Hayes re-elected in CT’s 5th District, Office of the Secretary of the State says

WATERBURY, CT (WFSB) - Rep. Jahana Hayes has been re-elected to Connecticut’s 5th congressional district, according to the Office of the Secretary of the State.

She defeated challenger George Logan by a total of 1,842 votes, the Secretary of the State’s office said.

“This total exceeds any statutory margin of victory that would necessitate a recount,” officials said.

Hayes also released a statement on her victory:

The Office of the Secretary of the State’s statement on Hayes’ victory can be read below:

The race between Hayes and Logan was too close to call as of early Wednesday evening.

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Logan’s campaign, however, said it believes he won.

“We’re closely monitoring the vote count, but given the results reported by the Secretary of State, we’re confident that after all the votes are counted we believe George Logan will be the next Congressman from Connecticut’s 5th Congressional District,” said Liz Kurantowicz, senior advisor to George Logan for Congress.

According to The Associated Press, Hayes had an approximate 1,200 vote lead over Logan as of noon on Wednesday.

Hayes, a Democrat, has been looking to hang on for a third term while challenger George Logan is trying to get a Republican back in the seat.

Logan addressed his supporters late Tuesday night.

“It’s not going to be a landslide, I told you that,” Logan said. “It’s going to be by the shortest of margins. We are looking good”.

Hayes was optimistic that her time in the seat had not come to an end.

She also addressed supporters Tuesday night.

“We have not gotten all the results, so it’s way too early to declare victory, but let me say to you, the rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.” Hayes said.

Both candidates prioritized inflation during their campaigns.

It became such a hot issue with voters, so both addressed it as much as they could.

Logan said he’s heard several issues from people, but inflation made its way to the top.

“Families are having a hard time putting food on the table, or having to make tough decisions in terms of putting more food on the table, or enough food on the table or paying for gas to go to work,” Logan said.

He said he believes big spending packages passed, like the infrastructure bill passed last year, helped fuel inflation.

He said he would be more wary on future spending proposals, and ensure they would be created in a bipartisan manner.

“We need to change the tenor that we see down in Washington, it’s just too polarizing,” Logan said. “I want to go down there and again, work with moderate Democrats, work with Republicans, to work together to solve our common problems. It can be done.”

Channel 3 caught up with Hayes earlier this week. She was seeing how federal funds were used in Kent.

Hayes argued she’s already shown she can work across the aisle when she helped to pass the American Rescue Plan act.

“I’ve sponsored and co-sponsored bipartisan legislation. And in my district, even the communities that are led by Republican mayors, first selectmen, are benefitting from the work I’ve done,” Hayes said.

She said she would continue to do that in a third term, and she has already been thinking of new ways to address inflation.

“We’ve already tried to pass legislation to bring down prices for people. Republicans voted against price gouging. But I think it’s also notable that many of these large corporations are seeing record profit. So we have to change the responsibility of corporations, what that looks like,” Hayes said.

Abortion has been a big topic between Hayes and Logan.

Hayes said she was staying committed to abortion and reproductive rights. She said she would codify Roe v. Wade.

Logan said that should be left up to the states, and that he supported the issue when he was a state senator.

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