1980 Connecticut Senate election

1980 Connecticut Senate election

← 1978 November 4, 1980 1982 →
All 36 seats in the Connecticut State Senate 19 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Joe Lieberman (retired) Richard C. Bozzuto (retired) Party Democratic Republican Leader since January 8, 1975 January 3, 1979 Leader's seat District 10 District 32 Last election 26 10 Seats after 23 13 Seat change 3 3 Popular vote 666,008 651,147 Percentage 50.56% 49.43%
President pro tempore before election Joseph J. Fauliso Democratic Elected President pro tempore James J. Murphy Jr. Democratic

The 1980 Connecticut Senate election was held on November 4, 1980, to determine which party would control the Connecticut State Senate for the following two years. All 36 seats in the Connecticut State Senate were up for election. Prior to the election, 26 seats were held by Democrats and 10 seats were held by Republicans. The general election saw Republicans flip 3 seats, this however meant that Democrats retained their majority in the State Senate.^[1][2]

Retirements

Democrats

1. District 2: Sanford Cloud Jr. retired.
2. District 10: Joe Lieberman retired to unsuccessfully run for Connecticut's 3rd congressional district.
3. District 23: Salvatore C. DePiano retired.

Republicans

1. District 32: Richard C. Bozzuto retired to unsuccessfully run for U.S. Senator of Connecticut.
2. District 34: Lawrence J. DeNardis retired to successfully run for Connecticut's 3rd congressional district..

Defeated incumbents

In general

Democrats

1. District 4: Abraham Glassman lost re-election to Carl A. Zinsser.
2. District 14: John D. Prete lost re-election to Thomas Scott.
3. District 15: Louis S. Cutillo lost re-election to Jerry Labriola.
4. District 30: Joseph A Ruggiero lost re-election to M. Adela Eads.

Republicans

1. District 27: Richard H. G. Cunningham lost re-election to Thom Serrani.

Closest races

Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:

1. District 4, 0.2% (gain)
2. District 5, 0.2%
3. District 9, 1.2%
4. District 33, 1.2%
5. District 12, 1.6%
6. District 24, 2.0%
7. District 30, 5.4% (gain)
8. District 35, 7.0%
9. District 27, 7.2% (gain)
10. District 17, 8.8%

Results

District 1

District 1 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joseph J. Fauliso (incumbent)	16,335	76.0%
	Republican	Donald B. LaCroix	5,151	24.0%
Total votes			21,486	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 2

District 2 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Wilber G. Smith	15,957	81.4%
	Republican	Gha-Is Muhammad	3,641	18.6%
Total votes			19,598	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 3

District 3 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Marcella C. Fahey (incumbent)	21,480	65.5%
	Republican	Edward J. Wilson	11,304	34.5%
Total votes			32,784	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 4

District 4 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Carl A. Zinsser	23,234	50.1%
	Democratic	Abraham Glassman (incumbent)	23,154	49.9%
Total votes			46,388	100.0%
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 5

District 5 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Clifton A. Leonhardt (incumbent)	24,200	50.1%
	Republican	Charles R. Matties	24,114	49.9%
Total votes			48,314	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 6

District 6 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Nancy Johnson (incumbent)	18,154	65.7%
	Democratic	John V. Zisk Jr.	9,475	34.3%
Total votes			27,629	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 7

District 7 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Cornelius O'Leary (incumbent)	22,553	62.2%
	Republican	Barbara F. Chain	13,687	37.8%
Total votes			36,240	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 8

District 8 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Russell L. Post Jr. (incumbent)	27,653	59.4%
	Democratic	John D. McKeon	18,911	40.6%
Total votes			46,564	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 9

District 9 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bill Curry (incumbent)	24,840	50.6%
	Republican	Charles E. Alfano	24,241	49.4%
Total votes			49,081	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 10

District 10 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John C. Daniels	18,431	67.7%
	Republican	Brian F. Green	8,780	32.3%
Total votes			27,211	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 11

District 11 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Anthony M. Ciarlone (incumbent)	16,436	63.7%
	Republican	Elaine W. Noe	9,176	35.6%
	Independent	James J. Valenti	189	0.7%
Total votes			25,801	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 12

District 12 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Regina R. Smith (incumbent)	21,664	50.8%
	Republican	Joseph J. Cretella Jr.	20,959	49.2%
Total votes			42,623	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 13

