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OPINION: Whither Connecticut Republicans post election?

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OPINION: Whither Connecticut Republicans post election?


November 05, 2024 6:03 pm
• Last Updated: November 05, 2024 8:34 pm

State Senator Heather Somers, R-18th District, in the red sweater, tries to avoid having a photo taken of her outside the Sterling polls on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (David Collins/The Day). Buy Photo Reprints

A Hartford Democrat shared with me a screenshot of a recent Facebook posting by Stonington Republicans, likening the coming presidential election to awaiting a pregnancy test.

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“We either get a healthy baby boy or the daughter of Satan,” said the Facebook posting by the Stonington GOP.

Ouch. It’s hard to learn that any political leaders in the town you live in would say such a thing about the presidential candidate of the opposing party, the current vice president of the country.

I know national Republicans have called the vice president all kinds of names and assailed her politics, policies and intelligence. That’s campaign fodder, I suppose, although some of it has surely had a misogynist strain.

But daughter of Satan? Stonington Republicans think she’s evil? I thought maybe I lived in a more civilized, sophisticated town than that.

I kept thinking about that posting all Tuesday, during my usual Election Day tour through eastern Connecticut. I always enjoy using a road trip to clear my head from the turmoil of campaign season, to finally welcome the finality of what used to be voting day, now vote counting day.

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It’s always a pleasure to drive through the magnificent scenery of this corner of Connecticut, usually resplendent in late fall. I generally meander up through North Stonington and Preston and end up in Sterling, at the northern reaches of one of our most sprawling state Senate districts, the 18th.

The Satan comment makes me wonder what will become of Connecticut Republicans after this consequential election. As I drove through the countryside, and as I write this before deadline, the final count is not in.

For those in our region who think of Kamala Harris as the daughter of Satan, a Trump loss might be unimaginable. Maybe those Republicans harbor a fantasy of Connecticut voters suddenly embracing in large numbers the tenets of the new national GOP, led by a felon who boasts of “my beautiful white skin,” robs women of reproductive rights and promises to vindictively lock up his enemies.

Good luck to them if they think that’s the future of their party here, even with a Trump win.

I’m quite sure, though, that many other traditional Connecticut Republicans have done their best to duck Trumpism, avoiding it like a passing cloud of radiation from a nuclear bomb.

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They can’t admit to their base they are ducking Trump. I wouldn’t be surprised if many of them even voted for Harris, hoping the Trump phenomena might finally pass by.

I actually ran across my own state senator, Heather Somers of the 18th District, when I pulled into the parking lot of the Sterling polling place.

Remembering my editor’s request to staff to snap a picture of any candidates at the polls, I tried for one of Somers, who was standing with a small group alongside the driveway.

My attempt at a simple candidate picture turned into a comical scene, as Somers hid from the phone camera, first turning away and then hiding behind the person she was standing next to. She was eventually escorted, hiding between two people, to the nearby building and someone drove her Cadillac, with its Senate 18th plates, from across the parking lot, so she could slip in at the front door, Lady Di style, without being photographed.

Sterling Republican Chairman Victoria Robinson later called an editor at The Day, saying that I was “very creepy,” following a candidate around and scaring them. Sterling Republicans posted a picture of me on their Facebook page and said I was stalking Somers, following her there from Mystic.

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Somers has a history of ducking photographers Election Night, but her behavior Tuesday was incredibly strange, a state senator refusing to have her picture taken in public, outside a polling place on Election Day.

I suppose it could be extreme vanity. I suspect it might have more to do with not being pictured with all the Trump signs adorning the Sterling polling place parking lot, in the heart of Trump country.

She was there to court Trump voters, but not be photographed with them.

Trump may continue to haunt Connecticut Republicans, either from the White House or prison.

And I’m sure an ambitious politician like Somers doesn’t want a picture of herself near a Trump sign that might surface in the future.

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Alas, my road trip ended badly when my 20-year-old Mini broke down on Interstate 395. I had a nice chat with the tow truck driver, who told me he never votes because the candidates are merely the puppets of the richest people in the world who manipulate them. The government could cure cancer, but chooses not to because it benefits from the money spent on treatments.

I thought maybe I should put him in touch with the Satan-fearing Republicans of Stonington.

This is the opinion of David Collins

d.collins@theday.com

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Connecticut

Connecticut election results show live vote count for 2024 races

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Connecticut election results show live vote count for 2024 races



CBS News New York

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HARTFORD, Conn. – Connecticut voters are having their say in the 2024 elections and we are tracking results as they come in.

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Connecticut has voted for the Democratic ticket in every presidential election since 1992. This year, in addition to the presidential election, Sen. Chris Murphy (D) and Matthew Corey (R) are facing off in the race for U.S. Senate. 

Connecticut voters will also be deciding on the “No-Excuse Absentee Voting Amendment,” which would allow any voter in the Nutmeg State to request a mail-in ballot without requiring one of a handful existing reasons for mailing a vote in

President – Connecticut election results

U.S. Senate – Connecticut election results

U.S. Representative – Connecticut election results



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How electoral votes in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut impact the Electoral College and the 2024 election

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How electoral votes in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut impact the Electoral College and the 2024 election


There’s a lot at stake in the Electoral College in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut for the 2024 election.

