To The Editor:

Housing was on the ballot in Connecticut on November 4th. For months, residents across the state had watched as Democrats in the General Assembly proposed sweeping mandates that would override local zoning, force high-density development in single-family neighborhoods, and strip communities of meaningful control over our local character. Public hearings overflowed with opposition; polls consistently showed broad disapproval. Yet rather than heed that message, legislative leaders did something revealing; they postponed their resurrected housing bill and the special session until after the November 4 municipal elections.

That postponement was no scheduling accident; it turned the entire election into an unspoken referendum on their housing agenda. Town committees, candidates, and voters treated it as such. Their “affordability” platform included much more affordable housing. In race after race, Democratic candidates defended or minimized their party’s top-down approach, while their opponents ran explicitly against the overreach embedded in HB-8002.

The results are now in, and Democrats gained seats, here in Newtown and in other rural and suburban towns as their party made no secret of their housing takeover agenda. In many communities that had previously sent clear anti-mandate signals, voters overwhelmingly gave power to Democrats. Message received. The Democrat leadership in Hartford has wasted no time declaring the outcome a ringing endorsement of their housing vision.

Elections have consequences. The special session convened with the wind at its back and HB-8002 is on its way to Lamont’s desk. Those who cast ballots for the prevailing side will soon see the policies they effectively ratified put into law.

Derek Pisani

Newtown