U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes and Republican challenger George Logan remained locked in a bitter battle too close to call Tuesday night in one of the nation’s most important Congressional races.
The high-stakes contest was targeted by both the national Democratic and Republican parties because it will help determine the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and the next Speaker. Hayes defeated Logan two years ago by less than one percentage point, prompting the parties to focus on the rematch in a multimillion-dollar race. The contest attracted attention from the union-backed Working Families Party on the left to the conservative Koch Brothers network on the right.
The fight went down to the end. Hayes continued her television advertising blitz as she had outraised Logan by about $1.3 million and had about $700,000 more in cash on hand as of the latest public filings in mid-October. She remained a constant presence on television screens on until Election Day.
Even as voters were heading to the polls Tuesday afternoon, Logan was still seeking money in a fundraising email to his supporters that showed a cover photo from Rolling Stone magazine in January 2019 picturing Hayes with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Ilhan Omar, and firebrand Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, known as AOC.
“Remember this Rolling Stone cover?” Logan wrote. “My opponent is on the far left – literally and figuratively. Jahana Hayes is a member of the socialist Squad. It should come as no surprise that these are her closest allies; she stands in lockstep with their far-left agenda and has voted with the failed Biden-Harris Administration 99% of the time.”
Since Logan’s race was so close in 2022, Republicans said they had the best chance of winning the 5th District seat since popular Goshen Republican Andrew Roraback lost narrowly 12 years ago.
But Democrats responded by bringing coordinated firepower in a district where Democrats defeated Republican Donald J. Trump in both 2016 and 2020. Democrats said they had an advantage with Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy generating huge turnout at the top of the ticket in a district where Democrats have won every two years since Murphy pulled off an upset over longtime Republican Nancy Johnson in 2006.
“A presidential year where Trump’s on the ballot?” asked longtime Hartford Democratic political operative Matthew J. Hennessy, who predicted a Hayes victory for months. “She’s going to win by pure gravity. She is the candidate who has received the most institutional support.”
The Associated Press called the race in Connecticut for Harris soon after the polls closed at 8 p.m., extending a long streak of Democratic wins for president in the Nutmeg State.
But the close Hayes-Logan race was likely to continue later into the night.
At the Courtyard Waterbury Downtown Marriott, the grand ballroom was bathed in blue light for Hayes’ watch party. White and blue balloons accented the walls as a DJ played music and campaign volunteers buzzed about the room. On either side of the main stage, flanked by the Stars and Stripes and Connecticut state flag, projectors relayed early election results from MSNBC and WFSB, Channel 3.
Before the polls closed, Darlene Eason, the event coordinator, said she felt “confident, excited, blessed.”
Eason said she first met Hayes years ago at an after-school program they worked at together.
“To see where she was then as a teacher, to then become teacher of the year and now congresswoman … it’s exciting,” Eason said.
Eason said her 16-year-old daughter, who was also volunteering for the event, “loves Jahana. She’s someone that she looks up to,” Eason said. “We’re proud of her. She’s an inspiration.”
Republicans and reporters said they were unaware of any details for a watch party for Logan.
State Democratic chairwoman Nancy DiNardo said the Hayes race was the top priority statewide for Democrats though the U.S. Senate, all five U.S. House seats, and 187 seats in the state legislature were also on the ballot. As such, Hayes raised $3.8 million for her own campaign, plus more than $1.6 million more from outside groups that opposed Logan and supported Hayes. That included extensive television advertising by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, known as the DCCC, and the House Majority PAC, which criticized Logan on abortion.
The race was marked by high turnout in the sprawling, 41-town district that stretches from Simsbury to Danbury to Salisbury in the state’s Northwest Corner along the New York and Massachusetts borders.
Logan
On Logan’s side, one of the biggest supporters was the political network founded by the conservative Koch Brothers, who seek to elect Republican candidates across the country. Americans for Prosperity Action is a name that is unknown to most voters, but it is a national group that was created by the Koch Brothers.
The group mailed at least eight campaign fliers that praised Logan and criticized Hayes to voters in the district. In addition, supporters went door-to-door and left hang tags with pro-Logan campaign literature that said it was paid by Americans for Prosperity Action.
Longtime Waterbury Republican Jeff Santopietro said one of Hayes’s mistakes was remaining in Chicago for the Democratic National Convention instead of returning immediately to the district following major flooding on Aug. 18.
“When you’re a congressman or a mayor, you need to go back to your district,” Santopietro said in an interview. “You need to go back and help any way you possibly can. At a devastating time of need like that, people want their elected officials around. The congressman should have been here, not in Chicago at a party.”
Hayes, however, said she moved quickly to make telephone calls in Chicago in an effort that eventually led to a disaster declaration by President Joe Biden that allowed the Federal Emergency Management Agency, known as FEMA, to begin the process of reimbursements.
Santopietro said he spoke personally to House Speaker Mike Johnson at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee regarding the race.
“He likes George an awful lot,” Santopietro said. “He thinks the world of George. I talked to the Speaker about George. It was the first night we were there. … It’s time for a change.”
“George, this kid never stopped campaigning,” Santopietro said. “He amazed me and I’ve been around a lot. He’s been like a machine.”
Hayes
An advantage for Hayes was that she had two lines on the ballot: the Democratic Party and the union-backed Working Families Party.
Sarah Ganong, state director of the Connecticut Working Families Party, sent an Election Day memo that analyzed the contests and said the Hayes race is “one of the most important defensive races in the country.” Hayes, she said, won two years ago by the margin of votes that came from the Working Families line.
“As we did two years ago, WFP has been heavily involved in this campaign, supporting the campaign with a best-in-class relational postcard program and substantial voter contact through canvasses, phonebanks, events, texting messaging, and early voting support around the district,” she said. “The race remains close, with Hayes facing recurring MAGA candidate George Logan back for another round. Rep. Hayes has stood up for working people when it matters most, from fighting for affordable prescription drug prices to defending the rights of unions on the floor of the U.S. House.”
Emerson Polling
A poll by Emerson College, The Hill, and WTNH, Channel 8 generated controversy by reporting that Hayes was ahead of Logan by only three percentage points in the district. Democrats have dismissed the poll as inaccurate, while Republicans said it was correct because voters are frustrated by high grocery prices and too much federal spending.
Hayes responded by saying she had seen at least five internal polls that showed she was ahead of Logan by more than the margin shown by the Emerson Poll. As such, she said it made sense for the Congressional Leadership Fund, run by Republicans, to pull back $600,000 on the TV ad buy that was a political blow to Logan.
“If Mike Johnson’s polling showed it was a dead heat, they wouldn’t be pulling up stakes and moving somewhere else,” Hayes told The Courant. “That’s pretty basic. Anyone who ever ran a campaign or worked on a campaign, that’s pretty basic.”
Courant staff writer Alison Cross contributed to this report.
Christopher Keating can be reached at [email protected]
