Winfield Elected Senate Majority Leader

by Thomas Breen

Gary Winfield went to lunch at Amarante’s Sea Cliff on Thursday. He emerged as majority leader of the state Senate.

That’s because Winfield and his Democratic colleagues in the state legislature’s upper chamber met at Amarante’s in Morris Cove for a lunch and a leadership vote for the two-year term that begins in January.

Winfield — who has spent the past decade-plus representing the 10th State Senate District, which covers New Haven’s west side and a portion of West Haven — was elected by the 33-member Senate Democratic caucus to serve as the Senate’s majority leader, the chamber’s number-two role. He has long served as the Senate chair of the Judiciary Committee.

Norwalk State Sen. Bob Duff, who previously served as majority leader, was elected to serve as the Senate’s new president. (The role of majority leader is often a stepping stone to Senate president.)

Thursday’s leadership vote comes after Winfield ran uncontested in Tuesday’s general election for a seventh two-year term representing the 10th District. That election saw 33 Democrats elected to the 36-member Senate — leaving only three Republicans in the upper chamber. (Democrats have had a a 25-11 supermajority for the past two years.)

It also comes as the Senate’s long-time president, Martin Looney of New Haven’s 11th State Senate District, decided not to run for reelection this year. That opened up room for Duff to run for president and for another Democrat to run for majority leader. Click here to read an Independent article from May about Winfield’s now-successful quest to become majority leader.

A Thursday afternoon press release sent out by the Senate Democratic caucus states that Winfield will be the first Black Senate majority leader in the state’s history. It states that he and Duff will assume their new posts when the General Assembly is sworn in on Jan. 6, 2027.

“We are honored that our colleagues have trusted us to lead the Senate Democratic caucus for the next two years,” Duff and Winfield are quoted as saying in Thursday’s press release. “On Tuesday, the people of Connecticut once again chose Senate Democrats to keep building on the work of making this state more affordable, protecting their rights and freedoms, and standing up for our residents when Washington turns its back on them. We take that trust seriously.”

They also thanked Looney, “whose knowledge of the law, dedication to this institution, and lifelong commitment to working families have left their mark on nearly every major piece of legislation this chamber has passed in a generation. We are proud to carry that work forward, and we pledge to work for all the people of Connecticut over the next two years.”

In a phone interview with the Independent on Thursday, Winfield, who is 52 years old and lives in Newhallville, said that he’s looking forward to “the really difficult work and long hours” ahead. With the 33-member majority that Democrats have in the Senate, he said, “we don’t have an excuse” not to deliver for the people of Connecticut on issues of affordability, housing, and education.

Winfield said that the most important responsibility of the Senate majority leader is, “they kind of run the floor, the flow of business.” They help determine when bills “hit the floor, how they hit the floor,” and play a key role in crafting the state budget.

“It’s clearly not something we were expecting,” he said when asked about how there will only be three Republicans in the state Senate next term, following Tuesday’s “blue tsunami” across the state and country. “Three is almost unimaginable.” He said he’s going to prioritize figuring out “how do we use the fact that we have the numbers” to really accomplish what voters have elected him and his colleagues to do.