two daughters.

Shaban profile

In the State Assembly, John Shaban is the ranking member of the Environment Committee, and a member of the Judiciary Committee and the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee.

In a post on his campaign Facebook page, Shaban highlights his fiscal conservatism. But besides making finances and taxes central issues, Shaban also intends to try to sell voters on what he believes is Himes' inactivity while in Congress.

Shaban is also an Executive Advisory Board member of the Needs Clearing House, and is married to a teacher. He and his wife have three sons.

5th District:

Elizabeth Etsy, an incumbent Democrat from Cheshire, is seeking her third term, and is challenged by Sherman Republican First Selectman Clay Cope.

Etsy is a former State Representative who won the seat that Chris Murphy held before he became a Senator.

Cope reportedly trails Etsy in fundraising by a large margin, writes the Danbury News-Times.

Etsy Profile

Esty served two terms as a Democrat on the Cheshire Town Council and one term as a state representative in the 103rd district.

She has made the fight against opioid addiction one of her central priorities, and was recently appointed to federal Addiction Committee.

Her district includes Sandy Hook, the site of the tragic mass shooting, and like the rest of the Connecticut Congressional Delegation, supporting gun control issues are also a top priority.

She is married to former state Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Dan Esty, and the two have three children.

Cope Profile

Cope has been Sherman’s First Selectman since 2011, and has made news as a gay Republican candidate for Congress.

He is a fiscal conservative who is helping Sherman climb out of debt, and he can count Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton as one of his staunchest supporters.

Balancing the federal budget while helping the economy grow are central themes in his candidacy, and he also supports improving the nation’s immigration system and keeping America’s military strong.

— By RICH SCINTO (Patch Staff) and ALFRED BRANCH (Patch Staff)