District 13 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Amelia P. Mustone (incumbent)	21,082	60.3%
	Republican	Robert Chuck Lockert	13,892	39.7%
Total votes			34,974	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 14

District 14 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Thomas Scott	21,809	55.4%
	Democratic	John D. Prete (incumbent)	17,564	44.6%
Total votes			39,373	100.0%
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 15

District 15 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jerry Labriola	18,665	56.3%
	Democratic	Louis S. Cutillo (incumbent)	14,475	43.7%
Total votes			33,140	100.0%
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 16

District 16 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	William J. Sullivan (incumbent)	19,114	56.6%
	Republican	Dante Carrafa	14,683	43.4%
Total votes			33,797	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 17

District 17 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Eugene A Skowronski (incumbent)	20,950	54.4%
	Republican	Alyce A. Samuelson	17,529	45.6%
Total votes			38,479	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 18

District 18 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mary A. Martin (incumbent)	18,050	58.9%
	Republican	Carl V. Stockwell	12,617	41.1%
Total votes			30,667	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 19

District 19 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	James J. Murphy Jr. (incumbent)	20,858	58.3%
	Republican	Reginald L Lewis Jr.	14,948	41.7%
Total votes			35,806	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 20

District 20 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Richard F. Schneller (incumbent)	21,769	56.0%
	Republican	Sidney J. Holbrook	17,085	44.0%
Total votes			38,854	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 21

District 21 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	George Gunther (incumbent)	24,509	63.7%
	Democratic	John W. Sober	13,974	36.3%
Total votes			38,483	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 22

District 22 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Howard T. Owens Jr. (incumbent)	16,690	55.0%
	Republican	C. David Munich	13,658	45.0%
Total votes			30,348	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 23

District 23 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Margaret E. Morton	12,158	65.2%
	Republican	Alexander Brown	6,485	34.8%
Total votes			18,643	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 24

District 24 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Wayne A. Baker (incumbent)	21,049	51.0%
	Republican	Fred V. Miller	20,201	49.0%
Total votes			41,250	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 25

District 25 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Andrew J. Santaniello (incumbent)	21,112	64.7%
	Democratic	Sylvester Maultsby	11,460	35.2%
Total votes			32,572	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 26

District 26 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John G. Matthews (incumbent)	32,498	73.3%
	Democratic	Richard H. Saxl	11,826	26.7%
Total votes			44,324	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 27

District 27 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Thom Serrani	19,073	53.6%
	Republican	Richard H. G. Cunningham (incumbent)	16,540	46.4%
Total votes			35,613	100.0%
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 28

District 28 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Myron R. Ballen (incumbent)	25,587	59.1%
	Democratic	John F. Fallon	17,717	40.9%
Total votes			43,304	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 29

District 29 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Audrey P. Beck (incumbent)	19,834	61.4%
	Republican	Robert L. Lambert	12,466	38.6%
Total votes			32,300	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 30

District 30 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	M. Adela Eads	22,902	52.7%
	Democratic	Joseph A Ruggiero (incumbent)	20,590	47.3%
Total votes			43,492	100.0%
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 31

District 31 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Steven C. Casey (incumbent)	22,489	63.2%
	Republican	Joseph Pugliese	13,089	36.8%
Total votes			35,578	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 32

District 32 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	William F. Rogers III	29,604	63.2%
	Democratic	Sean C. Butterly	17,261	36.8%
Total votes			46,865	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 33

District 33 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Frederick R. Knous (incumbent)	23,119	50.6%
	Republican	Douglas E. Smart	22,575	49.4%
Total votes			45,694	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 34

District 34 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Philip S. Robertson	25,084	60.4%
	Democratic	John P. McManus	16,432	39.6%
Total votes			41,516	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 35

District 35 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Michael J. Skelley (incumbent)	22,342	53.5%
	Republican	Claire H. Frier	19,419	46.5%
Total votes			41,761	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 36

District 36 election, 1980

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Michael L. Morano (incumbent)	24,096	65.5%
	Democratic	Suzanne E. Bailey	12,696	34.5%
Total votes			36,792	100.0%
	Republican hold

References

1. "The Connecticut register and manual : a state calendar of public officers and institutions yr.1980". babel.hathitrust.org. Retrieved December 8, 2025.
2. "Election Results Archive". electionhistory.ct.gov. Retrieved December 8, 2025.