The special election Tuesday to fill the vacancy left by the death of Rep. Kevin Ryan, D-Montville, is certain to make history, regardless of who wins an off-cycle winter contest enlivened by story lines of bruised feelings, litigation and an 11th-hour surprise.
Voters could put a member of a state-recognized Connecticut tribe in the General Assembly, apparently for the first time, or a Republican in the 139th House District seat for the first time. It was held exclusively by Ryan since its lines were drawn after the 1990 Census and took effect in 1992.
And, just to add a little spice, there is at least an outside chance the results will be thrown out and a second special election ordered in the district, which spills across portions of Ledyard, Montville and Norwich.
The Democratic candidate is Larry Pemberton Jr., a member of the Eastern Pequot tribe, and, until very recently, an unaffiliated voter, an element of his bio that might not have been widely known on Dec. 3, the night he won the Democratic endorsement on a 9-3 vote in Montville.
The Republican nominee is Brandon Sabbag, a businessman who struggled with homelessness as a young man. And, as was disclosed Monday afternoon by The Day of New London, he also has a criminal record, with convictions for misdemeanor assault and felony witness tampering in 2018.
There is a third candidate whose name is not on the ballot but still is playing a role in two ways: Mark Adams, a Republican endorsed by the local Independent Party, is suing over his exclusion, and he is campaigning as a write-in candidate. He was the GOP nominee in 2022 and 2024.
A Superior Court judge declined to last week to dismiss Adams’ lawsuit, which claims the secretary of the state’s office wrongly refused to accept his Independent Party nomination papers over a technicality — a missing signature. Should he succeed, the remedy could be a new election.
“There is a lot of drama, a lot of expense for an election that only is going to have a 10-month impact,” said House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford.
The prize in the special election is completing the remainder of Ryan’s term. In 10 months, the seat will be on the ballot again, with a full two-year term at stake. Given the hard feelings surrounding each party’s endorsement, the winner could face a primary this summer.
Neither Sabbag nor Pemberton could be reached for comment Monday.
Online court records show Sabbag was arrested in February 2016 and charged with the misdemeanor crimes of third-degree assault and third-degree strangulation. A year later, he was charged with witness tampering, a felony.
He pleaded guilty on Feb. 13, 2018 to the charges in both cases and was sentenced to probation. In a text message to The Day, he indicated the charges arose from a dispute with his romantic partner.
“There was a time when we were homeless and in a bad way,” he wrote. “Faced with those dire circumstances, we fought as many couples do.”
He told The Day they remain a couple.
“Since then, we have pulled our lives together with God’s help,” he wrote. “We all have a past. I am thankful that God’s grace is sufficient for me and he has saved me from the man I once was.”
Candelora said that Sabbag addressed the episode forthrightly.
Sabbag had previously spoken publicly of his homelessness, including in remarks to the Connecticut Mirror, but not his criminal record.
On the Democratic side, Pemberton won the endorsement over Billy Caron, a member of the Montville town council for 20 years and a long-time friend of Ryan’s. Caron was a pall bearer at the funeral.
Pemberton, who also lives in Montville, is the treasurer of the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation, which is recognized by the state but not the federal government. His brother in law is Rodney Butler, the tribal chairman of the Mashantucket Pequots, the owner of the Foxwoods Resort and Casino.
He was backed by state Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, whose district includes Ledyard, Norwich and a portion of Montville. Osten is a long-time ally of the Pequots and Mohegans, and she is confident that if Pemberton is elected, he will be the first tribal member to serve in the General Assembly.
Osten’s role is a source of some hard feelings.
Caron complained that Osten interfered, lining up delegate support for Pemberton at a time when he was not yet was a registered Democrat.
“I’ve never seen a state senator get this deep in something like this,” Caron said. “At this point, it’s kind of crazy how it went about. The delegates, none of them knew he wasn’t a Democrat.”
Caron said he has heard from some voters who intend to write in his name as a protest. Caron has not filed as a write-in candidate, so those votes will not be counted.
In early voting, Democrats outnumbered Republicans by a 3-1 margin in turnout. Of the 668 ballots cast, 375 came from Democrats and 117 from Republicans. The others: 160 unaffiliated; 15 Independent; and one Libertarian
Osten acknowledged encouraging Pemberton to run, but she said she was not responsible for delivering delegate support.
“I didn’t have to. He called all the delegates himself,” Osten said. “Some people like to give me credit for things I didn’t do. If If they want to give me credit for it, fine.”
