A New Election Cycle: Newton, Seeking His Old Seat, Poised To Primary Senator Gaston

With the page finally turned on the mayoral election, time to refocus to the current state and federal cycle.

City Councilman Ernie Newton is rallying political allies to wage a primary against freshman State Senator Herron Gaston who defeated incumbent Dennis Bradley in a 2022 Democratic primary. Newton supported Bradley over party-endorsed Gaston.

Gaston, a University of Bridgeport executive, represents Connecticut’s 23 Senate District that covers about two thirds of the city and a portion of Stratford. Newton occupied the seat 20 years ago but resigned in the wake of federal corruption charges. After he did his time he came close to winning back his seat in 2012, losing a tight Democratic primary to Andres Ayala with incumbent Ed Gomes finishing a distant third. Ayala benefited from two Black candidates splitting a vote while he ran up numbers in Hispanic precincts.

Gomes, who passed away in December 2020 from injuries sustained in a car accident, would win back the seat in a 2015 special election running on the Connecticut Working Families Party line after Ayala was tapped for a state commissionership by Governor Dan Malloy.

Gomes retired from his seat prior to the car accident and Dennis Bradley became district senator winning in 2018 and reelected in 2020. Bradley was charged federally with election law violations stemming from his 2018 run, a court case still pending, and was stripped of his committee assignments by state leadership. The majority of the local party gravitated to Gaston who defeated Bradley in a close primary in 2022.

As chair of the Public Safety Committee, Gaston who has a law degree from Quinnipiac, led Senate passage of a bill that requires police officers to inform drivers of the reason for a traffic stop and encourage additional police officer trainings on de-escalation, use of force, customer service, diversity and bias.

Newton has rebuilt his bona fides as a local leader in the reentry community assimilating ex-offenders back into productivity. Newton has also leveraged his position as co-chair of the council’s budget committee and official on the legislative body to build relationships.

In some circles this contest will be politically sticky. Both Gaston and Newton have cross-over alliances. For instance, they are key allies of Mayor Joe Ganim and were often on the campaign trail the past five months in support of the mayor’s reelection.

They also have close relationships on the City Council. Ganim and Newton have also returned to public office on second chance messages.

This current cycle is already upon us with party endorsements in May and primary to take place August 13, according to the state election calendar.

As a multi-town district, the challenger will need just 15 percent support of convention delegates to wage a primary.