The 1990 Connecticut State Senate elections took place as part of the biennial 1990 United States elections. All 36 seats were up for re-election. Senators serve two-year terms and are up for re-election every election cycle.

The Democrats lost 3 seats, while the Republicans gained 4 seats, with the Democrats ultimately maintaining their majority in the Senate.

These elections also saw the attempt of Greenwich selectman and future governor Ned Lamont's attempt to win in the 36th district, but he lost to Republican William H. Nickerson after Republican Senator Emil Benvenuto, who had switched to the A Connecticut Party, also lost to him.

Retirements Six incumbents did not seek re-election.

Democrats District 20: Mark H. Powers retired. District 27: Richard Blumenthal retired to successfully run for Attorney General.

Republican District 8: Reginald J. Smith retired. (Previously ran for governor) District 14: Tom Scott retired to unsuccessfully run for Connecticut's 3rd congressional district against Rosa DeLauro. District 32: James H. McLaughlin retired to unsuccessfully run for Connecticut's 5th congressional district. District 33: Kenneth T. Hampton retired.

Incumbents defeated Three incumbents were defeated in general elections.

In general election

A Connecticut District 36: Emil Benvenuto lost re-election to Republican William H. Nickerson after he had switched from Republican to the A Connecticut Party.

Democrats District 25: John Atkin lost re-election to Robert Genuario. District 12: Thomas J. Sullivan lost re-election to William Aniskovich.

Results

District 1

District 2

District 3

District 4

District 5

District 6

District 7

District 8

District 9

District 10 District 11 District 12 District 13 District 14 District 15 District 16 District 17 District 18 District 19 District 20 District 21 District 22 District 23 District 24 District 25 District 26

District 27 District 28 District 29 District 30 District 31 District 32 District 33 District 34 District 35 District 36 The 36th district consisted of all of Greenwich and the northwestern parts of Stamford. It hadn't elected a Democrat as its State Senator since its creation in 1942. The last time a Democratic candidate for state senate won a district representing Greenwich was H. Allen Barton in 1930.

On May 23, 1990, Emil Benvenuto endorsed A Connecticut Party candidate Lowell Weicker for governor. This outraged the state Republican Party and the Greenwich Republican Town Committee (RTC), which actively began seeking a candidate to replace Benvenuto. On July 10, state representative William H. Nickerson announced his candidacy for the seat. Benvenuto initially sought to run for re-election as a Republican, with the town convention supposed to take place on July 23. However, Benvenuto needed the support of at least six delegates (or 20%) of the RTC's 27 delegates to force a September 11 primary against Nickerson, but ended up only having the support of four or five delegates. On July 16, Benvenuto announced his withdrawal from the primary and that he would run on Weicker's A Connecticut Party ticket.

Results by district

Results by district District NickersonRepublican BenvenutoA Connecticut LamontDemocratic Total Votes % Votes % Votes % Greenwich 8,594 40.39% 7,631 35.86% 5,055 23.75% 21,280 1 637 37.96% 572 34.09% 469 27.95% 1,678 2 347 52.10% 168 25.23% 151 22.67% 666 2A 219 32.06% 316 46.27% 148 21.67% 683 3 155 27.38% 238 42.05% 173 30.57% 566 3A 68 23.53% 125 43.25% 96 33.22% 289 4 270 31.25% 309 35.76% 285 32.99% 864 4A 167 31.27% 226 42.32% 141 26.41% 534 5 778 39.43% 692 35.07% 503 25.50% 1,973 6 770 39.43% 640 32.77% 543 27.80% 1,953 7 824 53.13% 390 25.14% 337 21.73% 1,551 7A 118 39.20% 93 30.90% 90 29.90% 301 8 750 31.32% 1,120 46.76% 525 21.92% 2,395 9 653 35.74% 712 38.97% 462 25.29% 1,827 10 1,002 57.06% 391 22.27% 363 20.67% 1,756 11 878 61.31% 295 20.60% 259 18.09% 1,432 11A 414 57.98% 192 26.89% 108 15.13% 714 12 241 24.49% 569 57.83% 174 17.68% 984 12A 303 27.20% 583 52.33% 228 20.47% 1,114 Stamford 3,994 49.47% 1,857 23.00% 2,223 27.53% 8,074 Totals 12,588 42.88% 9,488 32.32% 7,278 24.80% 29,354

References