Another Election Day, another victory for Andrea Stillman, who easily defeated her opponent to hold the same position she's held since 2004.
For Stillman it means another two years as Senator in the state’s 20th District, which covers Waterford, East Lyme, Montville, New London, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Bozrah, and Salem.
Stillman defeated Republican Mike Doyle in a race where Stillman said Doyle participated in “dirty campaigning,” which she said only worked against him.
Stillman earned her fifth term in the State Senate after she voted for Gov. Dannel Malloy’s budget, which included one of the largest tax increases in Connecticut history, and after she was in the middle of a highly contentious debate on education reform that resulted in her authorizing changes to what Malloy originally proposed.
Stillman said she believed people understood the need for a tax increase considering the fiscal state Connecticut was in. And she said her changes to the education bill improved the bill, and made it more teacher-friendly.
“I think the people in my district – especially the teachers – understood that I worked very hard to come up with a balanced bill,” Stillman said. “And one that they felt would help them in terms of teaching. So I think the education bill itself was a boost for me because for the most part teachers were very appreciative of the hard work I did on that bill.”
Meanwhile, Stillman said Doyle tried several “low blows” during the campaign, including one where he inferred that she was planning to move to Florida after the election. Stillman said Doyle resorted to those tactics to take attention away from his platform, or lack thereof, and said it ultimately hurt him in the election.
“(The public) could see right through it, that it was dirty campaigning,” Stillman said. “And it was unfortunate, but when you have an opponent that doesn’t have a record or anything to offer, that’s what your opponent does. They try to get back at you with false accusations.”
