With most towns in the 33rd Senate district reporting results as of 11 p.m. Tuesday, Sen. Norm Needleman, D-Essex, was leading with 54.4% of the vote, according to unofficial results being tallied by Needleman’s campaign. While still waiting on results from Old Saybrook and absentee ballots from Haddam, Needleman had 24,781 votes, compared to 20,761 for Republican challenger Brandon Goff.

The 33rd Senate District includes Chester, Clinton, Colchester, Deep River, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Haddam, Lyme, Portland, Westbrook and part of Old Saybrook.

“Still waiting for results, looking much better, feeling pretty confident that I’m going to continue to serve the residents of the 33rd district, and I want to thank all of the voters today,” Needleman said around 11 p.m. He said he wanted to assure people that whether they agree with all of his votes or not, he will represent everybody and listen to their needs and wants.

He said he wouldn’t officially declare victory until he got results from all towns. Goff hadn’t called him to concede, and Goff didn’t respond to a voicemail or text from The Day.

Needleman has served as first selectman of Essex since 2011 and went to Essex Town Hall, the town’s lone polling place, when polls closed. According to unofficial results from the town, Needleman received 2,577 votes to Goff’s 1,193.

Needleman first ran for the state Senate seat in 2016 but lost to Sen. Art Linares. He defeated Republican Melissa Ziobron two years later with less than 50.1% of the vote, and in 2020 defeated Republican challenger Brendan Saunders with 53.9% of the vote.

According to recently released numbers from the Connecticut Secretary of the State’s office, there are 36,423 unaffiliated voters, 26,100 registered Democrats and 21,006 Republicans across the 12 towns in the district.

Needleman, 71, serves as chairman of the legislature’s Energy and Technology Committee and vice chairman of the Planning and Development Committee. His campaign emphasized his work on legislation promoting wind and solar power, bipartisan approach to problem solving, and efforts to hold utilities accountable for rate increases and storm response.

Needleman is the CEO of the effervescent product manufacturer Tower Laboratories, which has 300 employees in Connecticut and Michigan.

Goff, 26, grew up in East Haddam and moved back to the town, where he now serves as a town councilor, after living in Washington during five years of active-duty service in the Navy.

He ran on a platform of reducing the tax burden on residents, reining in utility costs, repealing sections of the 2020 Police Accountability Act, and giving parents greater control over their children’s education.

e.moser@theday.com