Voter turnout held steady across most of Connecticut compared to the last midterm elections but jumped in towns more heavily affected by Trump administration policies.
In Tuesday’s election, 57.3% of eligible Connecticut voters cast a ballot, according to unofficial numbers from the Secretary of the State’s office, 0.3 percentage points lower than voter turnout in the 2022 midterms but above estimates for the nation as a whole, which currently sit around 49%.
Despite the small dip in Connecticut, Danbury, Bridgeport and New London all saw turnout increase by more than 10 percentage points. Danbury saw the highest increase, with turnout jumping 12.4 percentage points to 60.8%.
Danbury Mayor Roberto Alves said the increase is likely due to trust in local leaders combined with sentiments towards national issues — especially immigration.
“We saw, in Danbury, heavier ICE enforcement in the state. We had a hate group, a modern day KKK, marching through our streets,” said Alves, who is also chair of the Connecticut Democratic Party.
In August, Danbury was the target of ICE raids. In just five days, 118 people were arrested across the state, according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security. The majority of these arrests were conducted in Danbury.
The days and months following the raids changed the way the community operated. Immediately following the arrests, streets that would have usually been lined with day laborers were empty. Children, some of whom had watched from their bus windows as a man was arrested at their bus stop, stopped going to school or playing outside. And ICE presence is still reported regularly in the community by advocates on Danbury Unites for Immigrants social media pages.
“Now, what we’re hearing, what we’re seeing, is people were fed up. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked to Republicans who would say, ‘This isn’t what I voted for, and I can’t see myself voting for this administration again,’” Alves said. “We have a lot of cross-party support in Danbury right now.”
Along with bigger turnout in Danbury, there were also large swings to the Democrats across all races in the town. While this was a state and national trend, Danbury saw larger shifts towards Democrats compared to most other towns.
Just five years ago, Danbury had a Republican mayor, and until the 2018 midterms, the town was represented by a Republican state senator. Alves thinks the swing seen this election is the result of years of work from Democrats and “years of trust” gained in the community.
“We [have had] nearly a decade of Democrats organizing and working really hard in this city and giving people not just something to vote against but something to vote for,” Alves said.
Extreme immigration enforcement, like what Danbury residents experienced in August, may have driven voters to the polls elsewhere. Minnesota, for example, has been a hub for ICE arrests, activity and protests after two citizens were killed by agents last winter. The state is projected to have the highest voter turnout in the country this midterm election.
In Connecticut, Bridgeport and New London also saw high jumps in turnout and swings towards the Democrats. ICE has conducted arrests in both towns, although its activity has been less than in Danbury. In Bridgeport, which has the highest Hispanic population out of all Connecticut towns according to census data, a man was arrested at a bus stop earlier this year.
But these towns, like many urban areas, have also seen decreases in people enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, as well as higher costs of living. In Danbury, Alves said the “affordability issue” along with “unnecessary wars” are driving forces in turnout and party shifts.
Many towns that saw an increase in turnout also have a majority-minority population, where more than 50% of residents are not white. The only majority-minority town to see a decrease in turnout from 2022 was New Haven.
But even though Danbury, Bridgeport and New London saw large increases in turnout since 2022, they did not have the highest voter turnout in the state. Less populated towns in the Northwestern corner and some towns along the shore saw some of the highest turnout.
Some towns like Cornwall and Norfolk saw more than 75% of eligible voters cast a ballot.