Sen. Tony Hwang Retires: CT GOP Faces Deeper Crisis

Tony Hwang is calling it a career, and his exit from the 28th Senate District race is sending tremors through what remains of Connecticut’s Republican Party.

Hwang, the moderate Fairfield Republican who has held the seat representing Bethel, Easton, Fairfield and Newtown since winning his first term more than a decade ago, informed the Senate Republican caucus Monday night he will not seek a seventh term. He faced a primary challenge from the right, and by all accounts decided the fight wasn’t worth it.

The decision leaves two Republican-held Senate seats in Fairfield County open and vulnerable, handing Democrats a genuine shot at shrinking the GOP caucus to single digits for the first time since the post-Watergate wave of 1974. Democrats already hold a commanding 25-11 majority in the chamber.

The math is brutal for Republicans. As recently as January 2017, the party began Donald Trump’s first term holding an 18-18 tie in the Connecticut Senate and sitting just four seats short of a majority in the 151-member House. Eight years of successive electoral disasters have reduced them to a caucus fighting to stay above ten members.

Trump’s grip on Republican politics nationally has proven to be a particular liability in suburban Connecticut. His trade wars and, more recently, the administration’s military conflict with Iran have given moderate voters in places like Fairfield even more reason to break with the party. Early polling already signals rough terrain for the GOP heading into November’s midterm elections.

Brenda Kupchick, the former first selectwoman of Fairfield and a former state House member, put it plainly. “The current climate makes it very difficult for a moderate, common-sense Connecticut Republican to either get through a primary or win in a general election,” she said. Kupchick confirmed she will not seek the GOP nomination herself.

That leaves Amybeth Laroche of Newtown as the only declared Republican candidate for the seat. Laroche, a conservative Board of Finance member, attended Gov. Ned Lamont’s State of the State address in February as a House chamber guest and was among those who walked out to protest the governor’s criticism of federal immigration agents’ training and tactics. She posted about the moment on Instagram, writing: “I will not stay silent while those who serve and protect our communities are disrespected.”

In a district anchored by Fairfield, the largest of the four communities, Laroche starts as an underdog against whoever emerges from what could become a competitive Democratic primary.

Rob Blanchard, the Fairfield Democrat who narrowly lost to Hwang two years ago, announced Tuesday he intends to launch a campaign for the Democratic nomination this week. Blanchard is resigning as communications director for the Lamont administration to join the governor’s reelection effort and pursue the legislative seat simultaneously. Dan Rock, a member of the Fairfield Board of Finance, is also seeking the Democratic nod.

The second open Fairfield County seat compounds the GOP’s problems. Sen. Ryan Fazio, the Greenwich Republican who recaptured the 36th District seat covering Greenwich, New Canaan and Stamford in a special election five years ago after Democrats flipped it in 2018, is running for governor rather than reelection. That seat will require heavy Republican investment just to hold, assuming a credible candidate emerges.

The party’s best odds for stabilizing its numbers may lie outside Fairfield County entirely, in districts where Trump’s brand still moves Republican primary voters without alienating everyone else. But those seats can’t offset the exposure in Connecticut’s wealthiest corridor, where the suburban realignment that began in 2018 has accelerated with each passing cycle.

For those who follow Connecticut politics closely, Hwang’s departure is more than one senator choosing not to fight a primary. It is a marker of how thoroughly Trump-era national politics has reshaped what was once a functioning two-party state. The question now is whether any version of Connecticut Republicanism can survive in Fairfield County at all, or whether November delivers the kind of result that hasn’t been seen since Richard Nixon was still finishing his first term.