UPDATED: Courtney secures 10th term in Congress
Nov. 5—NORWICH — Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney won a 10th term Tuesday in the sprawling 2nd Congressional District, defeating Republican Mike France for a second time.
By midmorning Wednesday, with more than 95% of the votes counted, Courtney's advantage was 58% to France's 42%, according to The Associated Press. All told, more than 380,000 votes were cast.
Courtney declared himself the winner at 10:23 p.m. Tuesday, striding to a podium at Hotel Callista accompanied by members of his family, including his wife Audrey and daughter Elizabeth, and campaign staff. At that point, about 35% of the anticipated votes had been counted.
About 90 minutes later, France, who tracked returns at the Danielson Elks, conceded.
"While we don't yet have final numbers, at this point a potential path to victory seems remote," he said in a statement. "Congressman Courtney and I spoke a few moments ago and I congratulated him on a good, clean race and wished him well in his ongoing service to the Second Congressional District for the next two years."
"I am proud of the race we ran and the work we put in, and am humbled by the outpouring of support from across eastern Connecticut this cycle," France continued. "A mere 'thank you' is insufficient to express my gratitude for the volunteers and grassroots effort that make CT-02 so special. While disappointing, this likely result has not extinguished my passion for public service, and I look forward to regrouping with my family ― after some much-needed rest and recovery ― and discussing my future plans."
Courtney acknowledged taking a phone call from France shortly before midnight.
"Thank you to all the people of eastern Connecticut for your support ― today and over the years," he said in a statement. "It is the greatest honor of my life to represent you in the U.S. House of Representatives, and I never have, and never will, take it for granted.
"There is a lot of work to do in Washington right away ― maintaining a strong job market, lowering the cost of living, particularly housing, health care, and child day care ― all of which I am determined to get real results," he said. "Most importantly, I have heard loud and clear the desire from all corners to restore civility and stability, not only in the halls of Congress, but in our nation's public arena and discourse, which is essential to unify our great nation."
In addressing supporters at Hotel Callista, Courtney said the election outcome was a testament to the state of the region's job market, which he called the fastest-growing in Connecticut and second-fastest growing in New England. He noted Electric Boat in Groton hired 5,300 workers last year and has hired more than 3,000 this year.
"There's a lot of exciting new enterprises, too, including this hotel," Courtney said of the Callista, a former Elks Club.
He said he and his staff also had worked hard to expand health care benefits for veterans.
"We have more work to do in Washington," he said, referring to a farm bill that would benefit Connecticut agriculture, a new shipbuilding contract now being negotiated and a plan to extend prescription drug benefits to working-age Americans.
With the victory, Courtney, a lawyer, equaled the electoral success of one of his Democratic predecessors in the district, Sam Gejdenson, who was elected 10 times from 1980 to 1998. Republican Rob Simmons ousted Gejdenson in the 2000 election and held the seat for three terms, holding off a Courtney challenge in 2002 before narrowly losing to him in a 2006 rematch.
Courtney has won reelection by comfortable margins every two years since then.
France, 62, a former Ledyard town councilor and four-term state representative, garnered 40% of the vote in his 2022 bid to unseat Courtney. He stood to surpass that showing in the latest balloting.
Courtney visited polling places in four towns in the northern part of the district ― Vernon, his hometown, and Ellington, Mansfield and East Hampton ― before stopping at the East Lyme Community Center shortly before 2 p.m. Tuesday. He said he found the intensity of voters palpable, with people on both sides of the aisle "on edge."
In an interview weeks before the election, France said he was better known throughout the district this time around and had run a better campaign. He had announced in March that he'd hired National Public Affairs, a political consultancy co-founded by Justin Clark, deputy manager of former President Donald Trump's 2020 reelection campaign.
During the campaign, submarine construction was a major issue.
Courtney continued to draw attention to his efforts to maintain congressional support for defense spending, especially that involving the building of submarines at Electric Boat.
Courtney attributed his dominance in recent elections to the strong link between his service in Washington and jobs in his district. As a member of the House committee that approves all military contracts, not just those involving shipbuilding, he's been in a position to deliver for Connecticut-based defense contractors like Sikorsky and Pratt & Whitney, which employ district residents, in addition to Electric Boat.
During his tenure as former chairman and now ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee's Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, the Navy's spending on submarine production has steadily increased. At the same time, he said, the work of the House Education and Workforce Committee, on which he also serves, has been instrumental in the "skilling up" of the state's workforce, particularly in eastern Connecticut.
France called for building even more submarines
"As I said in the (2022) debate, 'Has anybody heard of three a year?'" he said during the campaign, asserting that the pace of U.S. shipbuilding in general needs to be accelerated. "We should be on our way to 360 to 380 ships. Now, we're in the 280 to 290 range."
He said he was not surprised by recent news about delays in submarine production.
"There have been issues for almost a decade at virtually every step in the process that negatively impacted construction and delivery," he said. "With no one minding the store and holding people to account, it's no wonder that we are behind schedule, and our national security suffers."
Before Tuesday's elections, Republicans held 220 seats in Congress to the Democrats' 212, with three seats vacant. Democrats needed to pick up six seats to gain a majority,
As of early October, the current Congress, the 118th, had passed just 82 bills and was on track to be one of the least productive Congresses in decades.
