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August 14, 2024

Anabel Figueroa loses Stamford primary after antisemitism incident

TABIUS MCCOY / CT MIRROR A poll worker at an empty polling location at the West Hartford Town Hall during the Aug. 13 primary.
By Mark Pazniokas, CT Mirror

Jonathan Jacobson crushed Rep. Anabel Figueroa, D-Stamford, in a Democratic primary Tuesday, buoyed by the backing of a popular mayor and the outrage generated by 11th-hour complaints of antisemitic remarks by Figueroa and one of her supporters.

Figueroa was one of two Democratic incumbents from Stamford to lose: Rep. David Michel, a three-term liberal backed by the Working Families Party, lost to Eilish Collins Main, another member of an ascendant faction led by Mayor Caroline Simmons.

Unofficial results showed Jacobson winning with 63% of the vote; Main, with 56%. Main had managed the successful campaign to defeat proposed charter revisions last year that would have shifted some powers from the mayor to the Board of Representatives.

All but one of the 15 Democratic primaries for seats in the General Assembly — four Senate and 11 House contests — were in districts where Democrats now hold the seat, and a victory Tuesday most likely is a harbinger of a win in November. Republicans had only two state legislative primaries.

Turnout was low in the first state legislative primaries in which early in-person voting was allowed. Early voting generally was lightly used, with the notable exception of Hamden, where there were three House primaries and local officials aggressively promoted the early balloting.

One of the Hamden races was too close to call.

In the fight for the Democratic nomination to succeed retiring Rep. Michael D’Agostino in the 91st House District, the party-endorsed candidate, Jennifer Pope, led Laurie Sweet by two votes with all precincts reporting, according to the secretary of the state’s web site.

But the Working Families Party, which endorsed Sweet, claimed victory for its candidate.

In Stamford, Figueroa already was seen as struggling to hold the 148th House District seat she won in a special election last year when the race took a dramatic turn over allegations of antisemitism by Figueroa in a Spanish-language interview video that went unnoticed for two weeks.

“The Hispanic vote is going to determine on August 13th who will win to represent or who will continue to represent you,” Figueroa said in the video, according to a translation posted by the Democratic City Committee. “We cannot permit a person who is of Jewish origin, of Jewish origin, to represent our community. It’s impossible.”

House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, said Figueroa acknowledged the accuracy of the translation in a phone conversion.

“I encouraged her to apologize,” Ritter said.

She did, after a fashion.

Figueroa, accompanied by Rep. James Sanchez, D-Hartford, approached Jacobson and his supporters outside a polling place at Stamford High School, where they were chanting, “Stop the hate.”

She told them she only was trying to make a case for keeping the seat in the hands of a racial minority and was sorry — if her remarks offended anyone. Neither the explanation nor the conditional phrasing of an apology was accepted.

“This is not going to help, ma’am,” Jacobson told her. “That is not an apology, ma’am.”

The exchange was recorded on video viewed by The Connecticut Mirror.

Jacobson said Figueroa then offered an unconditional apology after speaking with a rabbi who stood with the Jacobson supporters. The controversy came one day after Figueroa denounced one of her own supporters, Eva Padilla of the Democratic City Committee, for referring to Jacobson as “the Israeli lawyer.”

“I have known Eva for many years, which makes her comments all the more disturbing and disheartening,” Figueroa said on her Facebook page. “At a time when antisemitism is on the rise both nationally and locally, such remarks are unacceptable and have no place in our discourse.”

Elsewhere, incumbents generally prevailed.

Five of the 11 Democratic primaries in state House districts involved incumbents on the outs with town committees that declined to endorse them. The other three were Andre Baker Jr. of Bridgeport, Travis Sims of Norwalk and Bobby Gibson of Bloomfield. All three won.

Rep. Josh Elliott, D-Hamden, defeated a challenger, Dan Garrett, in the 88th House District.

The two Democratic senators challenged in primaries were victorious: Sen. Herron Gaston of Bridgeport beat former Sen. Ernest E. Newton II in the 23rd District, and Sen. Douglas McCrory of Hartford prevailed in a three-way primary in the 2nd District over Ayana Taylor and Shellye Davis, both of Windsor.

Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox won a four-way race for the nomination in the open 22nd Senate District, where Sen. Marilyn Moore is not seeking reelection.

In the 7th Senate District, Cynthia Mangini of Enfield beat Nathan Wolliston of Windsor for the right to oppose Sen. John Kissel, R-Enfield, who has held the seat for nearly 32 years.

Rep. Bob Godfrey, D-Danbury, one of the longest-serving House members, defeated Melissa B. Santana, a challenger and charter school advocate. The pro-labor Working Families Party sent staff to Danbury to work on Godfrey’s behalf, as it did in Bloomfield for Gibson and unsuccessfully for Michel in Stamford.

In the open 58th House District, Councilman John Santanella of Enfield cruised to victory in a contest with David Alexander, a former state representative trying a comeback after two DUI arrests and two confrontations with his parents that also led to arrests. Rep. Tom Arnone, D-Enfield, did not seek reelection.

David DeFronzo of New Britain won the Democratic nomination for the 26th House seat opened by the retirement of Rep. Peter Tercyak, D-New Britain. DeFronzo is the son of a former state senator, Donald DeFronzo.

Republicans had two state legislative primaries but only one in a district that solidly favors the GOP: Jason Buchsbaum, the party-endorsed candidate, defeated Edwin N. Cady in the 69th House District, where Rep. Cindy Harrison, R-Southbury, is retiring.

In the 29th Senate District of northeastern Connecticut, the party-endorsed candidate, Chris Reddy, defeated Susanne Witkowski for the right to oppose Sen. Mae Flexer, D-Willimantic. Flexer was reelected in 2022 with 50.6% of the vote in a three-way race.

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