In Connecticut, a Republican candidate for the state senate has flipped a seat in a district where Joe Biden won by 25% during the 2020 presidential election.
Ryan Fazio defeated Alexis Gevanter on Tuesday by less than three percentage points in the 36th State Senate District.
Gevanter has never held public office and is known for advocating for gun control. She also supports state funding for Planned Parenthood and universal absentee voting.
Republicans are praising Fazio’s win and hope it’s a preview of the 2022 congressional midterms.
I think the recipe, ultimately, for statewide victory for Republicans is to continue to do better in places like the Naugatuck Valley and eastern Connecticut but also stop the losses or reverse the losses in lower Fairfield County.
Ryan Fazio
In previous elections, Trump gained 36.6% of the vote in the 36th District while Biden gained 61.8%. Fazio ran for the seat in 2020 but lost to Democrat Alex Kasser, who resigned from the position.
More than 98,000 people live in the 36th District but less than 18,000 people voted in the special election.
A similar win occurred in McAllen, Texas when Mayor Javier Villalobos won in the Rio Grande Valley, where Biden won by 15 percentage points.