This is NOT a swing state

Hillary Clinton won CT by a 55-40 margin. Obama beat Romney by 58-41 in the Constitution State. A dismaying trend in the reliably Democratic Connecticut. But nothing that would suggest a state whose upper legislative body is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. But that is indeed the unfortunate reality thanks partly to the national party’s total abdication of responsibility in relation to state and local races.

The Connecticut State is currently split 17-17 pending the results of two special elections this coming Tuesday. The good news is that Senate District 2, which includes parts of Hartford, is reliably Democratic. The bad news is that Senate District 32, which encompasses suburban and rural portions of Litchfield County, is a Republican stronghold. The likely outcome is therefore an 18-18 split, with the tie-breaking vote cast by Democratic Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman.

The 18-18 split would be an effective majority. But it’s obviously not ideal. And Democratic grasp on the upper body is made more tenuous by the fact that unpopular Democratic governor Dannel Malloy faces the voters in 2018. Democrats hope to have other opportunities to forge a stronger majority in the 2018 statewide elections, of course, but they’d rather play offense than defense.

We could shake things up by winning CT-32 and gaining an outright 19-17 majority. Our candidate, Greg Cava, has experience running in this district. He’s come out on the short end in the past, but he has a well-defined platform, which includes socially progressive positions on women’s and LGBTQIA issues. Mr. Cava also speaks strongly in favor of sensible gun control measures.

The campaign is looking for phone banking volunteers and for help with canvassing and poll standing through the election. This link will take you to a Google Form that allows you to indicate your availability for any of those tasks. You can also email the campaign directly at cavaforsenate — at — gmail — dot — com.

We’ve seen what turnout and volunteerism can do to turnout and margin in Delaware. Let’s keep the trend going this week in CT!