Connecticut's 2nd congressional district

Connecticut's 2nd congressional district – since January 3, 2013.

U.S. Representative

Joe Courtney
D–Vernon

Area

2,143 sq mi (5,550 km²)

Distribution

66.7.^{[citation needed]}% urban
33.3% rural

Population (2010)

714,819

Median income

$73,805^[1]

Ethnicity

84.2% White
3.6% Black
2.9% Asian
6.8% Hispanic
0.4% Native American
2.1% other

Cook PVI

D+3^[2]

Connecticut's 2nd Congressional District is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in the eastern part of the state, the district includes all of New London County, Tolland County, and Windham County, along with parts of Hartford, Middlesex, and New Haven counties.

Principal cities include: Enfield, Norwich, New London, and Groton.

The district is currently represented by Democrat Joe Courtney.

Towns in the District

Hartford County – Enfield, Glastonbury (part), Marlborough, and Suffield.

Middlesex County – Chester, Clinton, Deep River, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Haddam, Killingworth, Old Saybrook, and Westbrook.

New Haven County – Madison.

New London County – Bozrah, Colchester, East Lyme, Franklin, Griswold, Groton, Lebanon, Ledyard, Lisbon, Lyme, Montville, New London, North Stonington, Norwich, Old Lyme, Preston, Salem, Sprague, Stonington, Voluntown, and Waterford.

Tolland County – Andover, Bolton, Columbia, Coventry, Ellington, Hebron, Mansfield, Somers, Stafford, Tolland, Union, Vernon, and Willington.

Windham County – Ashford, Brooklyn, Canterbury, Chaplin, Eastford, Hampton, Killingly, Plainfield, Pomfret, Putnam, Scotland, Sterling, Thompson, Windham, and Woodstock.

Voter Registration

Voter Registration and Party Enrollment as of October 30, 2012^[3]
Party		Active	Inactive	Total	Percentage
	Democratic	119,995	5,501	125,496	28.94%
	Republican	90,371	4,174	94,545	21.80%
	Minor Parties	580	48	628	0.14%
	Unaffiliated	201,003	12,027	213,030	49.12%
Total		411,949	21,750	433,699	100%

Recent presidential elections

Election results from presidential races
Year	Office	Results
2000	President	Gore 55 – 38%
2004	President	Kerry 54 – 44%
2008	President	Obama 58 – 40%
2012	President	Obama 56 – 43%
2016	President	Clinton 49 – 46%

Recent elections

1992

US House election, 1992
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Samuel Gejdenson (incumbent)	123,291	51%
	Republican	Edward W. Munster	119,416	49%
	Democratic hold		Swing
Turnout			242,707	100%

1994

US House election, 1994
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Samuel Gejdenson (incumbent)	79,188	43%
	Republican	Edward W. Munster	79,167	43%
	A Connecticut Party	David Bingham	27,716	14%
	Democratic hold		Swing
Turnout			186,071	100%

1996

US House election, 1996
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Samuel Gejdenson (incumbent)	115,175	52%
	Republican	Edward W. Munster	100,332	45%
	Independence Party of America	Dianne G. Ondusko	6,477	3%
	Natural Law	Thomas E. Hall	1,263	0.4%
	Democratic hold		Swing
Turnout			223,258	100%

1998

US House election, 1998
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Samuel Gejdenson (inc.)	99,567	61%
	Republican	Gary M. Koval	57,860	35%
	Independence Party of America	Dianne G. Ondusko	5,116	3%
	Term Limits	Paul W. Cook	658	0.4%
	Democratic hold		Swing
Turnout			163,201	100%

2000

US House election, 2000
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Rob Simmons	114,380	51%
	Democratic	Samuel Gejdenson (incumbent)	111,520	49%
	Republican gain from Democratic		Swing
Turnout			225,900	100%

2002

US House election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Rob Simmons (incumbent)	117,434	54%
	Democratic	Joe Courtney	99,674	46%
	Republican hold		Swing
Turnout			217,108	100%

2004

US House election, 2004
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Republican	Rob Simmons (inc.)	165,558	54%
	Democratic	James Sullivan	139,987	46%	-
	Republican hold		Swing
Turnout			305,545	100%

