State Rep. Linda Gentile won re-election over Joseph Jaumann 4,414 to 3,452, according to unofficial results.
Her victory at her headquarters at 158 Main St. in Ansonia was dampened, though, because as she declared victory her colleague, state Sen. Joseph Crisco, was still waiting for results from his race with George Logan.
Gentile and Crisco are Democrats and shared headquarters Tuesday. Neither Crisco nor his campaign staff would comment as of 10 p.m. Tuesday.
“My thoughts are really with Joe,” Gentile said as she quietly received congratulatory hugs from friends and family.
Click the play button below to watch Gentile address her supporters.
Jaumann walked down Main Street from the Republican headquarters up the road to concede. He did so with a smile, and the two exchanged a few quick pleasantries. Jaumann was accompanied by Ansonia Alderman Patrick Henri.
In a speech to his supporters, he congratulated them for helping him “move the needle.”
Jaumann’s campaign against Gentile was the incumbent’s most serious re-election challenge in years.
In 2014 she almost doubled the vote total of her Republican challenger Frederick Picroski, winning 3,648 to 1,848.
But this time around Jaumann, a lawyer who works at a practice based in Bridgeport, ran an energetic campaign that sought to tie Gentile to Gov. Dannel Malloy’s, whose popularity plunged to 24 percent in June.
Jaumann walked the 104th District, which covers Ansonia and part of Derby, for months knocking on voters’ doors and also ran an aggressive media campaign.
Gentile emphasized times she has disagreed with the governor, and pointed out that she has brought grants and other funds to local projects.
“We got a lot closer than anybody has before and we’re going in the right direction,” Jaumann said to supporters.
He told the Valley Indy that he’s planning on another run in two years — if his kids give him the OK.
