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11/05/2020 11:00 PMVoters from Connecticut’s 35th General Assembly District have elected Democrat Christine Goupil to represent them in Hartford. The District represents voters in Clinton, Killingworth and Westbrook.
According to the unofficial tallies reported in all three towns, Goupil received 6,984 total votes (50 percent), while Republican candidate John Hall III received 6,739 (48 percent) and Green Party candidate John May received 351 votes (2 percent).
For the past six years the district has been represented by Republican Jesse MacLachlan, who was endorsed for a fourth term but abruptly dropped out of the race in August citing personal reasons. Hall was nominated to replace MacLachlan as the Republican candidate.
Reached for comment after her victory, Goupil told the Harbor News, “I’m honored they elected me as their next representative and I couldn’t have done it without an amazing group of volunteers.”
Reflecting on having to campaign under the pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic, Goupil said. “This was not a typical race; I would have liked the chance to get out and talk to residents more.”
Goupil is a current member of Clinton’s Town Council and before that was the town’ first selectman. Due to her experience in Clinton, Goupil said she feels like she knows that town well and the residents there know her, but said she wants to get to know more about the needs that should be addressed in the communities of Killingworth and Westbrook to better serve the entire district.
Goupil said that she is curious to see what committees she’s able to be placed on at the state level and said since she believes her best skills lend themselves to working on development projects perhaps the planning committee would be good fit.
As for items she wants to tackle when her term begins, Goupil pointed to getting relief for the effects of the pandemic.
“I’m eager to get started,” she said. “There’s so much suffering that needs to be addressed.”
Goupil pledged to represent all members of the 35th District, not just her voters and thanked Hall and May for voicing their concerns for the district in their campaigns.
“I thank them to bringing to light the issues they feel strong about,” Goupil said.
Goupil’s opponents also weighed in on the results.
“I think the people have spoken and I’m good with it, I accept the results,” Hall said.
Hall said while the pandemic prevented the candidates from participating in some normal campaign events, which was hard, ultimately, he wouldn’t have done anything differently.
“I think the campaign went well and we kept it out of the dirt,” Hall said.
Hall congratulated Goupil, thanked his voters, and said he hopes the legislature will focus on the budget in the next session.
May congratulated Goupil on her victory and said he hopes that “she does the best by the people here in the district” while people try and move on from the divisiveness of the election. May said that while he didn’t win, he believes there was support for some of the issues he raised during the campaign, particularly his idea to bring ranked choice voting to Connecticut.
May said with the benefit of hindsight, he could have gotten into the campaign earlier.
“When Jesse decided he wasn’t going to run, it was a bit late in the season and I got in with about only two months left,” May said.
May also contended that this year was going to be hard for third party candidates no matter what.
“I believe the country is very much on a red and blue divide and that most voters voted straight party line in this election,” said May.
May thanked his supporters and said his biggest takeaway was seeing the massive turnout seen across the district, particularly at Clinton’s town hall where he spent much of election day. “Seeing the town hall packed with people the whole day was incredible,” said May.
Town by Town
Goupil and May, both Clinton residents, received their highest vote totals in their hometowns while Hall, a Westbrook resident, won that town. However, Goupil being able to carry Killingworth while erasing the ground lost in Westbrook by winning Clinton by a wide margin. Goupil lost Westbrook to Hall by 185 votes but beat Hall in Clinton by 349 votes which placed her ahead by 164 votes headed into Killingworth.
May nearly doubled the number of votes received by the Green Party in 2018, and improved the vote total by about one percentage point. Hall improved upon MacLachlan’s vote total from 2018, but lost about four percentage points.
Below are the unofficial results from all three towns per the secretary of the state’s website. Besides being the Democratic nominee, Goupil was also endorsed by the Independent Party and the Working Families party and thus her totals represent votes she received on all three lines.
Clinton
Goupil: 3,768
Hall: 3,419
May: 281
Killingworth
Goupil: 2,155
Hall: 2,074
May: 45
Westbrook
Goupil: 1.062
Hall: 1,246
May: 25