Incumbent State Senator Art Linares, Jr. (R-33) defeated Democrat Norm Needleman in a hotly contested race for the State Senate seat representing 12 lower Connecticut River Valley towns.

“This is your victory tonight,” he told a roomful of supporters at the Water’s Edge in Westbrook on Nov. 8. “We are going to push and never stop fighting until we make Connecticut the best it can be.”

Linares received 31,586 votes to Needleman’s 22,954.

Green Party candidate Colin Bennett, a 37-year-old bookstore owner from Westbrook, received 954 votes. It was his second bid for the 33rd Senate District seat.

Linares, a 28-year-old Westbrook resident, served two terms in the State Senate, where he was in the last legislative session one of 15 Republicans and 21 Democrats; the balance is now split 18-18 between the parties. During the campaign he said he was hoping to be part of a Republican majority in the Senate that would work to “restore balance” in the state budget. He said he spent election day campaigning in Clinton, where he won by more than 1,000 votes.

Needleman, 65, is the Democratic first selectman of Essex and founder and president of Tower Industries, a pharmaceutical products manufacturer based in the town. It was his first bid for a seat in the General Assembly, where he had hoped to bring his experience running a business and a small town to tackle the state’s spending and revenue problems. Needleman said during the campaign that, if elected, he would complete his current term as first selectman, which ends in November 2017, while serving in the Senate, and decide whether to run again for the town position at that time.

Needleman, who led by significant margins in Essex, Deep River, and Chester, said it was a “great campaign” and that he is grateful for his supporters.

“We gave it our best shot,” he said. “It has a lot to do with the power of incumbency.

“I congratulate Art on his win. I hope that he goes up to Hartford to work and to listen—no one party had a monopoly on good ideas and everyone needs to come to the table to work together,” said Needleman.

Needleman also expressed great concern with the post-election incidents of hate that have people of color, Hispanics, Muslims, and those of the LGBT community worried and even frightened.

“All of the leaders in our state and our country need to step up now and speak out against this hate speech,” said Needleman.

Unaffiliated voters outnumber both registered Republicans and Democrats in the district, which comprises about 70,000 voters in Chester, Clinton, Colchester, Deep River, East Haddam, East Haddam, Essex, Haddam, Lyme, Old Saybrook, Portland, and Westbrook.

Harbor News Senior Staff Writer Becky Coffey contributed to this report.