On Wednesday, all but a small number of ballots remain to be counted by hand in West Hartford.

West Hartford’s incumbent legislative delegation was re-elected based on unofficial results. From left: Jimmy Sanchez, Bobby Gibson, Derek Slap, Jillian Gilchrest, Kate Farrar, and Tammy Exum. Photo credit: Ronni Newton (we-ha.com file photo)

By Ronni Newton

By early Wednesday afternoon, the majority of the voting results for West Hartford had been input into the Secretary of the State’s Election Management System, and the results indicated that across the board Democrats won their races, garnering at least 70% of the vote.

According to Republican Registrar of Voters Beth Kyle, all that remained to be included are a small number of hand count ballots, such as those cast by residents who are citizens living overseas.

Results reported late Tuesday night reflected only those votes actually cast at polling places on Election Day, since the tabulation process was still underway for the 17,255 early voting ballots that had been cast, more than 3,000 absentee ballots, and the 531 ballots cast by those who participated in Same Day Registration at Town Hall.

The total number of ballots cast in West Hartford and voter turnout had not yet been released as of Wednesday afternoon, but is likely close to 35,000 since the latest report shows a total of 34,776 votes cast in town for in the presidential race.

Presidential race 2024 voting in West Hartford. Screenshot from Connecticut Election Management System

At the top of the ticket, the national results greatly different from West Hartford, where the Kamala Harris/Tim Walz ticket received 74.21% of the vote, according to the unofficial results. The Donald Trump/JD Vance ticket received 23.8% of West Hartford’s vote, with a small number of votes going to other candidates, according to the Secretary of the State’s system.

U.S. Senate race 2024 voting in West Hartford. Screenshot from Connecticut Election Management System

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy won re-election to his third term, and in West Hartford received 74.58% of the vote, nearly the same percentage as U.S. Rep. John Larson, who was also re-elected and received 74.78% of the West Hartford vote. Both Murphy and Larson appeared on the Democratic and Working Families Party tickets.

U.S. Congress District 1 race 2024 voting in West Hartford. Screenshot from Connecticut Election Management System

Incumbent state Sen. Derek Slap (D-5th) received the support of 74.72% of the vote in his hometown, while his Republican challenger, newcomer Kyla Zimmermann of Farmington, received 25.28% of West Hartford votes cast. In addition to West Hartford, the 5th District includes Bloomfield, Burlington, and Farmington. Including those towns, the unofficial results indicate 68.12% of votes for Slap with 31.88 for Zimmermann.

Three of West Hartford’s incumbent State House members, Jillian Gilchrest (D-18th), Tammy Exum (D-19th), and Kate Farrar (D-20th) were running unopposed. The unofficial results indicate 10,013 votes for Gilchrest, 11,388 for Exum (including Avon, a portion of which she also represents), and 9,462 for Farrar, who also represents a portion of Newington and ran on the Working Families Party in both towns.

State Rep. Jimmy Sanchez (D-6th), who represents a small section of the southeast section of West Hartford along with a section of Hartford, received a total of 94.8% of the votes in his race with petitioning candidate Alyssa Peterson. The Hartford results were not yet included in the totals as of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. Sanchez was elected in a special election after the resignation of Edwin Vargas, and this will be his first full term.

State Rep. Bobby Gibson (D-15th) received 76.33% of the vote in West Hartford, where he was running against Republican Quentin Johnson. His district includes Bloomfield, where he is a resident, and in the overall race received 9,903 votes (83.5%) of the vote according to the unofficial records.

Check back with We-Ha.com for further updates when the final results are certified.

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