Connecticut Local Politics

Most members of the General Assembly who are thinking about retirement probably haven’t made up their minds, yet. But those who have are all Republicans, for some reason, which could be a problem for the party come November as they’ll have a handful of open seats to defend. Here’s a current list of open seats for the 2008 legislative elections:

House

61st District (Suffield, parts of East Granby and Windsor)

Rep. Ruth Fahrbach (R-Suffield) is retiring. Her district was a very, very close call last time around (she won 51%-48%), after years of being safe for the Republicans. No word yet on who is running to replace her. This should be a toss-up.

151st District (Part of Greenwich)

Rep. Claudia “Dolly” Powers (R-Greenwich) is retiring. The 151st has long been a solid GOP district. Alfred Camillo Jr., a former RTC chair, is running for the seat (no word on a Democrat yet). The district should be safe Republican territory. Update: MikeCT reminds me that this was also a close race in 2006, and could definitely be again in 2008.

Senate

8th District (Avon, Barkhamsted, Canton, Colebrook, Hartland, New Hartford, Norfolk, Simsbury, parts of Torrington, Granby and Harwinton)

Sen. Thomas Herlihy (R-Simsbury) is retiring. No word on who will replace him. This is a traditional Republican district, but saw a squeaker of a race in 2006. Definitely a toss-up.

24th District (Danbury, New Fairfield, Sherman and part of Bethel)

Sen. David Cappiello (R) is running for Congress against U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy. His seat has been safely Republican for a while. Michael McLachlan, Danbury Mayor Boughton’s chief of staff, is running on the Republican side. There is no Democratic challenger yet. This seat leans Republican.

36th District (Greenwich, parts of New Canaan and Stamford)

Sen. William Nickerson (R-Greenwich) is retiring. Bradley Airport head L. Scott Frantz is seeking his seat as a Republican (no Dem challenger yet). The district should be safe for the GOP.

Know of another seat that’s open? Post it here!