Connecticut Democrats go to the polls today in two high-stakes primaries: An ideological fight over whether to stay the course with Gov. Ned Lamont or opt for a liberal challenger, Josh Elliott; and a generational challenge to Congressman John B. Larson by former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin and two others.

Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. About 8% of the 789,985 active Democrats had voted as of Monday by absentee ballots or in the seven days of early in-person voting that ended Sunday.

Elliott’s challenge to Lamont for the gubernatorial nomination is the only statewide primary in either party. Public polling shows the governor with a significant lead among likely voters, but the challenger is running aggressive ads testing the depth of the party’s allegiance to Lamont.

The first primary challenge to an incumbent governor is proving expensive: Lamont, who is largely self-funded, has spent $9.2 million; Elliott, whose biggest source of funding is a $3.75 million public grant, has spent $3.98 million. Their final pre-primary campaign reports show a late flurry of TV advertising.

Lamont spent $2.4 million from July 29 through Aug. 4, the final reporting period, with 65%, or $1.55 million, for television ads. Over the same seven days, Elliott spent $956,000, with 73%, or $700,000, for TV commercials.

In the 1st Congressional District of Hartford and 26 other communities, Larson, 78, is facing Bronin, 47, who won the party endorsement in a convention upset; Ruth Fortune, 37, a mayoral appointee of the Hartford school board; and state Rep. Jillian Gilchrest, 44, of West Hartford.

Five of the 10 communities with the most early votes cast are in the 1st Congressional District, where Democrats have been deluged with direct mail, mostly from Bronin and Larson, the only two candidates with significant resources. Larson is the first congressman to face a primary as an incumbent.

Larson, a 14-term incumbent, sits on Row D of the ballot. Bronin has the top line as the endorsed candidate. From there, the order is alphabetical.

Winning the Democratic congressional primary is tantamount to election. Republicans last won the seat in 1956.

Opposition to President Donald Trump, his war on Iran and his aggressive immigration crackdown have been ever present in both primary races, a likely harbinger of things to come in the general election for governor against the Republican nominee, Sen. Ryan Fazio of Greenwich.

Lamont has signed two revisions to the Trust Act, which limits the degree to which state and local authorities can assist ICE agents. In his State of the State address in February, the governor said, “ICE, everywhere you go uninvited, violence follows. Go home. We’re keeping Connecticut safe without you.”

In a press conference outside a Stamford courthouse, Elliott has proposed additional restrictions that would bar ICE from community health centers, family planning clinics and other outpatient medical settings. He also promised to direct the state police to arrest ICE agents who violate the state’s ban on masks.

All four of the congressional candidates say they favor abolishing ICE.

There are down-ballot Democratic primaries in two state Senate and seven state House Districts, all currently represented by Democrats.

Four of the primaries feature challenges to incumbents; the other five are for open seats.

In the 2nd Senate District, Sen. Douglas McCrory of Hartford is opposed by Rep. Maryam Khan and school board member Ayana Taylor, both of Windsor. McCrory also faced a three-way primary in 2024.

The other high-profile challenge to an incumbent is in the 92nd House District of New Haven. The incumbent, Patricia A. Dillon, who was elected in 1984, is the longest-serving House member seeking reelection. She is opposed by Justin M. Farmer and Eli Sabin.

In the 4th House District, Rep. Julio Concepcion of Hartford is opposed by Venice Sotomayor of Hartford.

In the 58th House District, Rep. John Santanella of Enfield is opposed by Tom Tyler of Enfield.

The primaries for the open seats are to nominate successors to Sen. Jan Hochadel of Meriden in the 13th Senate, Rep. Henry Genga of East Hartford in the 10th House, Rep. Al Paolillo of New Haven in the 97th House and Rep. Frank Smith of Milford in the 118th House.

The Democratic nomination in the 31st House District is open, even though the incumbent Rep. Jill Barry, D-Glastonbury, is running. She lost the party endorsement at a caucus, but she is running as an independent cross-endorsed by Republicans.

The endorsed Democratic candidate, Moise “Moses” Carelus, is challenged by Anthony DiLizia.

In the 13th Senate, the party-endorsed candidate, Rep. Jack Fazzino of Meriden, is challenged by Jim Jinks of Cheshire.

In the 10th House of East Hartford, the endorsed candidate, Angie Parkinson, is challenged by Tyron V. Harris.

In the 97th House of New Haven, Leland J. Moore is challenged by Wildaliz Bermudez.

In the 118th of Milford, Toni Lombardi is challenged by Christopher Saley.

Smaller slate of GOP primaries

With the exception of Rep. William Pizzuto of Middlebury in the 71st House District of Middlebury and Waterbury, no Republican incumbent is facing a challenge Tuesday. Pizzuto is opposed by Michael Grosso of Waterbury.

In the 19th Senate District, former Rep. Mike France of Ledyard is challenging the party-endorsed candidate, Jason Guidone of Hebron.

In the 50th House District, Republicans scrambled to find a challenger to the party-endorsed candidate, Jadon MacCormack of Brooklyn, after learning of his virulent anti-gay statements. That challenger is Anthony J. Emilio of Pomfret.