When Americans vote in the presidential election, they are, of course, casting their ballot for the candidate of their choice. Those votes, in turn, govern how electors in each state vote in the Electoral College.

To become president, a candidate must win a majority of the electoral votes in the country. There are 538 in total, so 270 is the magic number to be elected president.

How many electors does each state have?

The number of electors for each state is determined by the number of representatives in the U.S. House and Senate. 

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Therefore, in New York, there are 28 electoral votes. There are 14 electoral votes in New Jersey and there are seven in Connecticut. 

Altogether, that’s 49 out of 270 needed to get elected at stake in the Tri-State Area alone. 

In most states – New York, New Jersey and Connecticut included – all electoral votes are cast for the candidate that wins the state’s popular vote. Just two states, Maine and Nebraska, allocate electors based on the popular vote within each Congressional district.

Does the winner of the popular vote become president?

Because our presidential elections are not won by popular vote alone, sometimes the person who gets the most votes does not actually win the race. 

For example, in 2000, George W. Bush became president despite getting fewer popular votes than Al Gore. In 2016, the same thing happened: Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, but Donald Trump became president. There were three other similar situations, all during in the 1800s. 

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While there have been many proposals to reform or eliminate the Electoral College altogether, none have succeeded, and doing so would require an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 



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Opinion: Tiny homes, big potential for CT's homeless

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Opinion: Tiny homes, big potential for CT's homeless


Blue and red lights flashed on the white curtains of the front windows in the darkness of early dawn as I left for my shift at Saint Rafael’s Hospital.  

While emergency service vehicles are not uncommon on my downtown block, the square of sidewalk delineated by caution tape was unsettling. Even more so was the body in the center, covered only by a thin, stained white sheet. Based on the contour of the body, I immediately knew who it was: the young man who regularly slept on the stoop of the building next door.  

Through the news media following his death, I learned he was a cook and bouncer who lost his job, then his housing during the height of the COVID pandemic. Once living on the streets, he became a recognized advocate for those experiencing homelessness in New Haven. Though there was never a specific cause of death named, the police eventually believed it was secondary to a medical condition.  

His story is tragic but not unique: individuals experiencing homelessness die 30 years younger than those of us fortunate enough to have stable shelter. As a primary care physician at Yale New Haven Health, housing instability is as much a detriment towards my patients’ health as any disease.  

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Rosette Village offered New Haven a solution.  

The Rosette Neighborhood Village began in 2022 as a protected space for individuals to set-up tents after the city began bulldozing tent cities throughout New Haven.   

In October 2023, the community crowd-funded enough money to build six palette houses to shelter eight individuals; three months later, electricity was installed, allowing for heat, air conditioning, and the ability to power medical devices, such as a CPAP machine.  

Unfortunately, despite Mayor Justin Elicker’s quotes that “Ensuring our residents have affordable, safe, and high-quality housing is a top priority,” he has actively attempted to dissolve the community since its inception. In July of this year, the mayor ordered power cut off for the community during a heat wave and issued an eviction declaration for the removal of the tiny houses.  

Tiny house and pallet shelter communities for the unhoused have already proved successful in other metropolitan areas such as Madison, WI; Los Angeles, CA; and, Portland, OR as early as 2000.  As of 2020, there were 91 tiny house villages, either open or slated to be opened, for those experiencing homelessness. New Haven can be added to this growing list with something as simple as a zoning law protecting these individuals and their homes.  

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In October of last year, homelessness was declared a state emergency, as it remains in a progressive housing crisis with a 14% yearly increase in the homeless population. In New Haven, 25% of residents live in poverty– 15 percentage-points above Connecticut as a whole. Similar data shows that New Haven apartment rentals and energy utilities cost an average of $750 and $125, respectively, more a month than the national average.   

Given the ever-increasing demand, a shelter bed is hard to find in New Haven. Even if more shelter beds were available, it is common sense that a permanent residence, even if tiny, offers multiple benefits when compared to a shelter, such as having a safe place to store belongings, including medications, stay during bad weather (those staying in shelters must leave, with their belongings, during the day) or allowing married couples to make a home together. 

Housing and healthcare go hand-in-hand, and when there is not enough housing, as is the case in New Haven, the healthcare system feels the strain.  

My colleagues and I have many stories of caring for patients who present to the emergency room for a meal or a place to sleep. This is not a sustainable, nor cost effective way to manage homelessness. However, returning to the streets is not a viable solution, especially as violent crime against unhoused individuals is increasing in New Haven.    

Yet, I emphasize again; instead of encouraging a system that has shown to be effective, the City of New Haven is trying to shut down Rosette Village, which would evict eight more individuals, friends, neighbors to the street. While the threat of another heat wave has passed, we all feel the chill of winter approaching and yet, three months later, electricity has yet to be restored.    

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We may never get Mayor Elicker’s support, but he is not the only person who can address this. To my state congress people and local alders, will you please create legislation that will protect Rosette Village as well as future tiny village efforts which could offer safe and sustainable housing solutions to the nearly 3,500 Connecticut residents experiencing homelessness?   

Miranda Savioli M.D. is a physician at Saint Rafael’s Hospital in New Haven.



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