A closer look at Connecticut’s 17 contested state legislative primaries

All 187 seats in the Connecticut General Assembly are up for election in 2024 and there 17 contested state legislative primaries on August 13, 2024. That amounts to 4.5% of all possible state legislative primaries and is above the state’s average of 15.6 contested primaries from 2010 to 2022.

There are 15 Democratic primaries and two Republican primaries. For Democrats, this was the highest since 2010 and for Republicans, this was below the average of 3.8 retirements between 2010 and 2022.

There are 349 candidates running for state legislature in the primaries, including 192 Democrats and 157 Republicans. For Democrats, this is above the 2010 to 2022 average of 184.9. For Republicans, this is the lowest number since Ballotpedia started tracking in 2010. The average number of Republicans running from 2010 to 2022 was 166.1.

There are 176 incumbents running for election, the highest number since Ballotpedia started tracking in 2010. Nine incumbents, or about 5.1% of all incumbents, are facing primary challengers. The average number of contested incumbents between 2010 and 2022 was 7.1.

Eleven incumbents did not file for reelection in 2024. Among them were seven Democrats and four Republicans.

Connecticut has had a Democratic trifecta since 2011. Since 1992 there have been 14 years of Democratic trifectas and no Republican trifectas.