There are Republican primaries for Congress in the 4th and 5th districts, where there is little hope of unseating the Democratic incumbents in November.

In the 4th of Fairfield County, Republicans have a choice of Michael Goldstein, who lost overwhelmingly in 2024, and Daniel Miressi, a youth coach and former professional hockey player.

In the 5th of western Connecticut, the party-endorsed candidate is a firefighter and former Navy SEAL, Chris Shea.

He is challenged by Jonathan De Barros, who killed a man in 1996 in what he called self-defense. He’s made news this cycle by suing Republicans who called him a murderer.

He was convicted of murder and served 19 years in prison, but he won a new trial on the grounds that potentially exculpatory evidence and testimony had been disallowed. The second trial ended with a hung jury. He later pleaded guilty to manslaughter under the Alford Doctrine.

This story was originally published by the Connecticut Mirror.

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WASHINGTON — Two veteran Democratic incumbents in Connecticut face strong challenges in a state primary on Tuesday.

The contests take place as elements within the party look to redefine the Democratic brand ahead of the midterm elections by replacing old guard figures with younger and often more progressive alternatives.

Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont is running for a third term but must first clear a challenge from state Rep. Josh Elliott. Both candidates have raised just shy of $400,000 in contributions from individual donors. Nonetheless, Lamont, a wealthy former cable entrepreneur, has far outspent Elliott, thanks to $9.5 million in personal funds he’s invested in his campaign. Elliott has received about $3.8 million from the state’s public election funding program.

A primary upset by Elliott, along with additional Tuesday primaries in Minnesota and Wisconsin, could extend a progressive winning streak that began this summer with the defeat of Democratic incumbents in New York City and Colorado and continued with a high-stakes victory in the Michigan U.S. Senate primary on August 4.

The Democratic nominee will face Republican state Sen. Ryan Fazio in November. Republicans last controlled the governorship from 1995 to 2011. Lamont was first elected in 2018 with 49% of the vote and reelected in 2022 with 56%.

In the 1st Congressional District, longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. John Larson is running for a 15th term. Challenging him for the nomination are former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, Hartford Board of Education member Ruth Fortune and state Rep. Jillian Gilchrest.

This year marks Larson’s first primary challenge since he was first elected in 1998. He won a close primary that year with 46% of the vote but has not appeared on a primary ballot in his subsequent 13 reelection bids.

Bronin has slightly outraised and outspent Larson in the campaign overall, although Larson had a slight edge in terms of available cash heading into the primary campaign’s final three weeks. Gilchrest and Fortune trailed far behind in fundraising.

Larson turned 78 in July. In 2025, an incident on the House floor sparked concerns over his health and age when he suffered what he later described as a complex partial seizure while delivering a speech. He said the episode, which caused him to briefly but abruptly stop speaking, was related to a heart condition that he now treats with medication.

The district is heavily Democratic. Larson received 63% of the vote in his 2024 reelection campaign. Then-Vice President Kamala Harris received about 61% of the district vote in the presidential race.

All 36 state Senate seats and all 151 state House seats are up in 2026. Democrats hold two-to-one majorities in both chambers.

Here are some of the key facts about the election and data points the AP Decision Team will monitor as the votes are tallied:

When do polls close?

Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.

What’s on the ballot?

The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in contested primaries for U.S. House, governor, state Senate and state House.

Who gets to vote?

Voters registered with a political party may participate only in that party’s primary. Democrats may not vote in the Republican primary or vice versa. Independent or unaffiliated voters may not participate in either primary.

How many voters are there?

As of October 2025, there were about 2.5 million registered voters in Connecticut, including about 878,000 Democrats and about 529,000 Republicans.

How many people actually vote?

About 114,000 Democratic primary ballots and about 94,000 Republican primary ballots were cast in the 2022 state primaries.

How much of the vote is cast early or by absentee ballot?

Early voting was enacted in Connecticut after 2022. There was no statewide Democratic primary in 2024, but about 17% of the Republican primary vote in the 2024 state primary was cast early in-person or by mail.

As of Friday, about 43,000 Democratic primary ballots and about 3,900 Republican primary ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election.

When are early and absentee votes released?

Connecticut runs elections at the town and city level. There are 169 separate jurisdictions administering local elections and they vary in terms of how and when they release results. In many of the larger jurisdictions, results from a mix of voting methods are released together throughout the night.

How long does vote-counting usually take?

In the 2024 general election, the AP first reported results at 8:12 p.m. ET, or 12 minutes after polls closed. The vote count reached the halfway mark at 12:25 a.m. ET. By 2:06 p.m. ET the day after Election Day, about 90% of the total vote had been counted.

When will the AP declare a winner?

The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

How do recounts work?

Recounts in Connecticut are automatic if the vote margin is less than 0.5% of the total votes cast but does not exceed 2,000 votes. Recounts are also automatic in races where the margin is less than 20 votes or in the case of a tie vote. If a recount results in a tie vote, a runoff election (called an “adjourned election” in Connecticut) is held. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

Are we there yet?

As of Tuesday, there will be 84 days until the 2026 midterm elections.

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The AP’s Matthew Junkroski contributed to this report.