As The Day does every two years, in 2022 we covered 11 Connecticut House of Representatives races, four Connecticut State Senate races, and the 2nd Congressional District race, providing southeastern Connecticut voters with valuable information about their choices and how the candidates’ decisions could shape their lives.

For each race, a reporter wrote an article about the candidates’ priorities if elected, their involvement in community organizations, and whether their professional experience would shape their work in the Connecticut General Assembly.

When writing about incumbents, this included summarizing how legislators voted on some of the most consequential and controversial bills, and asking why legislators voted how they did.

Readers could also view videos of candidates answering questions.

These videos included five questions addressed to all candidates, on the topics of affordable housing, protections for abortion access, the state surplus, climate change, and elections and voting.

For one video, we took the unusual step of adding a disclaimer because a candidate made a debunked claim about election fraud in Michigan.

In covering the 2nd Congressional District race, The Day included Green Party-endorsed candidate Kevin Blacker in in an article and a debate held at the Garde Arts Center, thus expanding the conversation beyond what it would have been with solely Rep. Joe Courtney and Republican challenger Mike France.

Blacker expanded public awareness of malfeasance at the Connecticut Port Authority surrounding the State Pier redevelopment, as did the investigative reporting of columnist David Collins and reporter Greg Smith.

Because of this awareness, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski made a campaign stop in New London to talk about Port Authority corruption.

The Day Editorial Board carefully weighed prior reports and concerns about candidates to make endorsements in the four Senate races, 2nd Congressional District race, and gubernatorial race.

State government and politics reporter Sten Spinella shined light outside the two-party system by not only profiling Blacker, but also profiling Green Party attorney general candidate Ken Krayeske and independent gubernatorial candidate Rob Hotaling. He also explained the referendum allowing legislators to permit early voting.

On Election Day, reporters spread out across southeastern Connecticut to assess turnout and talk to voters whose voices may have never appeared in The Day before, and after the election, we broke down how results compared to 2018 and 2020.