Can Dems oust Somers and claim another Senate seat?

By Paul Choiniere

With the announcement by former state Rep. Joe de la Cruz that he will seek the nomination to run for state Senate in the 18th District, incumbent Republican Sen. Heather Somers faces her most serious challenge since first elected to the seat in 2016.

Trying to wrestle the 18th District from the Republicans should be a high priority for Democrats. Ousting Somers would complete a dramatic turnaround for the party from a decade ago and amount to another disheartening setback for the state GOP. It is certainly a race to watch heading into the new year.

In 2016, Republicans dominated state Senate representation in southeastern Connecticut. In addition to Somers, Republican Paul Formica served as the state senator in the 20th District, which stretches from the coastal towns of East Lyme, Waterford and New London, north to Bozrah. And Republican state Sen. Art Linares held the 33rd seat, a 12-town district of small, mostly affluent towns, including Lyme, Old Saybrook, Essex and Westbrook.

The region’s only Democratic state senator back then was Cathy Osten, who still represents the 19th District. Osten’s consistently strong showings in Norwich have allowed her to win elections in the district that includes many smaller, conservative towns to the north.

How times have changed.

In 2018, Democrat Norm Needleman won a narrow victory in the 33rd District when Linares did not seek re-election. Two years later, Martha Marx took the 20th District when Formica did not run. Assuming they run again, Osten, Needleman and Marx would have to be considered favorites in 2026.

Somers stands in the breach against a potential clean sweep by Democrats of the region’s state Senate seats.

Since her first victory in 2016, the incumbent Republican senator has used a consistent formula to retain office. In 2018, 2020 and 2022, Somers lost in the most populous towns of Groton and Stonington but offset the defeats there by winning decisively in the smaller conservative towns of Griswold, North Stonington, Preston, Plainfield, Sterling and Voluntown.

The script changed in 2024 when Somers also won narrowly in Groton by 247 votes and Stonington by 379 votes, in addition to her continued strong showing elsewhere in the district. The result was a dominant victory — 29,934 to 20,713 — over challenger Andrew Parrella.

Yet it would be a mistake for the Somers camp to be overconfident over that showing. Parrella was a weak, largely token candidate. He did not obtain funding under the state’s Citizens Election Program, which provides campaign finance grants to candidates who swear off taking any outside, special interest donations. And Parrella raised little money himself.

Somers did qualify for the program that provides up to $124,000 for state Senate candidates.

De la Cruz will present a far more serious challenge. He was the state representative for the 41st District for three terms, which then included parts of Groton and New London. It now consists of sections of Groton and Stonington. De la Cruz did not seek re-election in 2022.

Given his background and his affability as a candidate, de la Cruz could potentially erode Somers’s strength in the 18th District’s smaller, working-class communities. Age 54, de la Cruz worked his way up in the sheet metal trade, now serving as vice president of the Hillery Co. in Groton.

He is the president of Community Speaks Out, which helps individuals and families affected by addiction. The fentanyl crisis has hit hard in many of the district’s small towns. De la Cruz can speak personally of how addiction hits families. He and his wife, Tammy, founded Community Speaks Out after watching their son’s battle with addiction. Tragically, their son Joey Gingerella, having achieved sobriety, was murdered in 2016 in Groton when he intervened to help a woman being assaulted by her boyfriend.

Meanwhile, Somers in 2026 will face a tough challenge in Groton and Stonington, where fired-up Democratic bases are in no mood to support any Republican given their anger over the actions of President Donald Trump and the unwillingness of most Republicans to challenge him. A motivated Democratic base was clearly a factor in the party’s dominant performance in the recent municipal elections.

But Sen. Somers remains a formidable candidate. She is ever present at important events in the region and sports a strong pro-business record. Moderate in policy, Somers has shown a willingness to work with the majority party for the benefit of the district. And as the ranking member of the Public Health Committee, she has advocated for programs to address addiction and mental health struggles.

Voters can expect Democrats to try to link her with Trump and unpopular Republican policies. Somers’ opposition to the recently passed affordable housing bill could hurt. The incumbent must walk a tight rope of trying to boost MAGA turnout in the district’s blue-collar communities without running as a MAGA candidate.

As state Senate races go, this should be a good one.

Paul Choiniere is the former editorial page editor of The Day, now retired. He can be reached at p.choiniere@yahoo.com.

The original article can be found at: https://theday.com/news/824982/can-dems-oust-somers-and-claim-another-senate-seat/#