In last week’s election, Connecticut’s vote margin shifted slightly toward the Republican Party.
But one of the main reasons why the Republican Party gained a larger share of the total vote compared to the 2020 presidential election was a decrease in Democratic votes in many towns — not, in all cases, an increase in Republican votes.
In 153 of Connecticut’s 169 towns, according to unofficial results from the Connecticut Secretary of the State, the percentage of the vote that went Republican increased.
But while the number of votes cast for President-elect Donald Trump increased in 50 towns since 2020, the number of votes cast for the Democratic candidate fell in 155 towns, according to preliminary data.
Take Middletown, for example. Trump received exactly 7,611 votes there in both 2024 and in 2020. But a decrease in the number of votes for the Democratic candidate, from 15,508 votes in 2020 to 13,986 votes in 2024, translated into a 2.2 percentage point shift toward Trump.
From 2020 to 2024, the Democratic candidate received 86,357 fewer votes statewide, an 8% drop.
There was an increase in Republican votes of around 3.5%, including in several towns where the party has had less support in the 2020 election. The total number of votes received by Trump in 2024 grew by 24,756 votes since 2020.
Towns like Wallingford and Stamford saw some of the biggest increases in Republican votes. Wallingford has seen an overall increase for both parties, with 1,988 more Democratic votes and 2,416 more Republican votes. In Stamford, there were 2,128 more Republican votes.
Other minor parties have also seen a shift. Comparing the 2020 to the 2024 election, other parties have seen an increase of about 6.3% in the number of votes, or about 1,783 more votes.