Primary elections to watch in the Connecticut House and Senate this summer

The Democratic nominations in nine General Assembly districts will be settled by primary elections in August, while Republican voters will decide the GOP nominations in three other statehouse districts.

There are Democratic primary contests in two Senate districts and seven House districts. There are Republican primary run-offs in one Senate district and two House districts. The primary elections are scheduled for Aug. 11.

In one Democratic primary, a sitting state senator is mounting a challenge to retain his seat after losing the party endorsement, and a second features a 21-term state representative trying to fend off two challengers who made use of the state's direct primary law to get on the primary ballot.

The state's direct primary law offers an alternative petition route to qualify for party primary contests for candidates for General Assembly, statewide offices and U.S. Congress who skip nominating conventions, or who fall short of the required delegate votes to automatically qualify for a ballot line. It is also open to judge of probate candidates. Depending on the office, the 2003 statute requires candidates obtain a certain percentage of a party's registered voters in the state or in the district where they are running. Candidates that meet the required thresholds secure a spot on a primary ballot.

Here are a half dozen primary contests to watch:

2nd Senate District

The three-way Democratic primary in the 2nd Senate District is one of most intriguing party contests of the 2026 election cycle. The district covers parts of Hartford, Bloomfield and Windsor. 

State Sen. Douglas McCrory is battling for his political survival after failing to gain the Democratic endorsement for reelection amid an ongoing federal criminal investigation into state grant awards linked to him. McCrory has denied any wrongdoing, and he has not been charged criminally, nor has anyone else in the matter.  

Windsor state Rep. Maryam Khan won the party endorsement over the embattled McCrory on the third and final round of balloting at the Democratic district convention, but McCrory secured the 15% threshold on the first round to automatically secure a spot on a primary ballot. Ayana Taylor, chair of Windsor’s Board of Education, also received enough delegate votes to qualify.

13th Senate District

The retirement of two-term Democrat Jan Hochadel has set up a primary contest for the open seat in the 13th Senate District between Meriden state Rep. Jack Fazzino and Cheshire Town Council member Jim Jinks. The district includes all of Meriden and parts of Middletown, Middlefield and Cheshire.

Fazzino received the Democratic endorsement, but Jinks met the 15% threshold at the Democratic district convention to automatically qualify for a primary.

Fazzino, a lawyer, was elected in 2022 to the 83rd House District that covers parts of Meriden, Cheshire and Berlin. The seat was open after nine-term Democrat Cathy Abercrombie did not seek reelection. Fazzino defeated Republican challenger Joseph Vollano 54.7% to 45.3% in 2024.

Jinks is serving a fourth term on the Cheshire Town Council, and he is its vice chair. He previously served on the Cheshire Planning and Zoning Commission. He is a youth sports coach, founder of Bike Cheshire, and co-founder of the Coalition for a Sustainable Cheshire. 

In 2020, Jinks lost a nail-biter of a challenge to state Rep. Craig Fishbein in the 90th House District that Jinks initially appeared to have won until the Wallingford town clerk discovered that results reported into the secretary of the state's election reporting system were missing votes from one polling place. When those votes were added, it triggered an automatic recount under state law, and Fishbein ended up edging Jinks by 7 votes.

There was no rematch in 2022 because the 90th House District lines were redrawn in a 2021 redistricting based on the 2020 U.S. Census to remove the Cheshire portion of the district.

The 13th Senate District is a traditionally Meriden-centric seat. A city resident has held the seat for decades. It is also a reliably Democratic district.

In 2011, Republican Len Suzio became the first Republican to capture the seat since 1972. He won a special election in February 2011 to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Democrat Thomas P. Gaffey, who was first elected in 1994 to succeed seven-term Democrat Amelia P. Mustone.

Suzio then lost the 2012 election to Democrat Dante Bartolomeo, now the state labor commissioner. Bartolomeo won a 2014 rematch, but Suzio defeated Bartolomeo in their third head-to-head contest two years later.

In 2018, Democrat Mary Daugherty Abrams unseated Suzio for a second time, and she prevailed over him in a 2020 rematch. After Abrams did not seek reelection in 2022, Hochadel was elected to the first of her two terms.

The winner between Fazzino and Jinks will not face a Republican opponent in the general election.

71st House District

First-term Waterbury Alderman Michael Grosso is challenging Middlebury Rep. William Pizzuto for the Republican nomination for the 71st House District. The district includes all of Middlebury and part of Waterbury.

Pizzuto, a retired administrator with the University of Connecticut, won a special election in February 2022 to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of state Rep. Anthony D’Amelio, a Waterbury Republican who was first elected in November 1996. Pizzuto ran unopposed in the general election that year, and he was also reelected in 2024 as an unopposed candidate.

Grosso was elected to the Waterbury Board of Alderman in 2025 after finishing third among the four candidates in the 1st Aldermanic District. The three top vote-getters in each aldermanic district are elected, but no more than two can be from the same party, according to the city charter. Grosso, a driver groundsman and equipment operator, finished fourth in his first run in 2023.

The winner between Pizzuto and Grosso will face Democratic candidate Stephen R. Ferrucci III in the general election.

97th House District

A vacancy in the 97th House District in New Haven set up a primary showdown for the Democratic nomination between Alder Leland Moore and Wildaliz Bermudez, the executive director of New Haven Fair Rent Commission. The district is entirely within the city.

The seat is open because state Rep. Alphonse Paolillo is running for the 11th Senate District that Senate President Martin M. Looney is vacating after opting to retire from the General Assembly after 46 years. Paolillo was first elected to represent the 97th House District in 2016.

Moore, an assistant state attorney general, won the party endorsement, but Bermudez, a former member of the Hartford City Council, successfully petitioned under the state's direct primary law to challenge Moore for the Democratic nomination.

The winner between Moore and Bermudez will have no Republican opponent in the general election. An endorsed Republican candidate withdrew on May 28 two days after being endorsed.

19th Senate District

Veteran Republican campaigner Mike France is challenging endorsed candidate Justin Guidone for the Republican nomination in the 19th Senate District. The district includes all of Columbia, Franklin, Hebron, Lebanon, Ledyard, Lisbon, Marlborough, Norwich, Sprague and part of Montville.

Guidone, the chairman of the Hebron Republican Town Committee, is seeking a rematch in the general election against state Sen. Catherine A. Osten, a Sprague Democrat who was first elected in 2012. Osten defeated Guidone 56.9% to 43.1% in 2024.

France served four terms representing the 42nd House District from 2015 to 2023. He lost back-to-back challenges to U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney as the Republican nominee in the 2nd Congressional District in 2022 and 2024. He filed as candidate for the 2nd Congressional District again last August, but suspended his 2026 campaign in early February. He later registered as candidate for the 19th Senate District on Feb. 26, more than a month after Guidone registered as a candidate on Jan. 17.