2006

US House election, 2006: Connecticut District 2^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joe Courtney	121,248	50%
	Republican	Rob Simmons (incumbent)	121,158	50%
	Democratic gain from Republican		Swing
Turnout			242,413	100%

2008

US House election, 2008: Connecticut District 2
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joe Courtney (incumbent)	212,411	66%
	Republican	Sean Sullivan	104,469	32%
	Green	G. Scott Deshefy	6,287	2%
	Democratic hold		Swing
Turnout			323,167	100%

2010

US House election, 2010: Connecticut District 2
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joe Courtney (incumbent)	147,748	60%
	Republican	Janet Peckinpaugh	95,671	39%
	Green	G. Scott Deshefy	3,344	1%
	Democratic hold		Swing
Turnout			246,763	100%

2012

Connecticut 2nd Congressional District Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joe Courtney (incumbent)	204,691	68%
	Republican	Paul Formica	87,828	29%
	Green	Colin Bennett	3,269	2%
	Libertarian	Daniel Reale	3,504	1%
	Democratic hold		Swing
Turnout			299,652	100%

2014

Connecticut 2nd Congressional District Election, 2014
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joe Courtney (incumbent)	141,948	62%
	Republican	Lori Hopkins-Cavanagh	80,837	36%
	Green	William Clyde	2,602	1%
	Libertarian	Daniel Reale	2,549	1%
	Democratic hold		Swing
Turnout			227,936	100%

2016

Connecticut 2nd Congressional District Election, 2016
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joe Courtney (incumbent)	207,584	63%
	Republican	Daria Novak	111,587	34%
	Green	Jonathan Pelto	5,332	2%
	Libertarian	Daniel Reale	5,016	1%
	Democratic hold		Swing
Turnout			329,519	100%

List of members representing the district

District organized from Connecticut's At-large congressional district in 1837.

