East Lyme ― Thousands of doors came down to 99 votes in the 37th House District.

Democrat Nick Menapace on Election Day unseated four-term state Rep. Holly Cheeseman, R-East Lyme, in a campaign in which he said he knocked on the doors of 15,000 homes in East Lyme, Montville and Salem.

Cheeseman conceded the race in a Wednesday morning phone call. The voting totals, delayed the previous night by a combination of an unexpectedly high number of same-day voter registrations and cumbersome state reporting requirements, were too close to call until almost midnight Tuesday.

Menapace took home 7,735 votes to Cheeseman’s 7,636. That equates to 50.4% of the vote, compared to the 47.9% he received in 2022 in his first bid against the incumbent state representative.

“I had a lot of people tell me this is the way to do it: Show up, talk to people,” he said in a Wednesday phone interview. “I talked about what I wanted to be doing. I talked about how I think we could be approaching these issues differently.”

That could mean devising a long-term plan to address high electricity prices and the need for renewable energy. It could mean promoting affordable housing in the form of accessory dwelling units that turn one home into two without the need for large-scale developments. It could mean increasing protections for renters, like those in East Lyme’s Windward Village apartment complex, who are facing stark increases after a real estate investment firm purchased the property.

It could also mean getting emergency dispatchers recognized as first responders.

“There’s a gentleman at one of the first doors I knocked on two years ago who talked to me about that, and it’s always stuck in my head,” he said.

Dispatchers are still considered office workers by federal standards that define them as clerical, like secretaries, rather than protective, like police officers. That can translate to less funding for research, training and mental health benefits to address job-related issues like post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I really would like to see if I can do something with that,” he said.

Menapace, a teacher in New London Public Schools’ Adult and Continuing Education program, said he’s hopeful he can continue working during the legislative session that runs from January through the beginning of June.

State lawmakers make a base pay of $40,000 for the part-time job.

He also plans to maintain his position on the East Lyme Planning Commission unless legislative committee meetings make it difficult for him to attend the local meetings.

Setting an example

Cheeseman in a phone interview Wednesday said she will spend her newfound free time with her aging father and husband, Joe Duncan, whose home in Salem was damaged in a fire last week. She also plans to volunteer with organizations advocating for issues close to her heart, including domestic violence prevention and mental health awareness.

She said she’s received support since her loss from constituents and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

“They view my loss as a real blow to the state of Connecticut because, in their view, I embody the kind of willingness to see beyond politics and focus on what’s best for the people of Connecticut, and I’ve done so for eight years with incredible results,” she said.

She pointed to her role as a freshman state representative in crafting a 2017 bipartisan budget that she said wouldn’t have been possible if Republicans didn’t have a seat at the table. That’s when successful reforms known as “fiscal guardrails” were instituted because a tie in the Senate and a slim Democratic majority in the House allowed for compromise. The guardrails included new caps on spending and bonding, and a volatility cap that directs surplus revenue into the state's Rainy Day Fund.

She also counted among her biggest accomplishments a 2017 move by the state legislature to support continued operation of the Millstone nuclear power plant in Waterford. The deal required Eversource and United Illuminating to buy half of the plant's energy output through 2029.

The issue emerged again this summer when Eversource Energy and United Illuminating customers were shocked by a so-called “public benefits” charge largely related to the deal.

“I think preserving Millstone, for all the recent controversy, saved 1,500 jobs and one of the most important power sources not only for the state of Connecticut but New England,” she said.

Cheeseman acknowledged knocking on far fewer doors than her opponent.

“I was hopeful that if people had paid attention to what I’d done for eight years, that that would’ve been the determining factor,” she said. “At the end of the day, the results are what they are. I just hope he will look at how I behaved in representing the district and try to emulate that.”

The down ballot race came in the shadow of the presidential race that put former President Donald Trump back in office. While Trump was favored by roughly 50% of voters in the small towns of Salem and Montville, he garnered only 37% in East Lyme.

Cheeseman acknowledged anti-Trump sentiment was probably a factor in her loss.

“The ultimate irony is if you voted against me to punish Donald Trump, you lost a really fine state representative and he’s the president of the United States,” she said.

e.regan@theday.com