Republicans won a special election Tuesday for the Connecticut state legislature when haberdasher and Tolland Town Councilman Sam Belsito won the special election in the 53rd District.
Democratic state Rep. Bryan Hurlburt had resigned the position to accept a post with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
In recent years, Republicans have begun dismissing Connecticut as a political "no man's land." Democrats hold both U.S. Senate seats, all five U.S. House seats, all statewide offices, and have comfortable majorities in both houses of the state legislature.
Belsito's comfortable win over Democrat Anthony Horn, a member of the Ashford Board of Finance, will give Republicans 53 seats in the 151-seat state House -- the most the GOP has held since 2004.
Many Republicans see the Belsito win as a sign that voters are fed up with the agenda of Democratic Gov. Dan Malloy and that major Republican gains in the statehouse are not out of the question in 2014.
"Republicans won the seat once held by Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman just days after the Democrats passed a budget that raises taxes, borrows hundreds of millions to pay for operating expenses, and balances by expanding gambling," State House Republican Leader Lawrence Cafero told reporters.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax.
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