Representative	Party	Years of Service	Cong ress(es)	Hometown	Electoral history
Samuel Ingham	Democratic	March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1839	25th	Essex	redistricted from the at-large district Lost re-election..
William L. Storrs	Whig	March 4, 1839 – June, 1840	26th	Middletown	Resigned after being appointed Associate Justice of CT Supreme Court
Vacant		June, 1840 – December 7, 1840
William Whiting Boardman	Whig	December 7, 1840 – March 3, 1843	26th 27th	New Haven	Retired.
John Stewart	Democratic	March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1845	28th	Chatham	Lost re-election..
Samuel Dickinson Hubbard	Whig	March 4, 1845 – March 3, 1849	29th 30th	Middletown	Retired.
Walter Booth	Free Soil	March 4, 1849 – March 3, 1851	31st	Meriden	Lost re-election..
Colin M. Ingersoll	Democratic	March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1855	32nd 33rd	New Haven	Retired.
John Woodruff	American	March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1857	34th	New Haven	Lost re-election..
Samuel Arnold	Democratic	March 4, 1857 – March 3, 1859	35th	Haddam	Retired.
John Woodruff	Republican	March 4, 1859 – March 3, 1861	36th	New Haven	Retired.
James E. English	Democratic	March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1865	37th 38th	New Haven	Retired.
Samuel L. Warner	Republican	March 4, 1865 – March 3, 1867	39th	Middletown	Retired.
Julius Hotchkiss	Democratic	March 4, 1867 – March 3, 1869	40th	Waterbury	Retired.
Stephen Wright Kellogg	Republican	March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1875	41st 42nd 43rd	Waterbury	Lost re-election..
James Phelps	Democratic	March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1883	44th 45th 46th 47th	Essex	Retired.
Charles Le Moyne Mitchell	Democratic	March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1887	48th 49th	New Haven	Retired.
Carlos French	Democratic	March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1889	50th	Seymour	Retired.
Washington F. Willcox	Democratic	March 4, 1889 – March 3, 1893	51st 52nd	Chester	Retired.
James P. Pigott	Democratic	March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1895	53rd	New Haven	Lost re-election..
Nehemiah D. Sperry	Republican	March 4, 1895 – March 3, 1911	54th 55th 56th 57th 58th 59th 60th 61st	New Haven	Retired.
Thomas L. Reilly	Democratic	March 4, 1911 – March 3, 1913	62nd	Meriden	Re-districted to 3rd District
Bryan F. Mahan	Democratic	March 4, 1913 – March 3, 1915	63rd	New London	Lost re-election..
Richard P. Freeman	Republican	March 4, 1915 – March 3, 1933	64th 65th 66th 67th 68th 69th 70th 71st 72nd	New London	Lost re-election..
William L. Higgins	Republican	March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1937	73rd 74th	Coventry	Lost re-election.
William J. Fitzgerald	Democratic	January 3, 1937 – January 3, 1939	75th	Norwich	Lost re-election.
Thomas R. Ball	Republican	January 3, 1939 – January 3, 1941	76th	Old Lyme	Lost re-election.
William J. Fitzgerald	Democratic	January 3, 1941 – January 3, 1943	77th	Norwich	Lost re-election.
John D. McWilliams	Republican	January 3, 1943 – January 3, 1945	78th	Norwich	Lost re-election.
Chase G. Woodhouse	Democratic	January 3, 1945 – January 3, 1947	79th	Sprague	Lost re-election.
Horace Seely-Brown Jr.	Republican	January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1949	80th	Pomfret	Lost re-election.
Chase G. Woodhouse	Democratic	January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1951	81st	Sprague	Lost re-election.
Horace Seely-Brown Jr.	Republican	January 3, 1951 – January 3, 1959	82nd 83rd 84th 85th	Pomfret	Lost re-election.
Chester Bowles	Democratic	January 3, 1959 – January 3, 1961	86th	Essex	Retired after being appointed Under Secretary of State
Horace Seely-Brown Jr.	Republican	January 3, 1961 – January 3, 1963	87th	Pomfret	Rerired after running for US Senate
William St. Onge	Democratic	January 3, 1963 – May 1, 1970	88th 89th 90th 91st	Putnam	Died.
Vacant		May 1, 1970 – November 3, 1970
Robert H. Steele	Republican	November 3, 1970 – January 3, 1975	91st 92nd 93rd	Vernon	Retired after running for Governor
Chris Dodd	Democratic	January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1981	94th 95th 96th	Norwich	Retired after being elected to the US Senate
Sam Gejdenson	Democratic	January 3, 1981 – January 3, 2001	97th 98th 99th 100th 101st 102nd 103rd 104th 105th 106th	Bozrah	Lost re-election.
Rob Simmons	Republican	January 3, 2001 – January 3, 2007	107th 108th 109th	Stonington	Lost re-election.
Joe Courtney	Democratic	January 3, 2007 – Present	110th 111th 112th 113th 114th 115th 116th	Vernon	Incumbent

The district from 2003 to 2013

Living former Members

As of June 2016^[update], there are four living former members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut's 2nd congressional district.

Representative	Term in office	Date of birth (and age)
Robert H. Steele	1970–1975	(1938-11-03) November 3, 1938 (age 80)
Chris Dodd	1975–1981	(1944-05-27) May 27, 1944 (age 74)
Sam Gejdenson	1981–2001	(1948-05-20) May 20, 1948 (age 70)
Rob Simmons	2001–2007	(1943-02-11) February 11, 1943 (age 76)

References

^ https://www.census.gov/mycd/?st=09&cd=02
^ "Partisan Voting Index – Districts of the 115th Congress" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
^ "Registration and Party Enrollment Statistics as of October 30, 2012" (PDF). Connecticut Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-09-23. Retrieved 2012-10-30.
^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-12-16. Retrieved 2006-12-04.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link) 2006 Official Election Results

Martis, Kenneth C. (1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
Martis, Kenneth C. (1982). The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present

v t e Connecticut's congressional districts
Current districts 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th All districts At-large 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th See also Connecticut's past and present Representatives, Senators, and Delegations Recent U.S. House elections in Connecticut: 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020 All U.S. districts Apportionment Redistricting Gerrymandering

This page was last edited on 29 April 2019, at 10:44