Fazio Defeats Gevanter in Senate Special Election.

Republican Ryan Fazio put one on the board for his beleaguered party Tuesday night by recapturing the Greenwich-based 36th Senate seat after two election wins for Democrat Alex Kasser. Fazio defeated Kasser-endorsed corporate lawyer Alexis Gevanter by about 500 votes, according to unofficial results. Fazio received 8888 votes to Gevanter’s 8416. Petitioning candidate John Blankley, a Democrat, received 391.

A strong result for Fazio in Greenwich and a poor turnout in Democratic Stamford were crucial to the Republican’s win.

Gevanter moved to Greenwich three years ago. Fazio is homegrown and graduated from Greenwich High School. Fazio entered the race shortly after Kasser announced she was abandoning her office to concentrate on the contentious divorce action she brought against husband Seth Bergstein shortly after she was elected to her first term in 2018.

Special elections in Connecticut are notably anti-democratic. No primaries are allowed. The party endorsed candidate is the nominee. Stalwart local Democrat John Blankley petitioned onto the special election ballot after being boxed out of his party’s nominating convention. Fazio, the 2020 Republican nominee for the seat, defeated Republican National Committeewoman Leora Levy for the nomination. State Representative Harry Arora dropped out of the contest on the eve of the convention vote.

Fazio joins 12 Republicans in the 36-member upper chamber. The legislature’s next regular session begins in February. The young Republican’s win consigns Kasser’s odd tenure to the annals of political curiosities. Tapping her personal fortune as suburban voters expressed their revulsion for Donald Trump was a combination that Gevanter could not duplicate.