Election Night Wrap Up

A mixed bag of results tonight, with the excitement of several GOP victories and the disappointments of some tough losses.

In Bolton, retiring Republican First Selectman Bob Morra's open seat will be filled by Republican Bruno Simonetti if he survives the legally required recount that is to take place within 5 business days. Simonetti eeked out a 450-446 win over the Democrat, Leslie Shea, who had defeated Simonetti previously in a race for Board of Selectmen. The tight margin was made up of a 436-435 count on the machines, a 9-7 count on the Absentee ballots, and a +1 on the manually counted ballots for Simonetti. If the tally stands, Simonetti will be the First Selectman of Bolton on a Board with a majority of Democrats.

In Naugatuck, Mike Bronko, the Republican some had made the mistake of writing off, pulled out a victory over Democrat Curt Bosco, who had the name identification from his previous campaign in 2005 against outgoing Mayor Ron San Angelo.

In Andover, the Democrat Chairman of the Board of Finance lost his seat, though the Democrats retain control of the board.

In Woodbridge and Bethany, good Republican candidates Chris Dickerson and Sal Amadeo narrowly lost their bids to unseat Democat incumbents. Though disappointing tonight, they undoubtably will be back in the future.

Having gotten a good bite of democracy to chew on today, the Connecticut Republican State Central Committee will keep the good times rolling tomorrow with State Central Conventions across the state. Look for news and updates from those conventions in this space tomorrow.