Your Guide to Feb. 26 Special Elections

Voters in three state Senate and two House districts head to the polls Feb. 26 to fill vacancies created by appointments to Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration.
Lamont’s appointment of five Democratic legislators—all reelected last November—forced special elections in the following districts:

• 3rd Senate District (East Hartford, East Windsor, South Windsor, and part of Ellington)
• 5th Senate District (West Hartford, Burlington, and parts of Bloomfield and Farmington)
• 6th Senate District (Berlin, New Britain, and part of Farmington)
• 39th House District (Part of New London)
• 99th House District (Part of East Haven)

Senate Races

South Windsor mayor Saud Anwar, a Democrat, is among the candidates for the 3rd Senate seat left vacant when Senator Tim Larson (D-East Hartford) resigned after he was nominated executive director of the Office of Higher Education.
Anwar faces Republican candidate Sarah Muska, a member of the East Windsor Board of Finance.
State representative Derek Slap (D-West Hartford) is one of four candidates running in the 5th Senate District, left vacant when Senator Beth Bye (D-West Hartford) was appointed to lead the Office of Early Childhood.
Former state representative Bill Wadsworth is the Republican candidate for the seat.
The Independent Party’s Jeff Przech and former gubernatorial candidate Mark Stewart Greenstein, representing the Amigo Constitution Party, are also on the ballot.
New Britain city attorney Gennaro Bizzarro, a Republican, and state representative Rick Lopes (D-New Britain) are vying to succeed former senator Terry Gerratana (D-New Britain).
Gerratana resigned her 6th Senate District seat to take a position as an adviser in the state Office of Health Strategy.

House Races

Four candidates are challenging for the 39th state House seat left vacant when Rep. Chris Soto (D-New London) stepped down to become Lamont’s director of legislative affairs.
Small business owner Kat Goulart is the Republican candidate and faces former city councilor and unaffiliated candidate Jason Catala, the Green Party’s Mirna Martinez, a school board member, and Democrat Anthony Nolan, a New London city councilor.
Democrat Josh Balter, an attorney and Republican Joseph Zullo, the East Haven town attorney, are the two candidates for the 99th House seat left vacant when Rep. James Albis (D-East Haven) was appointed a senior adviser at the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
Democrats currently hold 20 seats in the state Senate, seven more than Republicans, with three vacancies. In the state House, Democrats hold 90 seats to the Republicans’ 59, with two vacancies.