Kara Rochelle Defeats David Cassetti For Fourth Term In State House Of Representatives

ANSONIA-DERBY – State Rep. Kara Rochelle was re-elected to a fourth term in the General Assembly on Tuesday, besting her challenger, Ansonia Mayor David Cassetti, by some 700 votes.

The unofficial numbers from both campaigns had the tally at 4,670 to 3,969. Thomas Egan, the Independent Party candidate, received 107 votes.

UPDATED NUMBERS RELEASED NOV. 6: Rochelle won 5,042 votes, while Cassetti won 4,176. Independent Party candidate Thomas Egan also won 118 votes.

However, those tallies do not include absentee ballots. Cassetti, saying absentee ballot votes would not close the gap, conceded the race to Rochelle.

“I will work hard for every single person in this community, like I have, like I always will,” Rochelle said to a crowd of supporters at The Quail & Ale, a pub in Derby.

Derby returns were uploaded to the secretary of state’s website, but as of 9:30 a.m. Nov. 6 Ansonia’s data had not been posted. This story will be updated as the revised tallies arrive.

Rochelle is a Democrat. Cassetti is a Republican.

Rochelle said her victory is thanks to extensive talking to and listening to voters.

“This is really about talking to people and hearing what they have to say and being a true and deep supporter of every person in this community. That’s what this is about, it’s about really paying attention to people and being responsive to them,” Rochelle said.

Watch Rochelle address her supporters in the video below.

Dave Hannon, the head of the Ansonia Democratic Town Committee, said Rochelle is able to translate complex issues into easy-to-understand language, and that that quality gave her campaign an edge.

“She’s able to talk about really complicated issues that affect people’s everyday lives, that’s wrapped up in legislation and other stuff like that, and she’s able to cut through all of that and make that person understand what’s important and why she’s working on their behalf,” Hannon said.

Rochelle’s campaign reported a total of 9,063 votes cast (including 317 that still needed to be counted). That would represent a total turnout of about 65.6 percent in the 104th District, which covers all of Ansonia and a large chunk of west Derby.

That’s higher than 2022, which recorded a 57.6 percent turnout, but lower than 2020, which recorded 79.7 percent turnout.

With about 53.4 percent of the unofficial vote count, Rochelle’s margin of victory was slightly better than her defeat two years ago of Josh Shuart, a ​“Team Cassetti” Alderman from Ansonia. 

Rochelle beat Shuart by 350 votes in 2022.

Cassetti gave a concession speech at his campaign headquarters on Main Street in Ansonia.

“I really felt real confident from the time I announced back in March that we would win this because we’re a strong force for good,” Cassetti said. ​“But the way I look at it, this is the game that we’re in. It’s back to work tomorrow, working for the great people of Ansonia. I’m going to continue doing what we’ve done for the last 11 years.”

Watch Cassetti’s concession speech below.

John Marini, Cassetti’s corporation counsel and Cassetti’s campaign manager, said the U.S. Presidential election that saw Democrats turn out in large numbers didn’t help Cassetti.

“A lot of voters may be more in tune to national politics and maybe aren’t paying as much attention to what’s goes on with the municipal cycle, and maybe there not as tuned in to local news,” Marini said. ​“But regardless the residents had their say and we’re back to work for the City of Ansonia tomorrow. There’s a lot to be done to keep taxes low, keep Ansonia Copper and Brass moving forward and keeping our schools funded.”

What Voters Said

The Valley Indy interviewed voters at the polls and asked whether they voted for Cassetti or Rochelle.

Edward Thompson cast votes for U.S. Presidential candidate Kamala Harris and Rochelle at the Mead School in Ansonia. He said he supported Rochelle’s emphasis on transportation and the elderly, and that he wasn’t confident in Cassetti’s ability to do the job.

“The choice between Rochelle and Cassetti is that I’m not confident Cassetti can do both jobs as mayor and state rep. at the same time. Some of the things that Cassetti has done recently as mayor have concerned me from a transparency/ethics kind of standpoint,” Thompson said.

Samantha Gonzalez, a nurse, said she was voting for Rochelle because of her work for local schools. In the national race, she said she was motivated to vote in order to protect women’s rights.

“I’m really focused on the benefits that are offered to our local schools and our local initiatives. Kara Rochelle, she’s done a lot in our area,” Gonzalez said.

Bob Kowalski, who cast his vote at the Irving School in Derby, said he had been a registered Democrat for 50 years. He changed his registration to Republican this year, voting for U.S. Presidential candidate Donald Trump and Cassetti. 

His reason?

“The cost of everything. Everybody I know, their car insurance went up, three, four hundred dollars, their houses like six hundred dollars. It’s ridiculous, you know?”

Scenes At The Polling Places

At polling stations Nov. 5 in Ansonia and Derby, crews supporting each candidate lined the sidewalks. 

On Rochelle’s side were various Valley and state Democrats, including Derby Mayor Joseph DiMartino, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (who was also facing re-election), and Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, who dropped by the Mead School in the afternoon.

On Cassetti’s side were local officials including Ansonia Alderman Tony Levinsky, Derby Republican leader Gino DiGiovanni, and Paul Norris, who coaches Cassetti’s Pinky Silverberg Boxing Club.

Voting proceeded smoothly throughout the day, with a couple of hiccups. NBC Connecticut reported that tabulators at the Ansonia Armory were malfunctioning in the morning, but the problematic machines had been replaced by 9 a.m.

Then, registrars at Ansonia City Hall reported around 2 p.m. that a couple was causing a disturbance there. By the time police arrived, the couple had left. There were no arrests.

Multiple Republican and Democratic campaign volunteers told The Valley Indy in the afternoon that they were happy with how smooth the voting process had been. None reported any ongoing issues.

Campaign Summary

The Cassetti-Egan-Rochelle race was expected to be the most hotly contested race in the 104th in 20 years.

Cassetti filed to run for the seat in March and soon after announced that he intended to work as mayor and state representative simultaneously. In his role as mayor, he is credited with spearheading the redevelopment of downtown Ansonia and has handily won six terms in the office.

Rochelle, meanwhile, had fended off challengers before. She had won three terms against opponents who included two of Ansonia’s ​“Team Cassetti” Aldermen.

She is credited with bringing millions of dollars into the city through the seat she won following Democrat Linda Gentile’s retirement in 2018, though Cassetti administration officials argued they deserved the credit for the money.

Cassetti and Rochelle both said that cost of living and economic development were central issues to their campaigns. Rochelle also said housing costs were a central issue; Cassetti, meanwhile, said the state wasn’t doing enough to support local law enforcement.

The Valley Indy has been covering the race for the 104th since March. Click here for all previous stories.

The race got ugly at times, with candidates and their supporters calling each other names.

Cassetti Republicans went after Rochelle for accepting money for a consulting job from West Haven. She got the job through Michael DiMassa, a West Haven official who later went to jail for stealing COVID-19 money.

DiMassa had paid Rochelle with COVID money, an improper use of the money, a state audit determined.

On Facebook Cassetti called Rochelle ​‘Hoe-chelle,’ saying it was retaliation for calling him a drug addict in front of state officials at an event closed to the public. However, Cassetti had insulted Rochelle in a similar manner previously on Facebook.

Democrats raised questions about Cassetti’s personal finances, noting his wages were garnished for unpaid credit card bills.

Democrats also accused Cassetti’s campaign of recruiting Egan, a former Democratic mayoral candidate, to run as a third-party candidate in order to siphon votes from Rochelle.